Recapping the Australian Open

In this episode I will be providing a well overdue recap of the first major of the year, the Australian Open. I first provide my analysis and insight of the final that was played between Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. Then move to my disappointing and standout performers of the tournament. The episode is concluded by my personal reflections of my tournament experience.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:12 AO Final Analysis
• 12:37 AO Disappointing Performers
• 24:19 AO Standout Performers
• 31:45 Tournament Overview & Personal Reflections
• 36:49 Outro

Transcript

Matipa Ruzive (00:06)
Hello and welcome back to Everyone Watches Women's Tennis. A podcast that is solely focused on the women's game, giving you regular updates about what is taking place on the WTA Tour both on and off the court. Hi, hi, hi, hi everyone. It has been a while longer than I would like, just apologizing and we'll leave it at that. It's been about two weeks since the final of the Australian Open where we had Elena Rybakina crowned as the winner. And I realized I never spoke about it.

I never gave a recap of the entire tournament. So that is what I'm planning on doing in today's episode. So as I said, we'll be going over the Australian Open. So I'll just be giving a recap or a review of the women's final. And then I'll also just be talking about players that stood out to me or my standouts for the tournament. And then on the other side, players that I feel a bit disappointed in their performance at the Australian Open.

then I'll just round off with a few thoughts here and there. Right now as I'm recording this video the Qatar Open is on but I won't be talking about that until the next episode which should come out very shortly after this one.

But with all of that being said, let us get right into it. So I, I think to just start everything off, I would like to talk about the final that was Aryna Sabalenka versus Elena Rybakina

And with Elena Rybakina coming out on top, which it has been a while for someone in this head to head to have won two matches in a row. Usually they alternate. So Elena had won the WTA finals. So if they were going in their normal pattern, Sabalenka would have won, would have won the Australian Open, but we got a surprise this time.

So before going into like any of the key stats or important stats that I thought about this match, I'll tell you about my thoughts before the match. I thought this was going to be a very equal match in terms of they're both as strong as the other. They both have been serving really well and have been playing really well throughout the tournament.

and a lot of their matches are close or at least the first set is close and then things can change. So I'll be honest I didn't really have too like too many expectations going to the match I was just hoping it would be a good final and it was. I still don't think it was better than their 2023 final I just think that one was more intense

that's not disputing this one as not being a good final. It was pretty great. We got three sets finally on Rod Laver in the women's match and it was entertaining and there were momentum swings and it was kind of especially going into the third set it felt like it was a flip of the coin who was going to win the entire tournament.

So I'll quickly run through some key stats that I think are kind of important but I'll explain why they're also not that important. Anyway, so key stats with Aryna Sabalenka, she had 62 % first serves in. Then Elena Rybakina had 55 % of first serves in. Then on the win percentage for those first serves, Sabalenka had 75 % and then Elena Rybakina had 76%.

And then both of them were equal on winning second serve points, which was 48%. Then Sabalenka hit 35 winners to 26 unforced errors. Then Elena Rybakina hit 28 winners to 25 unforced errors. And then in total points won they both had 92. So looking at those stats, the match was pretty much equal.

And because the match was pretty much equal in terms of stats and in my eyes watching them, it's kind of hard to decipher then how did Elena, how did Elena Rybakina on top? In my opinion, she played a more or less perfect match. Obviously not perfect because she lost the second set, but her standard was high, dipped in a couple of games, but it stayed high.

And when she needed to pick it up, especially in that third set, she picked it up. But I'll go further into that. And then, like I said, because looking at the stats, the match was pretty much equal. In my opinion, I actually think this match was won on the forehand. And that forehand of Elena Rybakina's Because before the match, people were talking about if Sabalenka is going to target something in Elena's game, it will be the forehand because it's her weaker side.

when I say weaker obviously it's just comparing it to her backhand. They're both quality quality shots. But because it was a weaker spot in Elena's game that's Aryna Sabalenka would target. But in the match that forehand did not show any weakness. It stood up to the test.

it stood up to the pressure and the peppering that Sabalenka was trying to do, especially early on in the match. You saw that when Sabalenka was hitting that forehand and Rybakina was returning and with Margin, she panicked a little. She looked at her team and was like, this was the plan, but it's not working. So that's my overall opinion is this match was won on the forehand and the forehand of Elena Rybakina by not making mistakes.

