Grand Slam tennis is back. Two weeks of top-class sport and with the overall quality and depth in women’s tennis being off the charts, it makes for a wide-open and enthralling event.
Just looking back on the 2020 Women’s Australian Open, there were a few new grand slam quarter-finalists in Ons Jabeur, Annet Kontaveit and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – the Russian in particular, was a very entertaining watch throughout, beating Karolina Pliskova, Angelique Kerber and battling hard against Garbina Muguruza.
Jabeur is very unorthodox and had a great 2020 – if you haven’t watched Jabeur play before, watch her at this event. She possesses a very unique game style, uses lots of slices, drop shots but also pulls out massive ground-strokes, making her a great watch.
The Muguruza vs Halep semi-final was just special. 59 winners, two world class players going blow for blow on the biggest stage – incredible quality throughout.
The Kenin vs Barty semi-final was also brilliant, despite Barty bringing more experience, being a grand slam champion, and having the full support of the Melbourne crowd, it was Kenin that prevailed 7-6 7-5.
In the final, Muguruza took the opening long, demanding set. Tables turned from set two, Kenin started to make more returns, read Muguruza’s play, which allowed Kenin to have more time and counter-punch with winners rather than just defend. Kenin took the one-two punch away by returning deep, which meant Muguruza’s biggest weapon was being completely negated. Kenin took a marathon final to register her maiden grand slam title.
Looking ahead to the 2021 tournament the potential matches between Andreescu, Osaka, Williams, Muguruza, Halep, Barty, Kvitova, Sabalenka and Azarenka are just so exciting for tennis fans.
All have different styles, are different ages and at different stages of their careers, but all bring huge quality, belief and confidence to the court. Anyone that can win a slam in women’s tennis deserves immense credit, to beat three or four top 30 players at the same event takes some serious tennis because the level is so high.
Time to look at a few of the standout players in the draw:
Andreescu: A brilliant shot maker. Her real upper leg strength allows her to balance herself, hit through the ball & tee off on forehand or backhand. The consistent depth allows for Andreescu to use that perfect forehand slice drop shot.
Going back to the 2019 US Open title win, the Canadian overcame battles and climbing back from difficult positions – a set down to Elise Mertens in the quarter-finals, 5-2 down in 2nd set vs Belinda Bencic in semi-finals – to win 7-5.
For the 19-year-old to beat, Serena Williams – a massive fans and on-court favourite, particularly at US Open – in straight sets in a final was an immense win. Andreescu made a good start vs Williams, keeping her on her front foot and running throughout. Despite all the crowd willing for Williams to force a decider, Andreescu won the big points and closed out the match in style.
When she plays, Andreescu brings an aura onto the court, bundles of energy, entertains the crowd and hits winners for fun.
Kenin: Mentally she’s already one of the best on WTA. A player who thrives in pressure situations, yet wasn’t fazed by facing the Melbourne crowd and Barty last year, saving countless break points with aggressive tennis.
Kenin has a solid all-round game, good defence, immense fitness and is a problem solver – evident in the final vs Muguruza. She reads opponents well, allowing her to counter-punch rather than getting balls back in court, similar to Danil Medvedev.
At 2-2 in the final set of 2020 Australian Open final vs Muguruza, Kenin hit four winners and an ace, winning the next three games, a true indication of her potential.
She may not have had a great start to 2021, but I expect her to be a strong contender especially when defending her grand slam title.
Barty: World number one, grand slam champion and an astonishing player – her backhand is a weapon and she can nail double handers cross-court and down the line or slice and drop shot for fun. Having that variety, along with a powerful forehand and strong serve makes her one to watch.
Halep: A player who is always consistent and a usual guarantee of reaching the quarter-finals, only losing out in a thriller against Muguruza in the semi-final last year. The Romanian and reigning Wimbledon champion may struggle when facing heavy ball-strikers on a fast hard court, but don’t underestimate her.
Muguruza: She bounced back into form in 2020 after a couple of poor years on tour, playing brilliant, aggressive tennis at Australian Open, but then history repeated when she failed to perform at the French and US Open, making her a little unreliable.
At 6ft, the Spaniard has a strong serve and looks to dominate from the middle of the court.
S.Williams: The American will be fresh, firey and ready to put everything all out on the court as she hopes to secure a record 24th singles grand slam title.
Despite being 39-years-old, Williams is forever the professional and deserves credit for still competing at a high level, and winning matches against these young and talented players.
From round three onwards, the matches get tough and I think with Williams we’ve seen her become fatigued by the final and lose against the younger, fresher players like Osaka and Andreescu but only a fool would write her off completely.
Osaka: The Japanese sensation has won three hard court grand slams since 2018.
She makes the game look easy when it all comes together and nobody in the world can defend against the power and precision of her ground-strokes.
She won last year’s US Open impressively, yet In 2019 and early parts of 2020, I think she struggled with the pressure of being world number one and didn’t look to be enjoying her tennis, beating herself up on court and throwing games away in matches.
At the US Open she looked like the Osaka that burst onto the scene in 2018, taking each point as it comes, making a lot of first serves, being aggressive with forehand and bringing that ruthless streak to the court. In such a wide-open sport, she’s the one player who brings her A-game every time and can blow everyone off the court.
There are genuinely 40-50 players capable of winning the Australian Open. Iga Swiatek wasn’t even ranked inside the top 30 when winning the 2020 French Open proving it can be anyone’s game. So picking an outright winner would be ludicrous but what is guaranteed is two weeks of quality, high-class tennis that after a turbulent year, is just what we all need.
