Founded in 1905, the Melbourne Australian Open today ranks first in the chronological order of annual Grand Slam events. In fact, the tournament was originally held on Kooyong grass, before being moved to concrete at its current location in Melbourne Park in 1988.
The event, which today boasts the names of tennis’s greatest champions in its honor roll, until a few decades ago, was certainly not viewed with the same importance as other major events.
This, so much so that it was avoided even by the best players in the world (by Swede Bjorn Borg, to give an example). In 1974, we witnessed the first seal of Evonne Goolagong, followed by Hana Mandlikova, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf, reaching the last decade of the century.
At the same time, Arthur Ashe, John Newcombe, Jimmy Connors, Vitas Gerulaitis, Guillermo Vilas, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg and Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in the men’s. Between the 90s and 2010, we find the names of Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams, Justine Henin, Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova, while in the male domain there was the domination of Boris Becker, Jim Courieri, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Thomas Johansson, and the first high notes of a certain Roger Federer then of a very young Novak Djokovic, followed by Marat Safin and Rafael Nadal.
The last decade has had as great protagonists Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na, the very strong Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki, Naomi Osaka and Sofia Kenin, while among the men there is this absolute domination of Novak Djokovic and of the great Federer, not to mention the incredible feat of Stan Wawrinka in 2014.
Who will win in 2021? Mats Wilander has claimed that Roger Federer is now more likely to win a Grand Slam than Serena Williams. And the Swedish legend said the American superstar “messed up” her best chance at winning a 24th title in the 2018 Wimbledon final, when she even had Meghan Markle in the stands.
Wilander on Serena Williams
“Serena Williams of course made it to the final, but she wasn’t close. She’s not like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic, there is a big difference there.
Roger is even more dangerous. She has not served well for three years. It is the most dominant weapon in the history of tennis. It’s not even the best serve on the lap anymore and that’s a big deal because it would be like taking away his forehand to Nadal or his backhand to Djokovic.
The serve must return for it to have a chance of winning. Without that, I can’t imagine him playing against these young players and crushing them physically, then playing on the mental during the big points, ”said Mats Wilander.
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