Photo courtesy of Marianne Bevis's Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariannebevis/5972100998/in/photolist-a6JzyA-csctLm-cscsEm-csctrw-csct17-f4CWUn-nWz24z-a6Jzhy-a6JzGq-a6JyPu-a6FHJc-9ZEUDd-ohz8qG-ox2Nmj-bPFs5a-5uzT4n-a6FHgX-f52W2j-2KSf8f-f4MHoM-cJrFYL-cJrGqo-f4MDDe-a3t6Ga-cscu3h-f4MESB-f4MJya-bALMj9-a3vX3q-bALMws-a3t6Sv-bPFshK-cJrFKY-nnjmG7-a3t6yv-cJrGd9-vUQeNJ-f4MCVT-cJrFxj-a3vXjs-np5my3-nnjiL7-npmV3n-npmS96-nr8qnZ-bPFr3t-bPFqaF-bPFsDg-f52X2j-bALPWo
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On the men's side, two of the greatest in the history of the sport, Serbian Novak Djokovic and Spaniard Rafael Nadal, both reached the quarterfinals.
World number one Djokovic defeated Canadian Milos Raonic to advance to the quarterfinals, as he continues to pursue his ninth Australian Open championship, which would add to his already existing record of eight titles here in Melbourne overall. 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. He now will meet one of the up and coming elites in men's tennis, German Alexander Zverev, seeded number six, who reached the US Open Men's Final last year, only to ultimately fall short to Dominic Thiem, who himself just got bounced out of this tournament by Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Interestingly, Thiem had advanced to the fourth round by defeating Australian Nick Kyrgios, who seems to be making a point of starting a heated rivalry with Djokovic. Kyrgios, who's antics often overshadow his accomplishments on the tennis court, has stated outright that he does not like Djokovic, and mocked the way that Djokovic traditionally celebrates following a win at a Grand Slam match.
Nadal is currently the world number two, and is pursuing what would be a record 21st career Grand Slam title, as well as his second career Australian Open title should he succeed. In the fourth round, he easily dispatched with Italian Fabio Fognini in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Next up for him is the young Greek, Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is the fifth seed here in the Australian Open.
Most people are watching the two top-seeds on the men's side. Nadal can become the all-time leader among men should he win here, as he would finally surpass Roger Federer with what would be a 21st career Grand Slam championship. But Djokovic, who is third on the all-time list with 17, behind both Federer and Nadal (each currently with 20), is desperately trying to catch up, and not fall farther behind either man. It is not easy this year, however, as Djokovic is trying to overcome an abdominal injury.
Two former tennis greats, seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander of Sweden and Tim Henman of Great Britain, recently weighed in recently on Djokovic's attempts to overcome debilitating injuries in pursuit of greatness:
"Novak Djokovic's not running out of time but he kind of needs to win this Australian Open to get a little closer to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the race to be the best player in history" - Mats Wilander said.
Former British No 1 Tim Henman said: "I had a few elbow and shoulder injuries, they were the main ones for me. "As you say, sometimes if it's an issue with a joint, it can almost loosen up as the adrenaline starts flowing as you start warming up and it can get a little bit better."
For the women, two of the people most people are watching closely are Serena Williams of the United States, and Naomi Osaka of Japan.
Williams defeated Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinal, where she will meet Simona Halep of Romania. Halep finished 2017 as the number one ranked woman, even though at that point in her career, she had not yet won a Grand Slam title. Halep remedied that since, and is currently pursuing a third career Grand Slam, having won both the French Open in 2018, and the Wimbledon title in 2019.
Meanwhile, Osaka is seeking her fourth career Grand Slam title. She became the first player since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win her first two Grand Slam championships in back-to-back tournaments, winning the US Open (where she beat Serena Williams) in 2018, and then winning the Australian Open in 2019. She won a second US Open title last year, and is looking to replicate her feat of a couple of years ago with back-to-back Grand Slam titles, as she pursues her second career Australian Open title. Currently ranked number three, she also is trying to get back to the number one ranking, which she held for a time following her win here at the Australian Open in 2019.
Here is the link to the article that I used in writing this particular blog entry, and from which I obtained the quotes from Wilander and Henman used above:
'He needs to win this AO to catch Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal', says analyst FEBRUARY 15, 2021 09:10 by SIMONE BRUGNOLI:
Photo courtesy of Yann Caradec's Flickr Page - Rafael Nadal: https://www.flickr.com/photos/la_bretagne_a_paris/5756335239 Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Photo courtesy of Yann Caradec's Flickr Page - Novak Djokovic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/la_bretagne_a_paris/5763317762
Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
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