Thanks for sticking with us yesterday throughout the epic women's final.
We'll be back a bit later today with the men's final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
It's going to be special.
Cheers!
Comeback queen Petra Kvitova fights back tears after losing epic Aus Open final to Naomi Osaka
With her voice cracking and the crowd cheering, tennis' comeback queen Petra Kvitova has struggled through an emotional post-match speech after she was defeated in the Australian Open final by Naomi Osaka.
Petra Kvitova has learnt plenty about life – good and bad – over the past two years.
At Melbourne Park, Kvitova taught her peers what it is to lose with grace after being to hell and back.
The Czech’s effort to reach a grand slam final little more than two years after her racquet hand was so badly gashed she almost lost fingers was miraculous.
TOO GOOD: OSAKA CLAIMS AUS OPEN TITLE
DETERMINED: KVITOVA WON'T BE DEFINED BY ATTACK
RECAP THE WOMEN'S FINAL IN THE BLOG BELOW
The brutal reality of sport is that nothing is guaranteed, or deserved.
If sentiment counted for anything, Kvitova would have allowed to hold aloft the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup.
Naomi Osaka, selfishly denied by Serena Williams’ posturing in New York in September, also had plenty of support – and sympathisers.
But it was Kvitova’s inspiring generosity and lack of selfishness which contrasted so vividly with Williams’ petulance at the US Open.
There was no recrimination.
She didn’t attempt to hijack Osaka’s moment of triumph.
She simply gave a beautiful, heartfelt post-match speech.
She wasn’t mean-spirited or disingenuous, focusing on Osaka’s achievements as well as her own team’s support.
It was classy and typical of a woman who has six Karen Krantzcke awards for sportsmanship – the category voted on by her peers.
"Thank you for sticking with me even when we didn't know if I would able to hold a racquet again," Kvitova said.
"Every single day you have been supporting me and staying positive for me, which I really needed. It probably was not easy, so thank you so.
"It's crazy. I can hardly believe that I just played in a grand slam final again.
"It was a great final. Well done to Naomi Osaka. To your team as well. You really played well and you deserve to be number one as well.
Osaka, fittingly, led the tributes to Kvitova.
She wasn't alone. For not the first time, Kvitova commanded unqualified respect.
What a contrast to the US Open.
KVITOVA'S EMOTIONAL SPEECH
"Thank you for sticking with me even when we didn't know if I would able to hold a racquet again.
"Every single day you have been supporting me and staying positive for me, which I really needed. It probably was not easy, so thank you so.
"It's crazy. I can hardly believe that I just played in a grand slam final again.
"It was a great final. Well done to Naomi Osaka. To your team as well. You really played well and you deserve to be number one as well.
"It's a great tournament for me. It is a big honour to hold this beautiful trophy as well.
"It has been a while to be in a final for me and I need to be in a final for me and I need to thank my family and friends back home who were really supporting me right through the match.
"I want to say thank you to everyone who made this possible."
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'DO YOU FEEL LIKE A GROWNUP?'
New Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka has been met with some awkward lines of questioning following her stunning win over Petra Kvitova.
Osaka, who became the first Japanese player to be World No.1 after the three-set win, was asked by one reporter "do you feel like a grown up?"
The long-winded question began with the reporter saying: "You're 21. Most 21-year-olds around this time, a lot of them are going back to their second semester of college. They can't rent a car without having to pay a surcharge. The frontal cortex of your brain hasn't even grown yet."
Osaka appeared bemused: "You're using a lot of big words here."
The reporter fought on: "You've done something that I think a lot of people would think is pretty grown up because they're back-to-back. Usually that's very difficult to pull off. Do you feel like a grownup?"
Osaka graciously replied: "Sometimes I do. But I'm not sure if it's feeling grown up or being able to dissociate my feelings. I don't know if that makes sense? Like, you know how some people get worked up about things? That's a very human thing to do. Sometimes, I don't know, I feel like I don't want to waste my energy doing stuff like that. I think about this on the court, too. Like in the third set of my match today, I literally just tried to turn off all my feelings. So that's why I wasn't yelling as much in the third set. I'm not sure if that makes me grown up? I don't think so."
Osaka admitted she was in tears after blowing three championship points during a tense second set against Czech Petra Kvitova.
After winning the first set, Osaka looked home and hosed up 5-3 and 40-0 on Kvitova's serve, but was unable to hold on, allowing Kvitova to force the match into a decisive third set.
Osaka admitted she was emotional when she left the court after the second set for a toilet break.
"Did you not see my tears," she replied to a reporter's question, smiling.'
"You wanted to give me a little, like, hope?"
