Australian Open 2021: Angelique Kerber blames lockdown for first-round defeat, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Alja Tomljanovic all win
She was once the world’s No.1 tennis player but Angelique Kerber has been bundled out of the Australian Open in the first round. DAY 1 WOMEN’S WRAP
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Angelique Kerber isn’t the player who once won the Australian Open, but the former world No.1 says she would like a do-over on her decision to come to Melbourne during the pandemic.
After spending two weeks in lockdown, the 25th-ranked German was bundled out of the Open in just 70 minutes of lacklustre tennis, hammered by American Bernarda Pera 6-0, 6-4.
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Kerber said she may have made a different decision, had she known what her trip to Melbourne would entail.
“When I’m looking back, of course I was not planned, the two weeks hard quarantine,” she said.
“I don’t know, maybe if I knew that before to stay really two weeks in the hard quarantine without hitting a ball, maybe I would think twice about that (coming to Melbourne).
But, of course, if I knew the real situation before my trip, I would think maybe twice to come here.”
The three-time Grand Slam winner was among those players on a January flight to Melbourne that was caught up in a COVID-19 nightmare that she blamed for her poor performance.
“I was really trying to staying positive and doing the best out of the two-week situation but, of course, you feel it, especially if you play a real match where it counts and you play the first matches in a Grand Slam, also against an opponent who doesn’t stay in the hard lockdown,” Kerber lamented after the match.
“I was trying to take the motivation also for this tournament because it’s one of my favourite tournaments.
“Of course, I knew that we play with a little bit of fans, which is always such a different than playing with no fans.
“It makes tennis playing much more fun to play out there. So that was my motivation.”
BIG GUNS PREDICT END OF TENNIS TRADITION
—Chris Cavanagh
The days of line callers at major tennis tournaments could be numbered, with two of the sport’s biggest names believing a move to an electronic line-calling system is “for the best”.
This year’s Australian Open is being run without line callers for the first time to reduce the number of staff on-site during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chair umpire and ball kids are the only people on court other than the competing players.
The change created a moment of confusion for women’s third-seed Naomi Osaka in her first-round match on Monday, when she challenged a call only to be quickly shut down by chair umpire Tom Sweeney.
“You’d be challenging the same system that called it in,” Sweeney replied.
However, Osaka said after the match that she supported the new system.
“It took some time to get used to,” she said.
“But I feel like for me, it saves me the trouble of attempting to challenge or thinking about, ‘Did they call it correctly or not?’
“It actually gets me really focused. I don’t mind it at all.
“If they do want to continue this way, I actually have no complaints about it because I think that there’s a lot of arguments that aren’t going to happen because of this technology.”
Osaka’s views were backed by former world No.1 and seven-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams, who said she was “loving” the new system.
“I just needed to adapt, and now I’m adapted to it,” Williams said.
“I think it’s for the best. I think it’s not too much that can be wrong.
“There can be some close calls that you can check, but I think it’s good.”
Two of the favourites for this year’s women’s singles title, Osaka and Williams both brushed off minor injury concerns to power past their first-round opponents on Monday.
Osaka had pulled out of the Gippsland Trophy lead-up event with a “niggling injury” last week but looked a picture of health as she overcame unseeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.
Williams, who had withdrawn from the Yarra Valley Classic semi-final with a right shoulder injury, scored a similarly big win over German Laura Siegemund.
The American took just 56 minutes to triumph 6-1, 6-1.
“I was happy just to get through it,” Williams said.
“(I) wasn’t sure how my serve would be after a little bit of that shoulder, but it’s feeling good, I’m feeling good.”
Osaka also paid tribute to fellow first-round winner Venus Williams, who defeated Belgium’s Kristen Flipkens 7-5, 6-2.
Competing in her 21st Australian Open, Venus turns 41 this June.
“It’s really amazing just to watch how much she loves tennis,” Osaka said of Venus.
“I see her smiling so much nowadays, so it’s really nice to see. She just has this aura of loving the sport and this infectious energy. I hope that I can learn a lot from her.”
HOW COVID CRISIS SHAPED AUSSIE’S MINDSET
—Marc McGowan
Australian Ajla Tomljanovic has revealed her new, more urgent tennis mindset was created out of her struggles with the COVID-19 world and situations “being out of my control”.
The 27-year-old enjoyed an emphatic 6-2 6-1 first-round victory over Japan’s Misaki Doi on Monday to kick off her latest Australian Open campaign in style.
Tomljanovic slammed down six aces to Doi’s one, hit 20 winners to 13, and also had fewer unforced errors (19-30) in a commanding display.
After 12 months of coronavirus-related hardship for everyone, including Tomljanovic feeling like “a lot of things came crashing down”, she’s actively trying to be more positive with herself.
“I feel like I’m in a different stage in my career. I cherish it more, but, at the same time, still have that pressure I put on myself,” Tomljanovic said.
“I think before, I wouldn’t say I took it for granted, but I took it more as a kid – ‘I’m just here playing a tournament’, which was also nice and I miss that mindset as well.
“But now I feel like, not that my time is limited, but I want to treat every tournament as a huge opportunity that can take me places.”
Tomljanovic will now hope to advance beyond round two of a grand slam for the first time since reaching the last 16 at the 2014 French Open.
The world No.69 told the Herald Sun last month she was targeting a career-high ranking this year – she’s been as high as No.39 – and a deeper run in the slams will go a long way to that happening.
“It doesn’t play on my mind too much,” she said of her grand slam record.
“It starts (doing that) after I’m out of the tournament and I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s been a while’, but once I’m in here, I never look at the draw.”
SERENA SENDS SCARY WARNING TO OPEN RIVALS
—Chris Cavanagh
She was only wearing 50 per cent of her pants, but Serena Williams brought close to 100 per cent of her game as she scored a dominant first-round Australian Open win.
Williams, whose ‘Catsuit’ outfit caused a stir, brushed aside Germany’s Laura Siegemund in just 56 minutes, 6-1, 6-1.
Williams made a shaky start, double-faulting with her first serves of the match on the way to losing the opening game.
However, the big-hitting American won the next 10 games in succession, showing too much power and experience in a performance described as “Vintage Serena”.
Williams had withdrawn from the Yarra Valley Classic semi-final last week with a right shoulder injury, but looked fully fit just a few days later.
The seven-time Australian Open champion will meet unseeded Serbian Nina Stojanovic in second round.
Speaking after her win, Williams said: “This was a good start, vintage ‘Rena.
“I’m good at pacing myself in a grand slam.
“This is amazing, last year was crazy for the world. To be able to do what I love and compete, makes me appreciate the moment even more.”
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