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Sunday, January 14, 2024

AO24 - The More Things Stay the Same, the More They Change

The more things stay the same, the more they change.

The first slam of any new season has the opportunity to set the proverbial stage for the long journey to come over the following year. A quick glance back at the 2023 version of the Australian Open reveals that it really *did* tee-up the leading storyline of the WTA tour of a season ago.

Aryna Sabalenka won the title. Iga Swiatek didn't. The Belarusian was the first of three first-time slam singles champions crowned in '23, and her run in Melbourne sent Sabalenka down a season-long path during which she nipped at the heels of the Polish world #1. At the U.S. Open she finally caught her, rising to the top spot, only to then see the "new reality" give birth to an "old" one as Swiatek raised her level of play over the final quarter of the season to finish at #1 for a second straight year after winning her first WTA Finals title.

As everyone has returned to Australia, Swiatek is again the #1 seed in the women's draw, but #2 Sabalenka promises to continue to lurk. She closed out the opening night session at Rod Laver Arena (on the first opening Sunday in tournament history) with a dominant win over German qualifier Ella Seidel to claim her eighth straight AO win, just as she'd been the last woman to raise her arms in triumph on the same court last January.



Of course, while familiar faces promise to continue to do familiar things at this slam, so are new and new-ish ones about to change their personal narrative and the trajectory of their '24 season.

Three former slam champs (two who won in Melbourne) will soon hit the court in a major for the first time in quite a while, as Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber return from maternity leave and Emma Raducanu from yet another injury-related break. Does success have "muscle memory" so early in a comeback? Caroline Wozniacki, in her first AO since 2020, has already posted a 1st Round win of her own this year when Magda Linette, a semifinalist *last* year, was forced to retire with a leg injury in the 2nd set during the opening night session match on MCA.

A year after winning the AO junior title, 16-year old Alina Korneeva (the youngest player in the women's MD) has followed up her qualifying run with a win over Sara Sorribes Tormo in her slam debut, with fellow '23 girls' finalist Mirra Andreeva stepping up for her turn next in her maiden AO MD. Andreeva could become the *third* 16-year old, along with Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova, to reach the 2nd Round.



But no player may have reversed course more in her opening '24 AO salvo than Amanda Anisimova.

Yes, this is the second straight year at this event in which the 22-year old Bannerette was involved in the match that saw the First Seed Out revealed. But while last year it was *her* -- as the #28 seed, to Marta Kostyuk -- who was sent packing early, this time around it was Anisimova who orchestrated the send-off.



Anisimova's win over #13 Liudmila Samsonova leaves the Hordette (still) winless in the new season (0-3), as she's now been the FSO at two of the last three slams (w/ last year's Wimbledon). She's put up 1r-2r-2r-2r-1r results at the last five AO, and over the last four seasons has been slow out of the season's gate, going a combined 8-13 in Australia-hosted events.

In May of last year, Anisimova announced an indefinite leave from tennis, her not-unexpected breaking point having finally been reached after a stressful few years that especially dated back to 2019 when she reached her first slam SF (at age 17) at Roland Garros only to then have her father (who doubled as her coach) die suddenly just two months later. Anisimova returned in Auckland in Week 1 with a win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and her win over Samsonova is her first in slam competition since reaching the QF in Paris in 2022.



There are still two days' worth of 1st Round matches -- 48 of the 64 scheduled match-ups -- to play in Melbourne. Who will be the next to alter course, or maybe double-down on their past history?





...HORDETTE SLAM DEBUT ALERT...:




...OH GOOD, THEN I'VE BEEN SAYING IT CORRECTLY IN MY HEAD ALL ALONG...:




...OH, IF ONLY..:



Alternate entry: Didn't Mattek-Sands already wear that once?

Alternate entry #2: Didn't Serena already wear that once?










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*RECENT AO "FIRST VICTORY" HONORS*
2019 Rebecca Peterson, SWE (def. Cirstea)
2020 Paula Badosa, ESP (def. Larsson)
2021 Naomi Osaka, JPN (def. Pavlyuchenkova)
2022 Camila Giorgi, ITA (def. Potapova)
2023 Jessie Pegula, USA (def. Cristian)
2024 Kamilla Rakhimova, RUS (def. Bektas)

*RECENT AO "FIRST SEED OUT"*
2015 #32 Belinda Bencic, SUI (lost to Goerges)
2016 #17 Sara Errani, ITA (lost to Gasparyan)
2017 #4 Simona Halep, ROU (lost to Rogers)
2018 #13 Sloane Stephens, USA (lost to Sh.Zhang)
2019 #14 Julia Goerges, GER (lost to Collins)
2020 #32 Barbora Strycova, CZE (lost to Cirstea)
2021 #23 Angelique Kerber, GER (lost to Pera)
2022 #18 Coco Cauff, USA (lost to Q.Wang)
2023 #28 Amanda Anisimova, USA (lost to Kostyuk)
2024 #13 Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (lost to Anisimova)






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Galaga was my favorite arcade game. It was the one game where I could almost always break the high score.









All for now. More soon.
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