The break helped Osaka take control of her emotions and refocus, eventually ending the match 7-6(7-2) 5-7 6-4.
"(In the third set) I just felt kind of hollow, like I was a robot, sort of," she said.
"I was just executing my orders. I just did what I've been practicing my whole life in a way.
"I didn't waste any energy reacting too much.
"But then, when it got towards the end, then I started realizing how big the situation was, so then I think I started yelling 'come on' again."
It might have been a tough slog, for the new World No.1, but just don't call it drama.
One reporter's attempt to liken tonight's championship point slip ups to dealing with Serena Williams' massive dummy spit during Osaka's US Open win was met with disapproval from the 21-year-old.
REPORTER: "Apparently you're unable to win a slam without some drama. There was a drama with Serena and drama today with you having all the match points. How do you react to all this? Are you surprised?"
OSAKA: "I don't think it's drama. I had the match points on her serve, so she's supposed to hold her serve. She's one of the best players in the world, so I didn't think it was drama. Like, we just played a third set. If you consider that drama, then…"
After the match, Osaka said she'd looked at notes before the presentation, but forgot most of them – including to smile.
"I forgot to smile," she laughed.
"I was told to smile and I didn't. I was panicking. Yeah, I'm going to be thinking about that for the rest of today."
She'll also be thinking about the prestige that comes with being the No.1 player in women's tennis.
AUSSIES BEATEN IN MIXED DOUBLES FINAL
Local pair Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith have been beaten in the Australian Open mixed doubles final.
The wildcard entries have enjoyed a stellar fortnight at Melbourne Park but were outplayed in the decider on Saturday night, losing 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 to third seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Rajeev Ram.
The pair were the first of four Aussie entries in double finals at the 2019 Open to lose.
On Thursday, Heath Davidson paired with Dylan Alcott to win the quad doubles; a day before Samantha Stosur won the women’s doubles with China’s Zheng Shuai. On Sunday afternoon John Peers has the chance to win his second Australian Open doubles when he teams with Finland’s Henri Kontinen against French specialists Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.
-AAP
.@RajeevRam has some very encouraging words for his worthy runner-up opponents, @astrasharma and @jpatsmith. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/TpT6VsW4u8
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 26, 2019
RICHARD EVANS
It is rare to see a beaten finalist so upbeat as Petra Kvitova was post-match.
Eloquent and smiley, she was aching emotionally in a match where she had her chances she said but was proud of her performance and in simply being on court after the knife attack in December 2016 that almost severed her racquet hand thumb.
“It's hurting a lot, I wanted to win and have the trophy. But I think I already won two years ago. I didn't know if I going to hold the racquet again. I'm holding it, so that's good,” she said.
“I knew it will be very, very difficult because my hand, it's not 100 per cent and never will be. It's just how it is. I'm just trying to take maximum from the minimum. I feel great. I'm playing great tennis. I don't think that I could really imagine the time to be kind of this player again.”
First rate stuff.
And yet she didn’t play badly, that was the rub.
She tried, she really did but did not assert herself enough and, crucially, when it mattered.
Too many break point opportunities missed can do that to you, five alone in the first set when the Czech never lost her serve only to lose her nerve in a first set tie-break in which she merely made up the numbers.
It took though, three scorned championship points from Naomi Osaka to break the ice and offer a feel of what both women were going through in what had been a somewhat anodyne affair until then.
While Osaka went walkabout for 20 minutes or so, the Czech stayed calm, a few shrieks of relief the only insight into the pressure within, an upright bearing that stayed with her throughout. She conducted herself impeccably and lead the embrace across the net at the end, smiling graciously during the presentation, sulking or self-pity inconceivable.
Osaka will appreciate the dignity a losing finalist can bring, Kvitova’s good manners only enhancing, not detracting from the occasion.
The Czech was close to tears but staved them off as she thanked her team during the presentation ceremony. There is a wider perspective here and this was a game of tennis only was her drift. This is a strong athlete and woman.
“I can’t believe I played the final of a grand slam,” she said. “Thank you for sticking with me."
She has returned to the circuit with a slighter frame, a tad gangly, yet plays beautifully. She kept her thoughts to herself when the championship drained away from her and a fairer player out there is inconceivable. A doddle for any umpire.
She did not win this championship but is a champion by any other measure.
Tony Jones has been lashed on social media for what has been described as a “patronizing” and “embarrassing” interview with Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka.
Jones, who headed up Channel 9’s coverage for the women’s final on Saturday night, was slammed as “terrible” and “cringeworthy”.
TONY JONES SLAMMED FOR AWKWARD OSAKA INTERVIEW
Tony Jones has been lashed on social media for what has been described as a “patronizing” and “embarrassing” interview with Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka.