I think it helped that the roof was closed so it gave a bit more margin of error. But onto each player, specifically on Elena Rybakina, I think she was in full flight this tournament. But I think she saved her best match in playing for this final match. Like I said, she lost a set but based on the opponent and the stage of the tournament, you kinda.

expect losing a set but it was a best match it was such a clean game and usually I say when she wins a match is based on her serve but in this match like her serve was good and she won like a high amount of points or high percentage of points on her first serve but like I mentioned just before so I won't repeat it I think she won based on the forehand but just her overall game

and her ability to read Sabalenka's serve And then I think on the pressure points, that's when her serve really, really came out and helped her. When she was facing break points. And then especially in the last two points of the match, when she was getting towards championship points, she just played, I'm pretty sure there were two unreturned serves that she played. And that is how she closed out the match.

Yeah that's what I will have to say about Elena. Actually before talking about Sabalenka in this match particularly, Elena I personally going into the Australian Open didn't predict her to win. I don't think I predicted to even make it to the semi-finals or anything like that and that's because there have been moments in the past 18 months where she's been playing well like going into the US Open in 2025 for example.

She's been playing well and I've been getting excited about her tennis again because the past 18 months and Elena's tennis has just not been a good time. But anyway, I've been getting excited about her tennis and then she shows up to a grand slam and essentially gives us nothing or doesn't rise up to the expectations that we have of her. But I think the expectations that she set for herself after she won Wimbledon 2022.

And there are reasons for that. I will actually, because I don't like mentioning her coach at all, I will be doing like a specific deep dive episode into Elena Rybakina and not just Elena Rybakina in women's tennis and the abuse that they go through. But now based on this one, on this Australian open, I am seeing the light. I'm seeing the Elena Rybakina that

I think we've all wanted to see for the past three years. I think after she won Wimbledon and then she made that final of the Australian Open, we expected her to be, which she was for a time there, expected her to be a constant feature in Grand Slam finals there with Iga, Sabalenka and Coco. That's what we expected, but it hasn't, the story hasn't gone that way so far. So I think we're going back to those stages, but.

We were at those stages again and then things turned upside down. So

on Elena because of the personal situations and the background situations that are going on.

And then onto Aryna Sabalenka. In terms of the match and the tennis, I don't think she did too much wrong. her and Rybakina are similar type players. Like they get both put in the category of big hitters, but I think Sabalenka has more variety. But because you're playing someone who has equal power to you,

someone who also plays on the attack. Because when Sabalanka plays most other players, she's on the attack. So she has control of the game, the game's on her racket. But she was playing someone who also can win a game on her own racket. And because of that, that variety wasn't able to be showcased in this match. You just don't get a chance when as soon as you hit the ball, the ball's right back at you that you can't even think to be hitting a drop shot or a slice. And she did mix it up, especially in that second set.

it helped her win that second set. But in terms of her tennis, I don't think she did too much wrong, except maybe in the final set, not maintaining her serve when she needed to. her serve.

was shaky in the first couple of games of the first set, then improved as the set went on. Second set, it was steady. She was getting first serves in on very important points and then she was able to break in that last game, break Elena Rybakina. And then in the third set, she started on a high, but then her serve started faltering. And because it started faltering and because Elena Rybakina increased the intensity, she couldn't sustain it. So I think

that three love that she had in the third set is probably the one thing that she thinks about. But in saying all of that, don't, I don't think the loss was on her racket. And I think her opponent was just better, plain and simple. And I think she can take away from this match is that she didn't implode.

she didn't lose because of being overwhelmed by her own emotions and being the cause of her own implosions that she couldn't even play properly and think straight so that's a plus and back in that final set she didn't play the big points as well as she should have

and she wasn't the dictator of play. But again, it's another grand final, but for her it's another grand final loss, which...

I think hurts a lot but because it's bad to say this, she's kind of used to it, I think she keeps it pushing. I think it hurts but I also think she'll use it as more fuel going into the next Grand Slams.

I guess we'll see what she does at the French Open I know would like to win the French Open so we shall see

And then on just overall on those two players actually.

