Screened players – Newspaper Kommersant No. 10 (7455) dated 01/20/2023

The fourth day of the Australian Open exceeded all standards in terms of the number of surprises. Within a few hours in the 1/32 finals, several strong participants in the Melbourne tournament dropped out of the fight, including second-seeded Norwegian Kasper Ruud, who lost in four games to American Jenson Brooksby, and Uns Jabir from Tunisia, who lost to Czech Marketa Vondroushova. In contrast, the first racket of Russia Andrey Rublev, after defeating Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, reached the third round.

Days marked by an increased number of surprises are issued at almost every Grand Slam tournament. In Melbourne, that was last Thursday, following which at least five players disappeared from the grids of the men’s and women’s singles, claiming, if not for victory, then at least for participation in the decisive matches of the second week.

The reasons for failure, as usual, are different for everyone. For example, three-year-old Australian Open semi-finalist Alexander Zverev from Germany was playing his second tournament after a seven-month break due to a severe ankle injury in the semi-final against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. This was taken advantage of by his 25-year-old peer Michael Mmo, who has Nigerian roots on his father’s side, Irish roots on his mother’s side, was born in Saudi Arabia, and represents the United States. Having lost in the qualifying finals, Mmo, named by his parents in honor of basketball star Michael Jordan, entered the main draw as a lucky loser, and played the best match of his life against Zverev, impressing the audience with a very beautiful combination game with exits to the grid.

Even more unexpected was the fiasco of the ninth racket of the American Taylor Fritz, who looked very good in the final tournament in Turin in November, reached the semi-finals and seemed to prove the logic of his stay in the elite. He was stopped by the 113th number of the world ranking Australian Alexei Popyrin, who received a wild card. There was a big struggle, stretching for more than four hours, but in the end, Fritz was simply not himself. For the entire fifth set, he took only four points at the reception!

However, the biggest surprise was born in the meeting of the third racket of the world of the Norwegian Kasper Ruud with the American Jenson Brooksby, who, despite reaching the fourth round of the US Open, is the debutant of the Australian championship.

Having an advantage in the speed of serving, the now former contender for the leadership in the rating at the end of the current tournament, distinguished by a well-balanced game on the back line, made 55 unforced errors in four games. Thus, the beginning of this season turned out to be a failure for Ruud. Having spent three tournaments in Australia and New Zealand, he suffered three defeats in five matches. And one can only guess to what extent his current results were affected by participation in the demonstrative tour of South America, which Ruud undertook in the second half of November with Rafael Nadal, instead of fully resting. By the way, after the game, he himself spoke about a slight malaise in the abdominal area.

After losing to the Norwegian, the top-rated tennis players in the bottom half of the bracket are Novak Djokovic, who continues to struggle with his left hip but moves on, and Russian No. 1 Andrey Rublev. Having dealt with Finland’s best tennis player Emil Ruusuvuori in four sets, he has already confirmed his last year’s result.

But women have made their contribution to the meteor shower on the courts of Melbourne Park. One of them was the ninth racket of the world, Russian Veronika Kudermetova, who lost to one of the winners of the qualification, American Katie Volynets

Surely one of the reasons for this result was an injury that did not allow Kudermetova to reach the semi-finals of the tournament in Adelaide at the end of last week, but in any case, her early departure does not add to the mood of Russian fans. Moreover, another Russian from the top 10, Daria Kasatkina, sheathed her racket on Wednesday, and Kudermetova’s new partner in doubles, the owner of four titles of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Lyudmila Samsonova, gave an extremely unsuccessful match against the experienced Croatian Donna Vekic.

On this, however, the extended limit on Thursday’s sensation was not exhausted. Just after midnight at the Rod Laver Arena, World No. 2 Uns Jabir, last year’s Wimbledon and US Open finalist, fell victim to her right knee problems, as well as the good mood of Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Czech Marketa Vondroushova. Apparently, the leader of the WTA rankings, Igi Sventek, will not have a real competitor in the coming months. Now, if she wins in Melbourne, she can achieve a rare achievement – more than a twofold advantage in points over her closest rival.

Evgeny Fedyakov