Jones, who headed up Channel 9’s coverage for the women’s final on Saturday night, was slammed as “terrible” and “cringeworthy”.
KVITOVA HOLDS HER HEAD HIGH
RICHARD EVANS
It is rare to see a beaten finalist so upbeat as Petra Kvitova was post-match.
Eloquent and smiley, she was aching emotionally in a match where she had her chances she said but was proud of her performance and in simply being on court after the knife attack in December 2016 that almost severed her racquet hand thumb.
“It's hurting a lot, I wanted to win and have the trophy. But I think I already won two years ago. I didn't know if I going to hold the racquet again. I'm holding it, so that's good,” she said.
“I knew it will be very, very difficult because my hand, it's not 100 per cent and never will be. It's just how it is. I'm just trying to take maximum from the minimum. I feel great. I'm playing great tennis. I don't think that I could really imagine the time to be kind of this player again.”
First rate stuff.
And yet she didn’t play badly, that was the rub.
She tried, she really did but did not assert herself enough and, crucially, when it mattered.
Too many break point opportunities missed can do that to you, five alone in the first set when the Czech never lost her serve only to lose her nerve in a first set tie-break in which she merely made up the numbers.
It took though, three scorned championship points from Naomi Osaka to break the ice and offer a feel of what both women were going through in what had been a somewhat anodyne affair until then.
While Osaka went walkabout for 20 minutes or so, the Czech stayed calm, a few shrieks of relief the only insight into the pressure within, an upright bearing that stayed with her throughout. She conducted herself impeccably and lead the embrace across the net at the end, smiling graciously during the presentation, sulking or self-pity inconceivable.
Osaka will appreciate the dignity a losing finalist can bring, Kvitova’s good manners only enhancing, not detracting from the occasion.
The Czech was close to tears but staved them off as she thanked her team during the presentation ceremony. There is a wider perspective here and this was a game of tennis only was her drift. This is a strong athlete and woman.
“I can’t believe I played the final of a grand slam,” she said. “Thank you for sticking with me."
She has returned to the circuit with a slighter frame, a tad gangly, yet plays beautifully. She kept her thoughts to herself when the championship drained away from her and a fairer player out there is inconceivable. A doddle for any umpire.
She did not win this championship but is a champion by any other measure.
Petra Kvitova says it was a tough defeat to swallow.
"Painful, for sure, I don't know how long it will take me to get over it, but when I look back, I did have my chances."
Kvitova still held a sense of humour during her post-match media address.
"I'm not proud at all right now," she joked
"No, definitely I am, for sure. It will be very bad if I'm not.
"It's hurting a lot today. I wanted to win and have the trophy. But I think I already won two years ago. So for me, it's amazing. I think I still don't really realize that I played the final.
"I think, I mean, I've been through many, many things, not really great ones.
"I think I already won two years ago (when she recovered from the shocking hand injuries she suffered in a horror home invasion), for me it's amazing.
"I didn't know if I'm gonna hold the racquet again. I'm holding it, so that's good.
"I wanted to be back on my greatest level probably as I played before.
"I knew it would be very, very difficult (to make it back) because my hand is not 100 per cent and it never will be, it's just how it is and I'm just trying to take maximum from the minimum."
She says women's tennis is very open, but believes her conqueror Naomi Osaka has all the tools to succeed.
"She is a great one and we'll see what the future will bring, but she has everything to be there (at the top)."
PROUD PETRA'S PAIN
Petra Kvitova says it was a tough defeat to swallow.
"Painful, for sure, I don't know how long it will take me to get over it, but when I look back, I did have my chances."
Kvitova still held a sense of humour during her post-match media address.
"I'm not proud at all right now," she joked
"No, definitely I am, for sure. It will be very bad if I'm not.
"It's hurting a lot today. I wanted to win and have the trophy. But I think I already won two years ago. So for me, it's amazing. I think I still don't really realize that I played the final.
"I think, I mean, I've been through many, many things, not really great ones.
"I think I already won two years ago (when she recovered from the shocking hand injuries she suffered in a horror home invasion), for me it's amazing.
"I didn't know if I'm gonna hold the racquet again. I'm holding it, so that's good.
"I wanted to be back on my greatest level probably as I played before.
"I knew it would be very, very difficult (to make it back) because my hand is not 100 per cent and it never will be, it's just how it is and I'm just trying to take maximum from the minimum."
She says women's tennis is very open, but believes her conqueror Naomi Osaka has all the tools to succeed.
"She is a great one and we'll see what the future will bring, but she has everything to be there (at the top)."
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