Coming into, when I did my predictions episode or coming to the Staring Open, I predicted differently about who was going to be world number one than what I'm about to say right now. Because again, it was a prediction at the start of the year. So, you know, take it with a pinch of salt. But Elena Rybakina is coming for that number one spot. If she keeps up this level of consistency.

she has a lot of opportunities to earn points in slams and 1000 tournaments. Like I said she hasn't been performing at her highest peak level, she hasn't been making that many second weeks in slams or 1000 tournaments. So she has a lot of points that she can gain throughout the season. And then the person who's currently in number one spot, Aryna Sabalenka,

has a lot of points that she needs to either maintain or gain on top of that because last year she won two 1000 tournaments she also was in three slam finals and one slam semi-final so there's a lot of points she can lose if she has a stumble which to be honest in slams she hasn't had stumbles for a long while now

So it would be surprising, but I think there's a lot of pressure and the player that's behind her back, I wouldn't even say is Iga because Iga has just been up and down over the past year, two years. She's just been up and down. So she's not really chasing her down as much. But I think if Elena Rybakina keeps playing tennis like this, and the thing is she has room for improvement as well. If she keeps playing tennis like this, I think.

she's eyeing that number one spot and it wouldn't surprise me or I'm sure anyone in the slightest if she takes it over before this year ends. But that's all I have to say on the women's final. Congratulations to Elena Rybakina. I'm glad she's got a second slam. She was never a one slam wonder type player to me. It would have been frustrating if she ever ended her career with just one slam. Yeah.

That's all I have to say on that.

Then moving on to my standout and disappointing performers of the first slam of the year. I think I'll start off with the disappointments, let's say, because then we can end on a high.

So on the first player that I personally think had a disappointing performance is Belinda Bencic. I had a lot of hopes, high hopes for her coming to this Australian Open. I had predicted for her to actually make it to the final. So her losing in the second round is quite disappointing and

And the reason, because I think a lot of people are like, ⁓ predicting Belinda Bencic

it was for multiple reasons why I had Belinda Bencic tipped to do well with this tournament. She was playing really, really well at the United Cup, super consistent.

But then not just that, last year, her first slam back, she made the fourth round of the Australian Open and then she made the semi-finals of Wimbledon as well in 2025. So I wasn't basing this off just one good performance and she was also in the top 20. So it's not like I'm picking a random player who's ranked 70th, who's had one good week. It's someone who has performed consistently over the past year. But again, disappointing.

So first round she won against Katie Boulter She won that 6 love 7 5. Then she lost the second round to qualifier Nikola Bartunkova 6 3.

love 6 6 4 and I don't know I just thought she would make it deeper in the tournament and I genuinely think everyone's going to be like yeah obviously if she had somehow got past this match against Nikola I think she would have been able to go far in the tournament because this was a difficult match but it was one of those matches where the more experienced player usually stands up

to then win the match. Because she had lost the first set 6-3, then she came back.

and won the second set 6 love and then the final set where she did end up losing it was pretty neck and neck but she was still frustrated even though in my opinion she should have just stayed a bit steadier if she could and her opponent was getting the crowd involved which i think was irritating ⁓ Belinda more so that's where she lost and also she was playing someone she's never played before so you kind of there's an element of surprise and i'm pretty

unpredictability there. So yeah I don't know I thought she would make it deep and I'm kind of hurt because my predictions are never perfect but I usually get like people that I think will win or will make the final at least usually get to the second week of a slam. So that's disappointing but we move. Then the next player I have listed here is Mirra Andreeva.

So I'll just quickly go through who Mirra played before she lost in the fourth round. And she had a, she had a difficult draw. she had a difficult draw, but when I watched Mirra play, I'm like, you should not lose to anyone when she's in full flight, when she's playing her tennis. I always think you should never lose to anyone because her attacking game now is one of the best, but her defensive game is one of the best. was saying,

to my sister so I'll say to you guys there is no one not a single player men's or women's who has a better defensive lob than Mirra Andreyeva there's no one it's like second to none her defensive lobs the amount of points I've seen her win just by getting that ball back as a lob is too many too many to count but anyways getting sidetracked so Mirra first round played Donna Vekic

she ended up coming through that match 4-6, 6-3, 6-love so she lost the first set but 1-3. Then an easier match against Maria Sakari was 6-love, 6-3. Then against Elena Gabriela Russo she won 6-3, 6-4 relatively comfortably. Then she ended up losing to Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4. And with Mirra, I mean she was seeded 8th

So losing in the fourth round isn't that bad. But...

