Australian Open 2023

SEEDINGS

  1     Rafael Nadal

  2     Casper Ruud

  3     Stefanis Tsitsipas

  4      Novak Djokovic

  5      Andrey Rublev 

  6      Felix Auger-Aliassime 

  7      Danill Medvedev

  8      Taylor Fritz

  9      Holger Rune

10      Hubert Hurkacz

11      Cameron Norrie

12      Alexander Zverev

13      Matrteo Berrettini

14      Pablo Carreno-Busta

15      Jannik Sinner

16      Frances  Tiafoe

17      Lorenzo Musetti

18      Karen Khachanov

19      Nic Kyrgios

20      Denis Shapovalov

21      Borna Coric

22      Alex de Minaur

23     Diego Schwartzman

24      Roberto Bautista-Agut

25      Daniel Evans

26       Miomir Kecmanovic

27       Grigor Dimitrov

28       Francisco Cerundolo

29       Sebastian Korda

30       Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 

31      Yoshihito Nishioka

32      Botic van de Zandschulp

After the quarterfinals we have left - 

*    2 players seeded from 1 to 10;

*    1 player seeded from 11 to 20;  and 

*    1  unseeded player (Tommy Paul)   

There are only 1 unseeded players left.    

ROUND 2

Top Half of the Draw

1    Rafael Nadal                               vs               Mackenzie McDonald

31  Yoshihito Nishioka                     vs               Dalibor Svrcina

18   Karen Khachanov                      vs               Jason Kubler

16   Frances Tiafoe                           vs               Juncheng Shang 

10   Hubert Hurkacz                         vs               Lorenzo Sonego

20   Denis Shapovalov                     vs                Taro Daniel

29  Sebastian Korda                         vs               Yosuke Watanuki

 7    Danill Medvedev                      vs                John Millman

 3    Stefanos Tsitsipas                     vs              Riki Hijikata

32   Botic van de Zandschulp          vs               Tallon Griekspoor

Lloyd Harris                                    vs                Marcos Fucsovics

15   Jannik Sinner                            vs              Tomas-Martin Etcheverry  

11    Cameron Norrie                       vs               Constant Lestienne 

Jiri Lehecka                                       vs               Christopher Eubanks

28    Francisco Cerundolo                vs               Corentin Moutet

6      Felix Auger-Alliassime            vs                Alex Molcan

Bottom Half of the Draw

5     Andrey Rublev                          vs               Emil Ruusuvuori

25   Daniel Evans                             vs              Jeremy Chardy

Denis Kudla                                     vs              Ugo Humbert

9    Holger Rune                               vs             Maxime Cressy

14   Pablo Carreno Busta                  vs             Benjamin Bonzi

22   Allex de  Minaur                        vs            Adrian Mannarino 

27   Grigor Dimitrov                         vs             Laslo Djere

4    Novak Djokovic                           vs            Enzo Couacaud

8   Taylor Fritz                                  vs             Alexei Popyrin 

Nicolas Jarry                                     vs             Ben Shelton

23   Diego Schwartzman                   vs             Jeffrey Wolf

12  Alexander Zverev                        vs            Michael Mmoh   

Andy Murray                                     vs           Thanasi Kokkinakis

24   Roberto Bautista-Agut                vs           Brandon Holt

30   Alejandro Davidovich Fokina     vs           Tommy Paul

2    Casper Ruud                                 vs            Jenson Brooksby  

The above in fact cover all the Round 1 Matches.   The losers in Round 1 would be eliminated arriving at the players in Round 2

The Comedy show has started with Kyrgios going for Djokovic.  The two players can potentially meet in the Quarterfinals - but will they?    Kyrgios has a much more difficult route to the Quarters than Djokovic though.

The one player I have doubts about reaching the quarters is Nadal.    He showed signs of tiredness in matches this year and five set matches may be too difficult for him to win.        

There are 32 matches being played tomorrow involving at least 16 seeded players,    The most interestng matches would be between -

*    Nadal and Draper;

*    Van de Zandschulp and Ivashka;

*    Hurkacz and Martinez

*    Korda and Garin

*    Khachanov and Zapata Miralles

*    Tsitsipas and Edmund

*     Medvedev and Giron

Kyrgios withdrew from the tournament - no one knows why.   So far only 3 matches have been finalized and 3 matches are being played under roofed courts.   8 matches have not been completed - and 8 matches  that should have started before now has not started as yet.    Unless the weather allows further matches to be played today - the whole schedule of matches will be destroyed and first round matches will have to be completed tomorrow together with the Top of the second round matches already scheduled for tomorrow.

As of now 16 matches has been completed  - there are potentially 3 matches  to be played under roof cover - but completion of the remaining 13 matches  - of which 8 has already started - due to completed and it is doubtful if those will be ompleted oday.    that needs to be completed insofar as Round 1 is concerned.           

