MELBOURNE – Iga Swiatek is the strong favourite to land her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, but the picture is considerably less clear if the world No. 1 fails to live up to her top seeding.
With Ashleigh Barty and Serena Williams having hung up their rackets and Naomi Osaka pregnant with her first child, Melbourne Park will almost certainly usher in a new era by crowning a first-time champion on Jan 29.
The only two former winners in the 128-woman field face each other in the opening round.
Victoria Azarenka won her two titles a decade ago, and little has gone right for Sofia Kenin since she triumphed in 2020, although she reached the semi-finals in Hobart last week.
The race to fill the void left by the absences of 2022’s home-grown champion Barty – who is also pregnant – and seven-time winner Williams should be spearheaded by Swiatek, who looked unbeatable at times last season.
The 21-year-old Pole won her second French Open, proved she could also win on hard courts with a first US Open triumph, and racked up a 21st-century record 37-match winning streak.
She said on Saturday that she was ready for an “intense” opening Australian Open match, while paying tribute to Barty for inspiring her to greater heights.
Swiatek begins her campaign on Monday against Jule Neimeier, the German world No. 68 who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2022.
More recently, the pair clashed in the last 16 at the US Open, where Swiatek had to dig deep after dropping the first set before coming through 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 and going on to win the tournament.
“We played in the US Open, and you saw how intense that match was, how tough,” she said.
“It’s not going to be easy. Any match in a Grand Slam is always more intense and more stressful than other tournaments, but I’ll be ready for it.”
She added of Barty: “She gave me a lot in terms of my motivation and my willingness to practise even more and to have more variety on court.
“When I played against her, I felt she just had all these different game styles and slices. I don’t know how that’s possible.
“I have huge respect for Ash. She really gave me huge motivation at the beginning of last season to get even better.”
Now she has her sights on a maiden Melbourne Park title, which would leave her needing only a Wimbledon championship to complete a career Grand Slam of all four majors.
Swiatek was thrashed 6-4, 6-1 by Danielle Collins in 2022 in her first hard-court Grand Slam semi-final, and the American looms in the last 16 if the seedings hold.
Unsurprisingly, the bookmakers rate powerful baseliners Aryna Sabalenka, champion in Adelaide in the lead-up to the Australian Open, and Jessica Pegula, who helped the United States win the United Cup, as the best chances of taking the title after Swiatek.
Charismatic American teenager Coco Gauff, the 2022 French Open finalist, is in form after opening the season with the Auckland Open title.
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina’s big serve gives her a chance of a second Grand Slam title, while world No. 4 Caroline Garcia is enjoying a late-career renaissance and won the 2022 WTA Finals on hard court.
Collins, Barbora Krejcikova, Belinda Bencic, Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova have all shown the sort of early-season form to run deep into the tournament.
Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur is seeded second after reaching the finals at the last two Grand Slams, losing to Rybakina at Wimbledon and Swiatek at Flushing Meadows.
Her reliance on dazzling racket skills rather than power might work against her, but there would surely be few more popular winners than the bubbly 28-year-old.
REUTERS, AFP
