If you were thinking about the biggest storylines of this Australian Open so far, what would you argue has been the pick?
When I look at our internal numbers for readership and how our podcast and social content has performed, it’s not the stories I might have forecast prior to the event. Fans are grumbling about the experience becoming an ‘elbows out’ experience. Social media influencers, influencing the way we consume the event. Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka being banned from wearing their Whoop bracelets. Coco Gauff unhappy her racquet smash was broadcast from the bowels of Melbourne Park. Naomi Osaka dressing as a jellyfish.
I’m writing this BEFORE the men’s semi-finals, who know what will happen. Maybe Sinner and Alcaraz will both lose, maybe we’ll get some explosive, incredible tennis that absolutely rocks us. So far, though, we haven’t seen many matches or storylines that have captured the hearts of Australian sports fans.
As was noted in this excellent piece, the tournament has been one-sided on court. Chris de Silva pointed out…
“In the men's draw, just 20 matches have gone through to five sets, down from 29 last year at the same stage. Straight sets results in the men's draw have also skyrocketed, up from 45 for the entire tournament last year to 61 and counting this year. From the fourth round onwards in the women's draw, just one of 12 matches has gone to three sets. Each of the four quarterfinals ended in straight sets.”
The kids might say the tournament has been ‘mid’. There’s not much that can be done about that, as the AFL discovered last year, sometimes you just get a lopsided edition of your product.
Yet, particularly in the men’s, it creates a tricky dynamic. If SinCaraz is the only game that matters, fans are conditioned only to care about that rivalry and invest less in the rest of the field.
Imagine if one of them got injured or incurred some kind of disciplinary suspension that kept them off the court for an extended period.
Which is why the AO has been wise to ensure the tennis doesn’t always have to matter at Melbourne Park. The event goes way beyond that, you could argue it’s a music festival with a tennis tournament attached, which is fine by the way.
But part of me misses complaining about the epic matches that went too late and the annual conversation about a compromised tournament as a consequence of marathon late nights of action.
I guess there really is no pleasing journalists.
