It turned out to be a mixed day at the Australian Open, where Coco Gauff, the defending US Open champion, sailed into the second round on Monday. However, there was no such luck for Andy Murray, one of the grand old men of world tennis, or Naomi Osaka, the comeback queen.
Back to the Coco flavour first. Gauff whipped Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-0. To borrow a tennis phrase, it was a regulation win.
She had torn the form book to shreds in New York last year when she won the US Open.
Some feel she is the perfect replacement for Serena Williams as the African-American face who can dominate the tennis world. But that would be too much to hope for, as, for sheer longevity and winning an assortment of titles, Serena was the diva, the queen. From her ghetto days of tennis in drug-ridden Compton on the West Coast to rising like a phoenix, she had seen hardships and then stardom.
In contrast, Gauff has been more blessed, more well supported in tennis by the United States Tennis Association (USTA). On Monday, Gauff was nervous in the beginning but eventually found her right game to attack.
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“Yes, I was a little nervous in the first set,” she said after the match. “I later found my return working well. The key was to serve well towards the end of the match. I just told myself, relax a bit.”
Osaka, a former champion now on the comeback trail, was outplayed by Caroline Garcia, the 16th seed, and fell at the first hurdle. Osaka had won the title in Melbourne twice in the past, in 2019 and 2021. However, from 2022 onwards, she has been off-colour, first struggling with mental-health issues and then having Shai, her first child.
Since her return to the tennis circuit in July, Osaka has worked hard. In terms of fitness, she looked trim, with her bright-coloured outfit catching the eye under the floodlights. But as far as her game was concerned, the rust showed. No matter how many extra hours a player trains, spends in the gym and so on, match situations are entirely different.
The court craft and movement come from memory as well, but to execute a game-plan is not easy after a hiatus. Osaka knows she will not be wining a Major so soon, but she will keep trying. She was there in Brisbane and now has made the Australian Open part of her return. Looking ahead, she will be richer for the experience from these two events. How soon she can hit top gear is now the big question.
As for Murray, he played flat tennis and lost to Tomás Martín Etcheverry in Round 1. The 4-6, 2-6, 2-6 loss to Etcheverry was a big one, one that left Murray sad. He knows he is struggling to string together the points and age is catching up.
“It was a poor performance,” he said. “It was very, very flat. It was an amazing crowd out there, I felt like they were trying to pick me up, support and get behind me.”
However, that support alone could not work for the former Wimbledon champion. Retirement is once again being mentioned after Murray’s defeat. He is aware that he is no longer the fittest player around, and younger ones are knocking hard. But then, when you have characters like Murray and Stan Wawrinka still around in the first few days of Grand Slam, its sheer nostalgia for the crowds.
For a man who needed a hip replacement, Murray has done well to keep fighting as a competitor. Results, however, are also important in the eventual analysis. This was a bad day for Sir Andy.
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