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Player quarantine makes the Australian Open a Grand Slam different from any before, but the favorites haven't changed.
While 2020 was a crazy year, who knows if tennis will get back to normal any time soon. Right now, most top players are in Australia as usual, but instead of playing tennis as usual, they're shut in their hotel rooms doing two weeks of quarantine. They can only practice for five hours a day, and have to spend the rest of the day by themselves in their rooms.
But one thing it's definitely made them appreciate is the opportunity to play, and they'll be raring to go once tournaments finally begin again. If they are healthy, they want to get on the court and compete, win or lose.
At the Australian Open, which begins in two weeks, the traditional greats will be there -- Grand Slam winners such as Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Dominic Thiem are quarantining like the others, though in a fancier setting in Adelaide than the rest in Melbourne. The same goes with the top WTA women, like Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep and Serena Williams.
Some of the Australians who have been Down Under haven't had to quarantine, and are practicing and training as normal. And some players -- 72 of them in all -- are having to do a hard quarantine. They can't leave their rooms at all. Whether they will be in any shape to compete will be one of the questions of the tournament.
This unique build-up makes the Australian Open a Grand Slam that's different from any before it. Still, some things will be much the same.
The Serbian Djokovic has won eight titles in Melbourne. On the hardcourts, he is so consistent, powerful, and his backhand is legendary. He has developed a phenomenal first serve, and these days, he is much more comfortable at the net.
Nadal can get hurt a lot, but when he is playing, he is totally locked in. His heavy forehand could be the best, ever. At the beginning when he started on tour, the Spaniard was already popular but fans knew that Nadal’s backhand, his second serve, and finishing points at the net needed work. It wasn’t overnight. During the past five years, his backhand became sharper and stronger, his second serve went piercing into the air, and he became more confident at the net -- soft touches putting the ball away.
He has won 20 Grand Slams, tied with Roger Federer. The Swiss decided not to play at the Australian Open, because he isn’t quite ready to return from knee surgery.
Nadal, Djokovic and Thiem are the favorites, but there are some others can win it all, such as Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev.
On the women's side the past two years, there have been a few stunners at the Grand Slams -- youngsters Canadian Biance Andreescu, American Sofia Kenin, and Poland's Iga Swiatek have come from nowhere to take the title. It is possible they can win a lot more majors, like Serena and Venus Williams have done, but they will also have to be consistent, week after week, like the Williamses have been during their dominance. There have been some champions who have won two Slams or more, like Osaka, Halep and Kvitova, but they tend to be up and down, while other top players like the No. 1 Ash Barty and Karolina Pliskova have yet to win a Slam.
At the Australian Open, most of the players won't have done their usual pre-Slam training, so it could be even more of a mental as physical competition than usual. And the mental competition is where the big names like Djokovic, Nadal, Serena, and such have usually differentiated themselves, so the rest of the players have to not only play fantastic, but they have to concentrate and compete, every second.
That's something they can also work on while in their rooms.
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