The Daily Serve: All the key moments and highlights of Day 4 from Melbourne Park
Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka is playing her best tennis in almost three years, and the sport is better for it, writes Callum Dick, as the Australian Open action heats up.
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The action at Melbourne Park continues to heat up as we get a clearer picture of the path to glory.
Callum Dick runs through the aces, faults and we pick out some of the key moments you may have missed on day 4.
ACES
AWESOME OSAKA
Two-time Aus Open champ Naomi Osaka is playing her best tennis in close to three years and that should be a cause for celebration from tennis fans. Her R2 win over Karolina Muchova was her best grand slam performance in a long time. At her peak she was one of the highest profile athletes on the planet and when she took time off to start a family and speak openly about her mental health it was a massive deal in the sporting world. It is easy to forget she is still only 27 years old – and with the form she has shown so far, could be a serious threat.
DEMON AN ANGEL
He’s become the poster boy of Australian tennis and it’s the little things about Alex de Minaur that makes us so proud to call him our own. On Tuesday night the world No. 8 was about to serve for the second set when he noticed a new ball had been included in the older balls. It would have been a competitive advantage for de Minaur to serve with the newer ball, but instead he alerted the umpire and his opponent to the error and refused to use it. A classy gesture that did not surprise anybody that has watched him over the years.
FAULTS
CRUSH NOT LUSH
Record crowds are one thing and are certainly worth crowing about for organisers. But to what end? Huge numbers have flocked to Melbourne but punters are growing frustrated with long wait times to watch tennis or grab a beer. When big numbers overlap with night session attendees the typical areas of congregation like Grand Slam Oval and Garden Square are more crowd crush than lush. Long lines for a beverage and hip food options follow even longer lines to get in to watch on outside courts. “The ticket numbers outweigh the areas – let alone the seats on the courts … we waited an hour outside one and just gave up,” one attendee said.
WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?
Tennis has been hailed as a world leader in gender equality and justifiably so. The prizemoney at majors is now identical and the top women are raking in just as much as the men in endorsement deals. But a quick look at the player boxes at Melbourne Park this week suggests there is still some room for improvement. Coaching and support staff of the top players is almost exclusively dominated by men, both on the ATP and WTA side of things. If tennis truly wants to become a bastion for gender equality, the coaches’ box might be the next place to address.
HOW TENNIS POWER COUPLE STAY ON THE BALL
– Lauren Wood
Broadcasters, player preferences, draw balance – tournament organisers face a plethora of layers when generating the next day’s schedule.
And that’s without accounting for relationships.
For top Aussie hope Alex de Minaur and seeded Brit Katie Boulter – who became engaged just last month – an overlap of their first round matches meant they were forced to watch for score updates on the big screens at changes of ends, and listen out for crowd noise from across Melbourne Park.
“I kind of wish his score was popping up on my screen, but it wasn’t,” Boulter said of their Tuesday evening schedule clash.
“I think at times, you know, it’s obviously difficult to know that he’s playing a match, and you’re kind of hearing cheers here and there, and you’re hoping that’s for him, but you never know.
“You know, ultimately, until I actually heard -- I think I heard his mum’s voice from the crowd. That was the first thing I heard before he came (to my match).
“I kind of felt comfortable that he had won and, you know, that I could fully relax.”
De Minaur said after his opening round victory over Botic van de Zandschulp that he had been sneaking updates via the Rod Laver Arena crowds and wanted to jet off to catch the end of his fiancee’s win.
“It is tough playing the matches. Ultimately, just because there is a scoreboard that keeps alternating with different results throughout the day, and then all of a sudden you get -- you don’t really want to be thinking about it, because you want to be focusing on your own match. Then all of a sudden you see the results of Katie’s match,” he said.
“You try not to pay too much attention and focus on yourself, but the sheer fact that it’s always coming around, it makes it difficult.”
Such are the breaks of engagement to a fellow tour member.
Boulter, 28, said there had been “definitely small habits” that she picked up from watching de Minaur in action.
“Even watching him on the tennis court, we are very different,” she said.
“We don’t play the same way, but there are certain things that I see his brain working around. So, you know, when he’s manoeuvring someone around the court and it’s very tactical, I’m not that kind of player.
“So for me to actually see that, I start thinking to myself, ‘Why am I not doing that, why am I not trying different things?’
“Even though I can hit the bigger shots and go after them, and that’s always going to be my power play, I think seeing things like that and the way he operates, really the small things I can learn from and what he does in the big moments.
“That’s really the next step for me, and even talking to him about that is fascinating.”
EYES ON THE GROUND
NO LATE GAMES, PLEASE
Scheduling is always a hot topic for punters, players and most definitely organisers and it’s clear where women’s world number one Aryna Sabalenka stands.
Sabalenka, a two-time AO winner, said she doesn’t mind day or night fixtures but “hated” when she had to play after a men’s match under lights, meaning she’d get less downtime for her favourite activities (especially in Melbourne).
“I like to play both (day and night), like 7pm, but not second after men’s. I hate it,” she said.
“You can just start at midnight. But also I like the early matches, because if you win, you’re done for the day.
“You can go, you can chill, you can go shopping probably, because next day there is no match on the next day. Or you can go for a good dinner.”
That sounds like an ideal day to us too.
Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is another who doesn’t like the night games so he can recover and get some sleep.
What we do know though is both finals are played at night, but they probably won’t mind it late if the chance to become an Australian Open champion is up for grabs.
THOUGHTS WITH LA
Tristan Boyer might have one of the showcase matches to prepare for on Thursday but his mind his partly back home in LA.
Boyer will face Australian star Alex de Minaur and while the prospect of taking on “The Demon” in front of a home crowd is one thing, his family dealing with the pending fire crisis is front of mind for the 23-year-old American with his father Chris having to evacuate the family home.
“One thing that you focus on a lot (as an athlete) is just controlling your controllables and what you can control. That’s just a general thing. This kind of falls into that category,” Boyer said.
It’s something that I can’t really do anything about right now, but I mean, obviously when I come off the court and after I’ve done all the prep and everything, yeah, it’s crazy what’s happening.
“I mean, I’m from Altadena. My dad had to evacuate our house. Luckily it’s okay, but we have friends and family who are homeless now. It’s really, really devastating to see.”
Boyer, who is ranked 136th, said “it’s hard” to focus but he is hoping to provide a boost to those back home with what he can achieve.
“I just want to give people good news. We have friends there, and they’re following me. So, yeah, I just want to do the best I can for them and hopefully gets resolved quickly.”
Originally published as The Daily Serve: All the key moments and highlights of Day 4 from Melbourne Park
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