The organizers of the Wimbledon tournament must have been biting their fingers watching the last Australian Open.
Seven months after the British fiasco, the choices of the All England Club and the English government are still having repercussions for the ATP and the WTA.
Novak Djokovic, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina took revenge through their rackets for the controversial treatment, still to this day, suffered last summer during the third Grand Slam tournament of the season.
Djokovic was untouchable, as expected, from start to finish. His victory against Stéfanos Tsitsipás in the final allowed him to win a tenth title in Melbourne.
With this triumph, he found Monday morning the first world rank. Where he should have ended the year 2022.
PHOTO MANAN VATSYAYANA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES Novak Djokovic
Last June, the organizers of the Wimbledon tournament chose to ban the participation of Russian and Belarusian players in response to the invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine.
This decision caused a lot of reaction. On the one hand, Russian or Belarusian athletes were not responsible for the war. On the other hand, because at Wimbledon, the players do not represent their country. It is not an international competition like the Olympics or the Davis Cup. The color of the flag is therefore irrelevant in this context.
The two professional tennis associations condemned this decision of the most prestigious tournament in history. Thus, to avoid penalizing players banned from the rankings, the ATP and the WTA have chosen by mutual agreement to lift the allocation of points for all participants.
In 2023, the effects of this chaos are still being felt.
Djokovic started the Australian Open as the fourth seed. With the 2000 points he should have received at Wimbledon, he would have been the favourite. A priori, these are only three ranking places. However, the first seed has an advantage in each of the tournaments by facing lower ranked players.
Djokovic could have been caught in the trap, but his game is too fair. He went through all his opponents like a bulldozer on the main street.
In search of recognition
On the female side, the effects were more significant.
Wimbledon winner, underrated Rybakina, was flawless in Australia. She lost in the final, but the quality of her game and her ability to maintain rallies even in difficulty confirmed the value of her triumph at Wimbledon. This title was no accident and his rise is not a flash in the pan.
PHOTO SANDRA SANDERS, REUTERS ARCHIVES Elena Rybakina
However, things could have turned out badly for the Kazakh of Russian origin. Since she was also deprived of the 2000 points, she arrived in Australia in 25e place in the world rankings. In reality, she should have been eighth and benefited from a much more advantageous table.
In the fourth round, she was up against favorite Iga Świątek. Never a confrontation in the first week would have pitted two players of the top 10. Rybakina had the best because she managed to compete from the back of the court and limit Świątek. The Polish lost in the exchange. If she had really faced a player outside the top 20, she would surely have had her ticket for the second week. With a player of caliber top 10 in the paws, she was ousted too quickly.
Rybakina jumped 15 places in the standings. She is ranked tenth in the world. Until June, however, it will be necessary to add 2000 imaginary points to its positioning to know its real value. If things had been done properly, she would be fifth in the world.
Sabalenka, finally
Sabalenka, back to second in the world, did not steal her title in Australia. She was, until last week, the best player in the world without a major title.
In the past, the 24-year-old athlete had played in three semi-finals. If Sabalenka was finally able to win, it is thanks to his maturity and his new way of managing his matches.
Fierce and delicate in her strikes and pace, Sabalenka is one of the hungriest competitors on the circuit. She is also one of the most demanding of herself. In the U.S. Open semi-final against Leylah Fernandez in 2021, Sabalenka let the match slip away because she was unable to manage her emotions. Fernandez had exploited this weakness.
The victorious Sabalenka in Melbourne is the antithesis of the player she was in the past.
In the first set of the final, the Belarusian was unable to impose her serve. Nothing was working. Instead of brooding and getting carried away with her frustration, she smiled. Because she knew she had what it took to ignore it and turn the corner.
From round two, Sabalenka spoke like she never had before. His game was disturbingly beautiful. She ended the match in tears, on her back, surrounded by camera flashes, with the most important title of her career.
