No event turns into nice with out the presence of legendary, iconic gamers. If 50 editions of the Australian Open had been received by 50 totally different individuals, the place would the legend be? Where would the shine be? And if no Top 10 or Top 20 participant confirmed up at a Major, might we nonetheless be speaking a few Major event? It subsequently turns into unimaginable to dissociate the nice tournaments from the nice women and men who've marked and written its historical past.
An incredible event can very properly be held within the absence of a fantastic participant, however the tournaments are on no account better than the legendary gamers who've identified our sport. Tennis is totally different from sports activities akin to soccer or basketball, which are all performed as a workforce.
With tennis, it is a single one who finds himself dealing with the world and dealing with his future, who eliminates his adversaries one after the opposite like a hero on a mission that nothing can cease.
It's a single man, a single lady, who overcomes all of the others, who reaches the tip, and who can lastly carry the fabulous trophy. It's epic, as a result of he is a single man, a single lady who performs feats and who generally repeats them an unbelievable variety of instances!
This can be most likely what explains why singles is extra fashionable than doubles, which is performed by two gamers, and which deserves all our respect simply as we respect a workforce of 11 individuals who would have received a World Cup.
Tournaments are no larger than legendary gamers
Many individuals on the earth do not even know that there are 4 Grand Slam tournaments in tennis, or what surfaces they are performed on, however a large number of individuals know very properly who Serena and Venus Williams are, who Roger Federer is, who's Rafael Nadal and who's Novak Djokovic.
Many do not know what number of years the Australian Open has existed or even when this Grand Slam event will proceed to be performed in Australia in a number of years, however many know that every Big 3 participant presently has 20 Grand Slam titles. and that's one thing that we've by no means seen earlier than.
And if many know Roland Garros, it is also as a result of a Spanish participant named Rafael Nadal, who did issues nobody else has ever executed, received the event 13 instances.
Some individuals would haven't any motive to fret about Roland Garros if Roland Garros didn't have this superhuman story to inform, if the champions of Roland Garros had all the time succeeded one another with out trying alike from 12 months to 12 months.
13 trophies for 13 individuals doesn't have the identical worth as when the 13 trophies in query had been all received by one and the identical individual. Elsewhere, in different sports activities, we are able to additionally see that tournaments are not larger than their greatest members.
We could not know of any Formula 1 championship, completely none, however we do know {that a} man has recorded breathtaking information like we've by no means seen earlier than: Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton.
We could know nothing about golf or its tournaments, and even love golf, however we all know that the identify of Tiger Woods is larger than any golf event on the earth. Michael Jordan or Mike Tyson? Grand slam tournaments and tennis legends: the 2 are inseparable from one another, but when we nonetheless had to decide on between the 2, we'd select the tennis participant who has achieved main and who wrote the historical past of tennis.
Because, the Australian Open could properly lose its luster for the time of a scandal or indefinitely, however Rod Laver, his 2 calendar Grand Slams and his accomplishment won't ever undergo from any wrinkle.
So is Margaret Court and her all-time file, female and male, within the singles main. The absence of a legend doesn't stop a event from present in fact, however the event can't be larger than its legend.
So why search for an opposition between tournaments and massive gamers? There was by no means to be. But, if there may be opposition, it's the one who held the racket and who remained the final man, the final lady standing, an unbelievable variety of instances, who will win ultimately.
Who might severely discuss Wimbledon with out mentioning the identify of Roger Federer? Who would ever consider pitting Wimbledon in opposition to Federer? The two complement one another, however the man stays larger than the place.
In tennis, Novak Djokovic shouldn't be solely larger than the Australian Open, he's additionally the best within the historical past of the Australian Open, proudly owning a reputation a lot larger than this event, if just one takes the difficulty to take a look at issues on the dimensions of the world and never on the dimensions of a tennis participant (who has a very good information of the circuit and of all of the tournaments).
A event with out historical past and with out legends is only a big playground like every other, a sport advanced like every other. You cannot love tennis and ignore it, you may't love tennis and need to decrease the legends who performed unbelievable tennis to should go down in historical past.
You cannot “delete” the legend of a event and keep true about that event.
The women and men who made Australian Open historical past
Speaking of historical past, there are names inextricably linked to the historical past of tennis' best tournaments and the Australian Open is not any exception.
The Twenties had been an essential season, as they had been additionally the primary editions of ladies's singles: these had been the years dominated by Daphne Akhurst, winner of 5 editions of the event.
The Twenties and Nineteen Thirties had been relatively marked by Jack Crowford, Don Badge, Fred Perry and Jean Borotra. Between the Nineteen Thirties and Seventies, ladies's singles was basically linked to a few illustrious names: Nancye Wynne, winner of 6 titles, the queen of the Australian Open who's none different than Margaret Smith (who nonetheless holds the file for 11 titles) and Evonne Goolagong, winner of 4 editions of this event.
In males's singles, the event had three dominators between the Forties and the Seventies: Ken Rosewall, winner of 4 titles, Roy Emerson, winner of 6 titles and Rod Laver, who triumphed 3 instances.
The Eighties had been the years of Mats Wilander (3 titles), Stefan Edberg (2 titles), Ivan Lendl (2 titles), Martina Navratilova (3 titles), Chris Evert (2 titles) and Steffi Graf (4 titles), adopted , within the 90s, by Jim Courier, Boris Becker (2 titles), Andre Agassi (4 titles), Pete Sampras (2 titles), Monica Seles (4 titles) and Martina Hingis (3 titles).
From the 2000s to right this moment, the boys's singles has been dominated first by Roger Federer (6 titles) then by Novak Djokovic (9 titles, the boys's file). The Serbian and the Swiss could be thought-about the best males's singles tennis gamers on the Australian Open, regardless of the distinction in floor in comparison with common tennis (in actual fact, the event was performed on grass till in 1988).
We can add to this the no much less essential victories of Marat Safin, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka, amongst males. In ladies's singles there have been 7 titles for Serena Williams, but in addition victories for Victoria Azarenka (2 titles), Maria Sharapova, Kim Klijisters, Li Na, Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki, Naomi Osaka and Sofia Kenin.