It's getting to the point now where this roadblock that she keeps hitting needs to be addressed. So Australia open 2026. She lost in the fourth round to someone that she should have beaten, someone that she was a favorite against, let's say.

Svitolina is a bit different because she has so much experience, but looking at the tennis and styles of tennis, Mirra should come through that match on like a normal day, eight out of 10 times.

US Open 2025. She loses in the third round as the fifth seed to Taylor Townsend in straight sets. Then in

Wimbledon 2025 as well. She lost in straight sets to Belinda Benchic 7-6 7-6 in the quarterfinals Then at the French Open she lost in the quarterfinals as well to Lois Boisson in straight sets as well 7-6 6-3 I bring those results up to say I'm confused as to what's happening

Cause she has gone into those matches as the favorite and the favorite for a reason. It's not actually just a favorite because of numbers and stuff. She's a favorite cause she has been playing better tennis and she has a very, very, very high level of tennis and she's been playing well. But then she ends up barring the French Open match against Boisson in France. Cause that crowd was intense.

And again, bring up my sister. She said I was making excuses. I think this is like a valid excuse because the French crowd does not compare to any other crowd. When they're hostile and they're supporting their person and they don't want you to win, it's even watching it as a tennis fan, it's a lot. It's a lot. So I wonder how the player would feel. So that's the one I would actually give an excuse for to Miram.

but not that much of an excuse because she started off the match really well. But anyway, she comes into these matches where she ends up losing all of them in straight sets and it's like she was never there to begin with. She doesn't show up. She will start at a certain level and then she might lose the second set. sorry, she might lose the first set and that's okay because you've got two more sets to make it up. But her level never gets better.

to then try and win the match. It just feels like she's just at this lower level and that's how she'll play the entire match. I don't know what happens. Like she looks vacant in a way. And it's, yeah, it's becoming a really bad pattern.

with Grand Slams if

You're young and you're playing well and you're playing to a high caliber and you're in these top tens, top fives, whatever. It means it's your time to win a slam. It means it's your time. And Mirra has proved time and time again that she can win a slam, that she can stand up to the best players in the world, except for Coco. She has a very bad record against her, but she has proved she can stand up to the best players in the world to win some of the hardest titles to win.

that being like Indian Wells. But the Grand Slams for the past year have just been lackluster and not impressive as well. You can tell I feel very passionately about this.

I'm talking about this so much because earlier on in her career she was known for digging in when she wasn't playing well when it was looking tough when she was down match point set point she was known for digging in and coming up with the win but now I don't see that anymore and I'm confused as to what's happened I don't know maybe she was like a bit shaken with that French Open quarterfinal loss but I don't know I feel like it should not be carrying over

anymore. So hopefully we'll see a better performance come the French Open because I did predict her to win the French Open so I like being right. So if you can help me out Mirra, that would be great.

Alright and then the last player, there were some other players I was disappointed in but not too much so I won't I won't bang on about it. The last player I have here that disappointed me in a way is Coco Gauff and Coco I wasn't disappointed in her overall performance at the Open. Again I think she had a pretty difficult draw which I will go through. It's her final match.

that loss to Elina Svitolina as we all know that disappointed me but let's just quickly go through who she played before she um lost in the quarterfinals so first round she played Kamila Rakhimova she won that match 6-2 6-3 then beat Olga Danilovic in the second round 6-2 6-2 then third round she played Hailey Baptiste and that was three sets she ended up winning that match 3-6 6-love 6-3 then

4th round against Muchova she ended up winning that match 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. And then, like I said, she lost to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-2.

So looking at that difficult draw. But she had difficult matches against Muchova and Hailey Baptiste and she came through them and which can happen with Coco. She might lose her first set or something but she tends to to come back and

In this match.

