THE NEW SEASON OF TENNIS WILL BE REVEALING
BY GARY GERRARD
A new tennis season began a couple of weeks ago. Your archetypal summer sport, the year begins in the southern hemisphere and under the sultry intensity of the Melbourne sky. It is imbued with such fervour that the first of the year’s Grand Slams begins in earnest on Monday, the Australian Open. In past times, the event was held in December, thereby coming at the end of a jam packed year. Thus many players swerved the extended flights across and down to the bottom of the planet (not that there really is such a thing as a ‘bottom of the planet’) and many have had their names etched into the metal of the trophy. John Lloyd was Runner-Up, and it’s probably a contributing factor to the reason Margaret Court won the Major 11 times. Yet in the 80’s it underwent a facelift, moved to the other side of Melbourne, switched from grass to hard court and built a sizeable stadium with a closing roof. More importantly, the date of the Major was switched to the beginning of the year in January (and the height of the Australian summer, pretty sweltering!)
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On the face of it, the roster for tennis tournaments has launched pretty much like any other year, but with one tiny snag. This snag is that a chink has appeared in the armour of perhaps the greatest quartet ever to have faced one another across nets. Last year, Marin Cilic won the year’s final Grand Slam, the US Open, having bested Kei Nishikori to be crowned Champion. As championships go, fairly run-of-the-mill in it’s execution, smooth running to execute a paradigm shift on court. For 2014 was the first time in 9 years that a Grand Slam final hadn’t been contested featuring Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray, dubbed “The Big Four,” personifications of the Grand Slams themselves.
Casting one’s my mind back to the turn of the millennium, it was a transitional era for tennis. A changing of the guard and none were truly sure who would take the mantle of the next great. At that time Pete Sampras was in the twilight of his career, having been bested at Wimbledon in 2001 by a young upstart known as Roger Federer. Andre Agassi was slowing down after a career renaissance, and starting a family with the great Steffi Graf.
The women’s game saw a similar transitional period. Lindsey Davenport and Martina Hingis proved a lacklustre substitute for Steffi Graf, Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario and Monica Seles and the force of the William’s Sisters were in their infancy. Tim Henman was still the nexus for vain British hope for having a home-grown Grand Slam victor, where only Greg Rusedski had gotten close in recent years, as US Open Runner-Up in 1997. Only tour savants on the junior circuit knew anything about Andy Murray. Another Andy won a Major that year, Andy Roddick, attaining the world record for youngest male World Number 1 at the same time, aged 20, shattering the record held by Jimmy Connors (22). Never would the American reach those heights again, valiantly falling at the finish line 3 times at Wimbledon… yet he has millions of dollars and a model wife for solace.
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This year doesn’t indicate such choppy waters, yet. Domination is still the tone of the tennis court. Since the 2005 Australian Open (won by Marat Safin), the Big Four have won all but three Majors, all but two Tennis Masters/ATP World Tour Finals and have won both Olympic singles and doubles medals (Del Potro being the exception in 2012, winning the bronze medal in London). Furthermore, they have garnered a handsome $266,584,787 in prize money, not to mention the lucrative sponsorship endorsements!
Nothing lasts forever, change is the sole inevitability- a sore lesson Roger Federer of course has learned (still holder of more Grand Slams than any man – notching up 17 – and spending longer at number 1 than anyone in history) and one Rafael Nadal is learning as his knee constantly gives out on him increasingly (having managed to equal Pete Sampras’ prior record of 14 Majors in the process).
Priorities also change, with Federer being as fertile off court as he is on it, father to two sets of twins, now married – as is Djokovic, becoming a father himself several months ago, Murray tying the knot seeming in the offing too, now engaged to long time partner, Kim Sears. Yet the hunger still lingers and it staves off the designs of young upstarts like Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios, Kyrgios however is plagued by back problems that he is trying to play down. Meanwhile, one of the two players to win a Grand Slam during the era of the Big Four’s dominion – Juan Martin Del Potro – has pulled out, due to a wrist injury. So the Four Horsemen of the Netted Court seem secure in their stranglehold of the Grand Slams that have become accustomed to nearing their names, for now. And unless I am mistaken, Andy Murray has some more opportunities to etch his name into metal. For I feel this Australian Open to have the Scotsman’s name all over it.
The poor cousin of the Big Four, Andy Murray would doubtlessly have been a dominant player in the absence of the other three. Some argue he falls a little short of the other’s standard. Others maintain he was latest to blossom. Arguments over his form and record .The triumph before a home crowd – divested of the usual pressure inherent in winning a Grand Slam – acted as a catalyst, winning the US Open in the same year and Wimbledon the following year. Even so, what makes him the fourth wheel on tennis’ Golden Age vehicle?
The reason is that the Scotsman ,who is only British when he wins, has consistently maintained a strong record in Masters tournaments against his grandiose trio of peers (two of whom are living legends already) upholding a good record of wins against them and holding a strong, regular position amid contemporaries in the rankings.
Last year saw a bit of a lull in Murray’s performance and as a result, his ranking has suffered, dropping to 6. Yet adversity is not uncommon to greatness. In 2007, Federer won all the Grand Slams save the French Open, the second year in a row he’d achieved this. In 2008, he lost all the Grand Slams save the US and the number 1 spot, only to retain it and win the French for the first time in 2009. Andy Murray has had sufficient practice in Melbourne in order to pave his way to championship glory and Grand Slam number 3, 3 being the magic number in the magically hot land of Oz when everywhere else seems freezing.
The major players of the Majors have a good few years left in them, yet Federer, 33, shows no sign of relenting. Martina Navratilova, for example, competed in doubles into her late forties. Nadal is keen to close the gap on Roger, if his knee holds and Djokovic is keen to boost his Grand Slam tally into double figures. Yet Andy Murray will work as hard as possible to stage a comeback and his chances of succeeding are high. His new coach , Amelie Mauresmo, is nothing if not schooled in adversity. Overcoming controversy over her gender identity in order to win singles and doubles Majors herself, notwithstanding Andy Murray witnessing the Dunblane massacre too. He has the strength of character to last and to see through to the end, 2015 is just the beginning for Andy Murray, who will be one of the Big Four who will bridge the gap between one era and the next.
As for Serena Williams, she is in a similar boat as Roger Federer. Having waded in on the all-time greats in her own inimitable manner, one does wonder how long her record of Grand Slam winning can last, having lasted nearly 16 years already. Having won 18 singles Majors, she has already tied with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert and sits behind Helen Wills-Moody (19), Steffi Graf (22) and Margaret Court (24) and 13 doubles Grand Slams with her older sister Venus (who herself has won 7 singles Grand Slams). Turning 34 too in September, one can only assume the length remaining in their careers. It must be one of the hardest realisations for a sporting great, when facing retirement, it must be akin to experiencing their own mortality decades too early. A life encapsulated by wondrous wealth and accolade, cut agonisingly short, cheers merely an echo. Doing what you love is a torrid affair, short lived, needful and only of any worth whilst you’re young… the same will be happening to Kyrgios and Dimitrov in years to come and another will take up the baton from the
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