The more the first Grand Slam tournament of the season progresses, the more the chances of seeing one of the favorites take home the top honors diminish on the women’s side.
Posted at 11:35 a.m.
The WTA has this particularity, unlike the ATP, of being often unpredictable. Unlike the men’s side, no match is sealed in advance, even for the seeded players. It’s a trend that seemed to be confirmed over the past few years and the players are currently experiencing it the hard way at the Australian Open.
Garbine Muguruza (3), Anett Kontaveit (6), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (10), Sofia Kenin (11), Elena Rybakina (12), Naomi Osaka (13), Elina Svitolina (15), Angelique Kerber (16), Emma Raducanu (17), Coco Gauff (18), Petra Kvitova (20), Belinda Bencic (22) and Leylah Annie Fernandez (23) were all shown the door in the opening rounds. This means that 13 of the top 23 players will not participate in the second week of the tournament. It’s enormous. Only one of his players, Svitolina, was beaten by another seed, Victoria Azarenka (24), who is still excellent in Melbourne.
It is difficult to explain this phenomenon. In recent years, women’s tennis has always been more open, giving way to more grand slam surprises. Barbora Krejcikova and Emma Raducanu at Roland-Garros and the United States Open in 2021, Iga Swiatek at Roland-Garros in 2020 or Bianca Andreescu at the United States Open in 2019 are recent examples of the extraordinary parity in the world women’s tennis.
The competition is such that no player has won two major tournaments in the same year since Angelique Kerber in 2016, who triumphed in Australia and the United States.
It should therefore come as no surprise to see so much novelty during the second week of the Australian fortnight.
With the new training methods and the specialization of the athletes, it should also be mentioned that the margin between the players of the top 10 and the others of top 50 is getting smaller and smaller. The athletes are more and more talented and this is also what can explain the soaring rise of certain players.
This parity on the female side is precisely transposed in the world ranking. Only three players found themselves in the top 10 at this time last year are still there today. Ashleigh Barty who stayed on top, Aryna Sabalenka who moved up from seventh to second place and Karolina Pliskova who moved up one spot from sixth to fifth place. And that’s all.
PHOTO MARTIN KEEP, AGENCY FRANCE-PRESSE
Ashleigh Barty has been the world number one since September 2019.
The emergence of young players is beyond doubt. They are taking control of the circuit. However, with youth comes lack of experience and lack of consistency. This is probably why Fernandez, Raducanu, Kenin and Gauff have difficulty winning tournament after tournament. It’s all the more surprising, however, when Grand Slam champions like Muguruza and Kerber go down in the first two rounds.
If some like the privilege of witnessing the domination of a select group of players on the men’s side, this heterogeneity among the ladies has something to please. Each tournament is a surprise. No match is acquired, even during the first rounds. It is also more likely to crown new champions. Which ultimately is good for tennis, its diversity and for the interest generated by each tournament start. Tennis isn’t a one- or two-player game all the time, though…
This irregularity gives a lot of credit to the two best players in the world; Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka. They dominate the tennis planet and are unshakable at the top of the pyramid. Despite the waves and the currents they face the wind, while their rivals alternate each week in the top 10. This is to say how much they are above the fray. Sabalenka has yet to win a major title, but being in the top 5 since May 2021 and to continue to progress there is an achievement in itself.
What about Barty. The Australian has been the world number one since September 2019 and no one has yet managed to reach her. Nor even the rise of young people or the consistency of veterans. This feat of arms is an important one, like his two major tournament titles. Will she add a third to confirm her supremacy?