Australian Summer Heats Up as Australian Open 2014 Approaches

The Australian Open 2014, the first tennis Grand Slam competition of the year will be underway on January 13 at the Melbourne Park and tennis champs and aspirants are already Down Under participating in lead-up competitions and getting acclimatized to the Australian summer. Australia is starting to feel the heat of summer and the tennis rivalry as well as the weather gear up to generate a lot more heat. Australian Open singles prize money this year is US$2.35 million. Who will be the champion this year? Will Novak Djokovic give another outstanding performance and hold the year’s first Grand Slam trophy aloft once again in 2014?

Seeds

The latest seeding at least for the men still bear the names of some of the best in tennis: Rafael Nadal, the current world number one, followed by Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro. Former world number one Roger Federer has dropped to sixth place. On the women’s side, American Serena Williams leads the pack, with Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Comeback of the champions

Last year’s champions Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka will defend their titles as No. 2 seeds. Djokovic has won the Australian Open four times, in 2008 and three years in a row since 2011. If things go according to plan, he is on course to meet fiercest rival, Rafael Nadal in the finals. Wimbledon champion in 2013, Andy Murray, seeded No. 4, is still recovering from back surgery he received last fall. He is on course, provided he quickly gets physically fit for the demanding championship games, to meet former champion, Roger Federer in the quarter final, Rafael Nadal in the semi-final and Novak Djokovic in the final. This is a going to be a very tall order for the Scot.

Nadal has won the Australian Open only once in 2009 while Federer held the trophy four times, in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010, Serena Williams has won the first Grand Slam of the year five times in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. Her most recent win in the Australian Open was in 2010.

Epic battles

Once again tennis fans are expecting to be treated to some exciting and thrilling epic battles. There have been legendary matches played at the Australian Open. The longest game played in the modern era was the final match between Djokovic and Nadal in 2012. It lasted for five hours and 53 minutes, with Djokovic emerging as champion. The longest match with the number of games employing tie-break scoring was 81 games. It happened in the quarter final game between Andy Roddick of the U.S. and Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco in 2003. On the women’s side, the longest match lasted four hours and 44 minutes in the 2011 fourth round game played by Francesca Schiavone of Italy and Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova. It is still the longest match that had been played in a Grand Slam women’s singles event.

Familiar faces

Pete Sampras will be at this year’s Australian Open to celebrate the 20th year of his first Australian Open win. He won the Aussie Open twice, first in 1994 and again in 1997. Boris Becker on the other hand returns to Australia after 15 years as the new coach of Novak Djokovic.

Photo credit: Taken by pfctdayelise under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.