ROUND 3

Top Half of the Draw

31  Yoshihito Nishioka                                vs        Mackenzie McDonald    

16   Frances Tiafoe                                     vs        18   Karen Khachanov 

10   Hubert Hurkacz                                   vs       20   Denis Shapovalov

 7    Danill Medvedev                                vs        29  Sebastian Korda

 3    Stefanos Tsitsipas                               vs        Tallon Griekspoor

15   Jannik Sinner                                      vs        Marcos Fucsovics

11    Cameron Norrie                                 vs        Jiri Lehecka

6      Felix Auger-Alliassime                     vs       28    Francisco Cerundolo

Bottom Half of the Draw

5     Andrey Rublev                                     vs       25    Daniel Evans

9    Holger Rune                                        vs        Ugo Humbert

22   Allex de  Minaur                                  vs        Benjamin Bonzi                                            

 4    Novak Djokovic                                   vs       27   Grigor Dimitrov

Alexei Popyrin                                            vs       Ben Shelton

Michael Mmoh                                            vs       Jeffrey Wolf 

24   Roberto Bautista-Agut                        vs        Andy Murray

Jenson Brooksby                                        vs       Tommy Paul 

In the top half of the draw only 2 of the 16 seeded players lost their round 1 matches.   One of the winners against a seeded player was Lloyd Harris - the only SA player in the series,   

Some of the matches - also of seeded players went to four or even five sets.   So it was a real battle for some players to go to Round 2.   Matches played:-

*    13 matches were 3 setters

*     10 matches were 4 setters

*      9  matches were 5 setters

In the bottom half of the draw only 22 of the 32 matches have been completed on Tuesday., but all th e matches was fianklzed today .     .  There were 3 seeded players not going through  to round 3 - namely Kyrgios who withdrew from the series and two seeded match losers.   Some players had seriosu problems in getting though to play in Round 2.   In the case of the bottom half of the draw there were similar to the top half of the draw -

In the case of Round 2 matches played the main upset was the loss by Nsdal in Round 2.   In fact there were 2 losses by seeded players in Round 2 iro the top half of the draw.   Thus far there were only 7 of the seeded players not going to Round 3 - the number can increase since 16 Round 2 matches will be played today. 

An equally great upset was Brooksby beating Ruud and the situation is that both the first and second seeds are out of he series in Round 2.   Another seed in the bottom half of the draw is also out.   Are there any further upsets going to happen.   Incidentally there were four player threatening to take over the number one ranking of Alcaraz - now there are two players left of the four namely Tsitispas - the number 3 seed - and Djokovic the number 4 seed.      

The Aussie Open this year is a mess due to weather conditions.    Thus far -

*    None of the uncompleted 10  matches yesterday  was completed today and it is already circa 17:00 in Melbourne;

*     Only 1 completed game was in fact played under roof-covered tennis courts and two are in play - while roofed courts will be used for the Medvedev and tysitsipas games to be played later today. 

*     Aside from the 10 uncompleted Round 1 games none of the 11  scheduled Round 2 matches have been played.  

*     In the bottom half of the draw where in the case of only 8 matches participants for playing have been identified - opponents of the other 8 round 1 matches have yet to be determined.        

ROUND 4

Top Half of the Draw

18   Karen Khachanov                     vs         31     Yoshihito Nishioka

 10   Hubert Hurkacz                      vs          29      Sebastian Korda   

 3    Stefanos Tsitsipas                   vs           15      Jannik Sinner

 6    Felix Auger-Alliassime           vs           Jiri Lehecka  

Bottom Half of the Draw

5     Andrey Rublev                        vs           9    Holger Rune

4     Novak Djokovic                      vs         22   Allex de  Minaur 

Jeffrey Wolf                                   vs           Ben Shelton

24   Roberto Bautista-Agut           vs           Tommy Paul 

The bottom half of the draw was the Round of destruction when it came to the Bottom half of the Draw.  Let me explain so far the following are gone:-

  2     Casper Ruud

  9     Taylor Fritz

12     Alexander Zverev

14     Pablo Carreno-Busta

23    Diego Scwartzman

QUARTERFINALS

Top Half of the Draw

 18     Karen Khachanov                 vs          29      Sebastian Korda  

 3    Stefanos Tsitsipas                   vs          Jiri Lehecka 

Bottom Half of the Draw

4     Novak Djokovic                      vs        5     Andrey Rublev

Tommy Paul                                   vs        Ben Shelton.

Obviously players age and Nadal may be joining Federer on the sidelines. But celebrate their late wins, because what comes after is tedious, robotic  and undistinguished by comparison. Watching Medvedev play Alcatraz is an exercise in boredom.

Mozart

Despite what you call boring is a reflection of the change in tennis as a sport.   Rackets nowadays allows for balls been hit at greater speed and harder with increased spin than they use to do .in the part.   Djokovic is the only  example of hard-hitting of balls in the past era - that distinguished him from Federer and Nadal - using their expertise to outwit opponents.

There are still exponents of the Federer and Nadal mode of playing .  Those are Medvedev and Ruud and even Fritz for example - even though they never reached the insight and thoughtful tennis Federer and Nadal specialized in.   These players are finding it increasingly hard to compete.    I still think that Djokovic may last a bit longer than Federer and even Nadal did because of his more athletic built - but even he will encounter problems in matches.   As to the Aussie Open he is very likely to win the Aussie Open  tournament.- but to last longer he is forcing himself to play in less tennis tournaments.

