Canada escaped Russia to reach the ATP Cup final, Shapovalov edged another Russian mystery man Safiullin 64 in the third, Medvedev trounced Felix and then the Canadians won the doubles 10-7 in the super breaker, Felix and Shapo combining for the heroics vs Med and Safiullin. Canada vs Spain for the ATP Cup.
Qualifier Maxime Cressy, ranked 112, beat Hijikata, Opelka, Munar, and Dimitrov 75 76 (11-9) to reach the Melbourne final vs Nadal who beat Ruusuvouri 64 75.
Monfils vs Khachanov are in the Adelaide final after beating Kokkinakis and Cilic respectively.
In Adelaide Barty edged Swiatek in the semi 62 64. Swiatek in fine form after crushing Fernandez in the 2R.
Amanda Anisimova may be breaking out, in her Melbourne semi she trounced Kasatkina 62 60. She faces Sasnovich in the final. Darren Cahill is working with Double A…
AA reached out to Darren Cahill in the off-season and has enjoyed his help this week in Melbourne. āWeāre just starting out and getting to know each other. Weāll see how it goes and hopefully it could become a long-term thing. Iām hoping that will be the case.”
Osaka defaulted from her Melbourne semi with abdominal pain.
In Sydney next week Emma Raducanu has drawn Swiatek, her old junior rival.
Not so hot starts…Isner, Nishioka, Q Wang, Svitolina, Murray, McDonald.
Update: Canada won the ATP Cup – Felix beat Agut and Shapo beat Busta, both in straight sets. But it still does not count as a final win for Felix who is still 0-8 in career ATP singles finals. Monfils beat Khachanov to win Adelaide. It was the first meeting between the 35 and 25 year olds who have both been top 30 stalwarts. Nadal beat Cressy 76 63 to win Melbourne. Anismova and Halep won WTA titles.
Scoop Malinowski · January 8, 2022 at 8:57 pm
Cressy quotes vs DImitrov: āIām very pleased with my tennis,ā said Cressy. āNothing happens by luck. Iāve been working really, really hard with my team on and off the court in this preseason and have big goals. Iām very proud of myself for staying focused the whole tournament so far. I played incredible today and Iām really proud of myself.ā He says he’s been a serve and volleyer since age 14, loves to play that way.
Scoop Malinowski · January 9, 2022 at 10:05 am
Novak Djokovic, perhaps the foremost athlete on the planet, is here to defend his title. He was approved to fly here by Tennis Australia, the Vic Govt & the Prime Minister himself. He followed our rules. If deported, our reputation as a great sporting nation may never be the same. – Former AO tournament director Paul McNamee
Scoop Malinowski · January 9, 2022 at 10:09 am
Australia really thought Novak would simply accept their decision and fly back to Serbia. Now they have mounting protests, a very expensive lawsuit, proof of their lies, an innocent lower ranked player deported, a widening diplomatic crisis… its backfired on them SPECTACULARLY. – PavvyG
Scoop Malinowski · January 9, 2022 at 1:38 pm
MiloÅ” NinkoviÄ, soccer player in AUS, told Kurir: If you had Covid in another country, you canāt enter AUS for 14 days, but here nobody is asking the question how come Nadal entered the country before two weeks have passed from his positive test. How come?
Vijay · January 9, 2022 at 5:15 pm
What all of this highlights is the need for tennis to have a governing body that represents the players. There was a discussion about this on TP a while ago.
It should be clear who is working for whom, what the contractual obligations are, etc. In particular, if a tournament treats some subset of players unfairly, or more specifically, violates contractual obligations, then that tournament is no longer sanctioned.
In this case, if that means no AO in Australia, so be it. It’s an embarrassment that men’s tennis can’t come together at a time like this. This is not about Novak’s freedoms etc. It’s about whether or not Tennis Australia can, in a simple and straightforward way, state the rules for entry to Australia. Presumably they could coordinate this with the national govt.
But they didn’t, and couldn’t get an agreement in writing. That has led to the humiliation of the biggest draw in the game. This must have consequences. Some questions:
– When will Craig Tiley be fired?
– How much will Novak get in a lawsuit?
– How much will other players (Renata, for instance) get in the lawsuit?
– Will this lead to more support for Novak’s player union?
– Will tennis have the guts to say, no AO for 10 year? We’ll substitute it with Indian Wells or Miami Open or something else.
Like I said above, it’s important to know who works for whom. Tiley is eminently replaceable. Novak and the top players are not. Nobody wants to watch three sets of a Rafa vs “Mr Nobody” thrashing. That’s not what gave Tennis Australia all this sponsorship money.
Yes, the *conservative* Australian government has behaved disgracefully. But this is election season, and no one expects any better from them. Moreover, Australia has a track record of treating immigrants with some callousness, especially those trapped in an immigration legal limbo.
But knowing and dealing with all of this is Tennis Australia’s job. If they can’t do it, they shouldn’t have a tournament.
Scoop Malinowski · January 9, 2022 at 6:00 pm
Vijay, I agree, Australia does not deserve to run a Grand Slam anymore, transfer it to Tokyo, India or Dubai. This whole fiasco has exposed the entire tennis establishment is anti Novak Djokovic. That’s beyond refute now. It’s concrete obvious if you observe what everyone says and which other key figures are afraid to say anything. It does not even matter what the corrupt Australian govt decides today – we know they are compromised and dishonorable. I found this info below which is frightening to comprehend the level of compromised, blackmailed, evil opposing Djokovic. Australia needs an exorcist. There is no honor or glory to win a tennis tournament in that country at this point in time. All good things come to an end and unbelievably politics, grudges, bias and hate have destroyed a Grand Slam major tennis tournament.
PEDOPHILES RUN AUSTRALIA
Did you know that ex PM John Howard placed a 90 year suppression order on high profile pedos? Due to those suppression orders the 28 Pedos that remain and possibly still operate in high positions of power. FUTURE VICTIMS
https://youtu.be/X63DeljvoH0