Svitolina played great. She did. I can't deny that she played great and in some instances she forced Coco to play badly or make mistakes but other side of that coin in my opinion is that Coco never showed up. She never was on. She was never able to raise her level to just compete with Svitolina for a while because it happens sometimes with players as they'll come start a match being a really low level

And then because of the type of player they are, which Coco is, they can raise their level, maybe not to their very best, but they can raise it to a standard where they can go toe to toe with the player across the net who's playing really well and just sustain that and hold serve and then maybe lose because of one break or lose in a tie break. But they raise their level. I never saw any of that from Coco.

she just never showed up. It was, I watched the match, it was so bad. It was 59 minutes. The match was on and then it was off.

it was the kind of bad where it's like, is there really a problem with anything or is it?

Is it just one of those like random losses that happened to players once in a while? But I also don't think it's that once in a while for Coco in a slam maybe, but out of the top players, like the very top players, she has the lowest floor. And by that, mean, when she plays badly, it can be really, really bad that she cannot raise it again. And she has, yeah.

incredible highs obviously she's a dual slam champion but she has sometimes big big lows like and it happens it happens more often than you expect i think of last year when she played amanda anisimova in

Beijing.

the semi-finals she lost

She lost that match one and two as well. And it was just the performance was very low caliber from Coco. But again, to Kavya, everything I've just said as well to balance, because I do think all of these things.

Elina Svitolina was very very aggressive in this match, more aggressive than she normally is and I think maybe Coco was taken aback. Number two Coco I think this was her first night match so the conditions were different but again they're used to adjusting to conditions but I will say that the conditions were different. And then which

I think is a point some people forget often. Coco Gauff is only 21 years old. 21.

we put a lot of pressure on her and I think people forget how young she is when all this pressure is put on her but she's been around on the tour for a long time but in the end once you take account of everything she's only 21 years old so that's the good thing she's this great already at 21 if she keeps improving which I'm sure she will imagine her at 25 but again I still wish

I saw better in that quarterfinal against Svitolina. Okay, that's all the mean stuff. Well, it's not mean, it's just actually, it's not mean at all. I'm just disappointed. It's all the sad stuff. But as I said, done with that. Then looking at the more positive things, my standout performers for this tournament. First of all, I hadn't written her down, which...

I know, it's bad of me, but-

Like I said, I hadn't written her down, but a big shout out to Madison Inglis, the Australian player who

came through as a qualifier for this match actually and she was ranked in outside the top 100 and she came through and made it to the fourth round. She beat fellow Australian Kim Birrell in a really really tight match. She won that one 7-6 6-7 6-4.

And then second round, she beat a really, really frustrating player, but she was somehow able to do it. She beat Laura Siegemund She won that match 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. Then got a walk over in her third round match against Naomi Osaka. And then she ended up losing to Iga Swiatek 6-love, 6-3. But just great week and great tournament for Madison English. She's,

a regular on the ITF's like women's circuit. So for those that don't know, that's the level below the WTA.

But that's all on Madison Inglis

Yeah, she just had a really, really great week. Then going on to some further standouts of the tournament, I'll start with Victoria Mboko. So Victoria came into the tournament seeded 17th. Then just her journey. The tournament, she beat fellow youngster Emerson Jones, 6461 in the first round. Then second round, she played Catie McNally and won that match 6463. Then she beat Clara Tauson

7-6, 5-7, 6-3, then eventually lost in the fourth round to Aryna Sabalenka 6-1, 7-6. And this was actually her first AO main draw tournament. And I think she came in this tournament being talked about a lot because she rose up the ranks quickly, seeded 17th, had won a 1000 tournament in Canada last year.

So people knew who she was. It's not like it was her first Australian Open main draw match and she was unknown. People were talking about her. So there was pressure already. And based on her seeding, she got to where she was meant to be and ended up losing to the world number one. So there's no harm in that. And then just watching her, she is not a pushover at all.