Nadal looked very upset during th e match when it was clear he was struggling.   He may believe his future in tennis is under threat through injuries.   He may realize that he is on the way out of playing.    

What has happened to Medvedev I wonder….kind of lost his mojo when Russia got banned and never got it back. This is Rublev’s best shot, he looked pretty good the other night.

Medvedev seems to have lost his ability to hit balls hard enough.  His service was more varied in the past and with much bigger pace.     Medvedev during an interview once said that he has a shortfall in his game and said he would like to hit fore-arms as hard as Rublev does - but he said he will have to change his own style of play totally.   Maybe it is time for him to take time off and get prepared to play a more attacking game.

As to Rublev there are two things that differ entirely when it comes to play.   Physically he is a very strong guy.  He had some wrestler and boxing experience as well - so despite that superiority to most players he has always have had psychological  problems in games and goes apart easily when least expected.   He has to face Rune in Round 4 and Djokovic in the quarters,   If he keeps the psycho breakdowns away he will be playing well enough to win in both - but will that happen?  

By the way there is a Superbru competition where you have to select 2 male and 2 female players and you get points based on the player performances.   In round 1 and 2 I had Djokovic and Rune as my choice male players,   In Round 3 I changed my selections and replaced Djokovic with Rublev.   Result I am now no 1 in the competition despite having Keys as one of the female players.    In Round 4 I have a problem - I have to remove one of the two male players since they play each other.   Being unsure as to what would happen in the upcoming matches, I have removed both and replace them with Tsitsipas and Paul.

There is one result which a surprise result.   In a five-setter played in Round 4 Rune let Rublev by 4-1 in the fifth set and Rublev upped his game and in the end won the 10 point tie-breaker,   However, if he beats  Djokovic I will go and buy a hat and eat it.   

3    Stefanos Tsitsipas                vs         18     Karen Khachanov

4     Novak Djokovic/5     Andrey Rublev   vs    Tommy Paul

So who is going to be in the semifinals    I would say Tsitsipas and Korda - as well as Djokovic - I cannot see how Rublev can beat him - and Paul.    If Djokovic win in the tournament he will take over the number 1 ranking in the world with Titsipas going to the number 2 ranking - that is in the case of the two players being in the final.   

With the number of upsets in the series and bearing in mind a lot of ranked players will find themselves losing ranking points in the Top 10 with Nadal and Medvedev being the biggest losers.

I will update the info once the remaining quarterfinals having been played.   

By the way Korda has moved up from no 31 before the Australian Open to number 25.   He and Rune are two very good prospects in future.   

When  it comes to ranking points in Majors the position is as follows:-

Winner    -        2 000 points

Runner-up        1 2000 points

Semi finalists       720 points

Quarterfinalists    360  points

Round   4              180 points

Round  3                 90 points

Round 2                  45  points

Round 1                 10  points

I found a daily update of Ranking points and have to change the comment substantially.  There has been 1 quarterfinal completed and as a result Khachanov is now on 2515 points.   Even if he loses in the semi he will be moving up in ranking from  20 before the start of the Aussie Open to number 13 in the rankings.   

As to the three Top 10 players - Tsitsipas, Djokovic and Rublev - two of the three to become no 1 in ranking.   What is clear is that the remaining quarterfinals, the semi-finals and the final will have an impact on the ranking points of the above players and the only difference is that the five players will all be moving up in rankings be at least one ranking than they were prior to the tournament  - since Nadal will be heavily penaliz ed and will in fact go down to ranking position 6.   

There will be clearer rankings after the remaining quarterfinals after which I would update the daily rankings info.      

Just some comments on the Rune - Rublev match.  The players each won 2 sets and the 5th set was down to a tiebreaker.

Rune was 5-0 up in the tiebreaker and thereafter he got only 3 points and Rublev 9 points.  Rublev was serving for the match and lost his own serve due to a mistake by him.   Rublev won the ne xt point on own serve and after that won the next serve by Rune serve when a serve return hit the net and bounced over.   Match won. 

If Rublev keeps his nerve he is going to be a real threat to Djokovic.             

The ratings are becoming very interesting 

1     Novak Djokovic                     7070

2      Carlos Alcaraz                       6730

3     Stefanos Tsitsipas                   6195

4      Casper Ruud                          5765

5      Andrey Rublev                       429 0 

6     Rafael Nadal                          3815

7    Felix Auger-Aliassime           3715

8     Taylor Fritz                           3410

9     Holger Rune                         3040

10   Hubert Hurkacz                    2995

A number of changes are likely in the next month depending on whose playing in torunaments and how they perform.   Nadal is unlikely to play soon.                      

Incredible….three out of the top 30 are left.

Only 2 of the Top 30 is left

Congrats to Djokovic in winning the Aussie Open and regaining the number 1 ranking in the world. .

As McEnroe, tennis’ most astute observer said…..he is undoubtedly the best tennis player in the world.