2018 Aussie Open Review

2018 has kicked off with a bang with another successful Australian Open. Roger hit 20 grand slam titles, Wozniacki FINALLY won her first grand slam as well as reclaimed her Number 1 spot in the world, upsets, headlines, and much more! As much as I wanted to stay up and watch every match, like I did last year, I needed my sleep.

Roger Federer #20

This man is not human. He does not get hurt, he still plays like he is in his mid 20's and he is one of the last original Big 4 that has won a major in the last couple of years. Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, even Wawrinka have all been plagued with injuries. Roger is the first male to achieve this kind of record. In terms of overall, including the women's game, he is still behind Serena, Margaret Court, and Steffi Graf. The next question I would ask after this would be, how many more majors can this guy win? I predict that once he starts losing in the early rounds frequently over the next couple of years, people will then start asking about retirement which does not look likely anytime soon.

During Roger's run to number 20, he had to defeat: Struff, Gasquet, Fucsovics, Berdych, Chung and finally Cilic. He didn't even drop a set before the final of the Australian Open. In order for Federer to keep winning like this, he has to NOT drop a set. The quicker he finishes matches, the longer he lasts in the tournament. That is probably why I was nervous when it went to five sets against Cilic (can you tell I am a Federer fan?).

Wozniacki Finally Did It

FINALLY. Wozniacki has finally broken through in a Grand Slam final. Before winning her first slam, she had been Number 1 in the world for 67 weeks. 67 weeks??? I feel like that if you are Number 1 for that many weeks, you should have won a major by now but here we are. She had spent more time as Number 1 player in the world than, Venus, Capriati, Clijsters and Muguruza COMBINED.

Her match against Simona Halep was one for the record books for women's Grand Slam finals. I thought she lost it after the second set but once she became composed, she took that pressure and pushed it back towards Halep who couldn't hang on.

Tennys Sandgren Controversy

Now, before I write this part of the article, I do not like going into political views and I don't want to have arguments over politics. Tennys Sandgren had an unbelievable tournament. He beat two Top 10 players on his magical run down under, Dominic Thiem and a returning from injury Stan Wawrinka.

Tennys is a 26-year-old Tennessee native who deleted most of his old tweets that showed he followed, retweeted and favorited accounts that most people would not follow, being alt-right accounts. After his loss to Hyeon Chung, he then followed up with his own statement;

“You seek to put people in these little boxes so that you can order the world in your already assumed preconceived ideas. You strip away any individuality for the sake of demonizing by way of the collective. With a handful of follows and some likes on Twitter, my fate has been sealed in your minds. To write an edgy story, to create sensationalist coverage, there are a few lengths you wouldn't go to to mark me as the man you desperately want me to be. You would rather perpetuate propaganda machines instead of researching information from a host of angles and perspectives while being willing to learn, change, and grow. You dehumanize with pen and paper and turn neighbor against neighbor. In so doing, you may actually find you're hastening the hell you wish to avoid, the hell we all wish to avoid. It is my firm belief that the highest value must be placed on the virtue of each individual, regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation. It's my job to continue on this journey with the goal of becoming the best me I can and to embody the love Christ has for me, for I answer to Him and Him alone. I'll take questions about the match, if you guys don't mind. Thank you. If you have any questions about the match.”

Now, this was said after Serena Williams tweeted out a photo saying that she will not stay silent while he is playing and representing the United States on tour. For me, I just want to focus on the tennis aspect of who he is. He had an AMAZING run. He outlasted all of the top-ranked Americans and made a name for himself on the tour. Let us just stick to tennis and not involve the politics.

Hyeon Chung, The Superstar

We honestly should have seen this coming. He won the ATP NextGen finals and has propelled himself to a new career-high ranking of 29 in the world. His big groundstrokes and his ability to cover the court is something to marvel at. He beat three seeded players and beat his fellow NextGen compatriot Alexander Zverev and his very own idol, Novak Djokovic, on his way to playing Roger Federer in the final.

His retirement during the semi finals against Federer was disappointing. I am fully aware of how bad his blisters were on his foot. They were just gross. If you don't believe me, check out our Twitter and Instagram page where you can see that the blister looks like someone took a spoon and dug it into his foot. Not for the faint-hearted.

Overall, this Australian Open was one for the books. I only wished I stayed up later to watch most of the matches. Sleep is for the weak.