And in that final set in the fourth round match, Sablenka had an opportunity to serve out the match and she couldn't do it. There was just so much pressure coming from, from Victoria Mboko's racket and they ended up playing a tiebreak. And even in the match against Clara Towson, Victoria had her moments where she was shaking, couldn't serve out the match or the set, but she doesn't lose control and she doesn't lose her game. She actually raises up her level to match that of her opponent if her opponent is playing better.

and a lot of the time she rises to the occasion. So I just think she belongs on on the big big stage. She has a strong baseline game that goes toe to toe with like the biggest hitters in the game. But then she's also very, very athletic and she defends so, so well. there's some balls that land on her side of the net that I don't think she's going to get to when she does. So

it's that combination.

And then like I said of Coco, she's so young so there's So there's so much room for improvement. It's crazy.

Then moving on to another young player who was also talk of the town coming into the Australian Open and just during it was Iva Jovic. Iva came into the tournament seeded 29th and on her way to the quarterfinals she played Katie Volynets She won that match 6-2 6-3 then played Priscilla Hon won that match 6-1 6-2 then

played and beat 7th seed Jasmine Paolini 6-2 7-6. Then the fourth round she beat Yulia Putinseva 6-1 and then she ended up losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals 6-3 6-0. And I think in the tennis world people we know of Iva Jovic we've seen her for the past couple of years she's just been slowly playing well she won a WTA 500 level tournament in Guadalajara.

so we know what she's capable of but I think this obviously it's a slam it's a bigger stage was her introduction to the world.

And until she lost in the quarterfinals, she hadn't dropped a single set on her way there. And although in some of these matches, she was the favorite, definitely not against Jasmine Paolini. She might have been the favorite in her first couple of matches, but she won in such a commanding, convincing manner that...

sometimes you don't expect from someone so young but that's what she did. And looking at Eva as well she has put on muscle and she just looks stronger, looks so much stronger and she looks like she's now ready to compete with the bigger stronger women. She still has a long way to go I think we saw that in the match against Sabalenka but against most players

against most players in the in the top 100 she can compete against them and compete against them really really well. So I'm excited to see where she goes. I genuinely think we're gonna have like three teenagers in the top 10 by the end of 2025 if if all goes well for Mboko Iva Jovic and Mirra Andreeva Then lastly I just realized most of the standouts except for Madison Inglis

⁓ the standouts are all teenagers. Anyway, makes sense though. Then the last player that I've got here who stood out to me, ⁓ a little bit, not as much, maybe to the rest of the world, but she did stand out to me as Nikola Bartunkova She played Daria Kasatkina in the first round. She won that match 7-6, love 6-6-3.

Then second round she beat Belinda Bencic 6-3, Love 6-6-4. Then she lost in the third round to Elise Mertens 6-Love-6-4.

And this was actually her first Grand Slam performance. She made it through qualifiers and then as I mentioned to the third round. And I think we saw that continuity from the qualifiers. And I do think sometimes playing qualifiers really helps when you go into the slams, because you're just, essentially you're not starting from scratch. You're just continuing on the path that you've already, you've already started.

But I didn't watch any of her qualifiers or her first round matches. But I did watch her play against Belinda Bencic, which I mentioned before. And the way she did it was really, really impressive. She just kept pressing and really got the crowd involved in that match. But also she was able to come back in that third set and raise her level.

to standard of Belinda Bencic And then when necessary, she played those big points really, really well, was able to break and then win that set and the entire match. And I think she's a really exciting player to watch. she's a performer in a way. So it's very entertaining to watch.

But that's all I have to say on the people that really impressed me throughout the Australian Open. And I think that's

All I have to say in terms of the players, yeah, I think he was a good open deserved winner. mean, whoever raises the trophy at the end of any slam is always a deserved winner. But some other takeaways

before I go off and say goodbye to all of you is the AO, a lot of people were talking about how boring it was.

And I agree to a certain extent because there were no breakout stars. You could say Iva Jovic and Mboko but I don't think so because they were seeded so and people knew of them coming into it. I think they're now introduced to more people in the world but yeah I wouldn't say breakout stars or anything and there weren't any major upsets which I agree with. It wasn't like we had the top

I don't know, the top eight losing in like the second round or anything like that. We didn't have any upsets like that. So I agree with that. It was kind of boring. Not too many, big storylines or unexpected storylines.

but I think in a way we saw the best of the top players with six out of the eight seeds making the quarterfinals. And then the other two people that were in the quarterfinals were also seeded just outside the top eight. And what I'm liking about women's tennis at the moment, and when I say at the moment, I mean literally the past two, three years, is that the best players, like the best three to five players in the world,

There's a separation from them and the rest of the tour, but it's still competitive between them. And those top players are uber consistent when it comes to Grand Slam tournaments. In that it might be difficult to predict who will win the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, whatever, but you know that you're picking from a specific pool of people.

Instead of I think a good four, five, six, seven years ago when you actually didn't know who was going to be winning a slam each year. You would go into it and have your prediction would be anyone in the top 100 or even out of the top 100. Whereas now I feel like it's very surprising if someone who isn't in the top eight wins a slam.

or at least in the top 10 wins a slam.

And we're now starting to get multi slam winners. think for a few years there, were just getting people just winning one off slams, one off slams. Although those people are still active, they can win another slam. But what I'm saying is it felt really, really random. But now the top players are being consistent.

So it was a boring tournament, but I think it's a good thing for tennis because it's hyper competitive and you've got a nice number of names to look at, but it's not random when you can't keep up. Then the second thing, this one is like a personal one and it's it's not even the tournament like to the fans that are watching on TV or people around the world. It's for fans and people that are going to the Australian Open. I went

on two days and it's just Australian Open has now become way too expensive in my opinion and you see it sometimes during the earlier weeks where they can't fill the stadium completely and in my opinion it's because of the price of those tickets

it's just becoming too expensive and I think not accessible for people, especially in those big arenas in Margaret Court, Rod Laver and John Cain. Because I remember a while back, a good maybe, I don't know, maybe it's been like 10 years and I'm still remembering it, but I think it hasn't actually been 10 years yet. When you bought a ticket to Rod Laver the biggest arena at the, at Melbourne Park,

you were then able to go into every single arena, even though in even into some of the medium sized ones. So that's Margaret Court, John Cain. But now if you buy Rod Laver Arena ticket, you can't get into Margaret Court or John Cain. You can still go on all the other outside courts, but you can't get into those medium sized courts. I'd like to call them.

Even ground pass tickets. So ground pass tickets get you access to training courts or the outside courts and not those other arenas I mentioned, the Rod Laver, Margaret Court and John Cain. So you don't get access to them with a ground pass, but even the price of a ground pass has gone up significantly.

The stadiums in the early weeks are not full. I think they could decrease the price a bit and then they would be full. And then in terms of the pop or the situation with the population inside Melbourne Park, Australian Open, it has too many people. It's not big enough for the amount of ground pass tickets that they're selling.

I feel like...

they're not calculating accurately. Cause I always think that if something was to happen, or someone was to panic or something and start a stampede inside Melbourne Park, it would get very, very dangerous. And a lot of people would get hurt, especially during the weekends when most people have time off and that's when they go to the tennis. But those are my own personal grievances with the Australian Open and Melbourne Park. had a fabulous time. and I love going to the Australian Open. This is my favorite.

Well, it was my favorite time of the year and now it's over. So I have to find something else to cling to.

because now I have to stay up late to watch matches. So, Qatar Open, like I mentioned very early on in the episode, is on right now. And the matches start at like 10, 10 p.m. and then they finish maybe at 4, 4 a.m. or even later than that. So...

I really like the Australian Open. I'm sad that it's gone, but we'll wait around for next year.

And with all of that being said, thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to this episode. Please don't forget to download it. It's really essential you download the episode. That's just how I figure out my stats on who's listening. But yeah, download, listen to the episode, leave a review if you haven't yet. Please leave me five stars. If it's not five stars, just leave it. And then go follow the YouTube channel or subscribe, please. It is everyone watches women's tennis. So same as the podcast.

And then also go follow my Instagram, which is EWWT Podcast. And I think that is all. ⁓ and also down below,

⁓ in the description box, I am going to link a Google doc that I've created, which just has the tournaments of the year and then the winners and finalists of that. So you can just keep track and tally on how the season's going. Cause I know tennis is a really consuming sport and people don't have time to be watching every single tournament. So it's a good way to keep your, tournament and tennis knowledge up without having to engage fully with it.

But yes, thank you, thank you again. Goodbye.