Emma Raducanu will “take positives” from her run to the third round of the Australian Open, while Jack Draper produced a “tremendous effort” to make it three matches with five sets in a row, says Gigi Salmon.
In her latest column on Sky Sports, Gigi Salmon speaks exclusively from Melbourne, where she discusses Emma Raducanu’s run to round three, Jack Draper’s incredible tournament, Daniil Medvedev’s total fines, Danielle Collins on court fraud and the lack of Daniela Hantuchova’s practical sessions.
Imagine having 12 hours and 35 minutes of tennis on your feet over three matches and 15 sets, managing a persistent hip problem and knowing that next up was four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz! That was the task facing British No. 1 Jack Draper, a tall order that became mission impossible.
We are fortunate enough when commentating games at Rod Laver Arena that we are at court level behind the baseline.
Next time you watch on TV, watch out for the dark glass and our reinforced luck behind the baseline, the end where the players come out and we’re behind it! It’s a fantastic view and you can see the emotions of the players as they turn towards the glass, and that included the anguish on Jack Draper’s face as it became clear that he wouldn’t be able to continue. finally calling it a day at the end of the second set.
The tendinitis in his hip that went into his back is what Jack has been dealing with, surprising himself with how well he’s held up considering how much he’s had to play and put his body through.
However, he admitted in his post-match press conference that it was probably ‘a ticking time bomb’.
With all that going on, it was a remarkable effort from Jack to get through three tough five-set matches and having already said he would not be part of Great Britain’s Davis Cup team when they face Japan next month, he is looking to be fit and back on court for the ATP 500 tournament in Rotterdam – which you can watch on Sky Sports Tennis in early February.
Positive for Raducanu
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Speaking at the US Open, Martina Navratilova said Emma Raducanu needs to take ownership of her tennis career.
Speaking of the schedule, Emma Raducanu, who when the inevitable shot down from her 6-1 6-0 loss to world No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the third round, should take positives from a career-best run in Melbourne Park was hampered in its construction by a back problem.
Next up will be the WTA 250 event in Singapore starting at the end of this month – live on Sky Sports Tennis.
Week two began Monday with an apology issued by host broadcaster Channel 9 for comments made by the main presenter of their Australian Open coverage that Novak Djokovic deemed disrespectful, which included: ‘Novak, he’s overrated . Novak has been. Novak, take it out.”
While waiting for the apology, Djokovic refused to do his post-match courtside interview with Jim Courier, clarifying afterwards that he had nothing against Jim, for whom he has a lot of respect, and he had attended to his other post-match commitments.
In my opinion, the comments crossed the line, if it was an attempt at a joke as stated, it wasn’t a very good one. Hopefully with the apologies now made we will hear more from Djokovic if he beats Carlos Alcaraz when they meet in the quarter-finals.
The largest total of fines for Medvedev
Daniil Medvedev amassed the largest total of fines handed out in Grand Slam history
In what was a spirited first week, last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev lost to 19-year-old Learner Tien and in the process racked up fines totaling more than £60,000 in his two matches.
The fines were for throwing his racket for which he received a point penalty, not doing the post-match press conference and breaking a net camera.
It is the largest total of fines handed out in Grand Slam history and will be deducted from his £102,000 prize money.
What a start to the year for Medvedev, whose second child, a daughter named Victoria, was born in January. He arrived in Melbourne just a few days before the tour started and flew home a few days later!
Collins’ “big, fat paycheck.”
Danielle Collins has a history of being a strong competitor
Someone else who will swing at anyone in her path is Danielle Collins. We talked a lot with the American last year Sky Sports Tennis in what would be her final year on tour as she looked to the future with a desire to settle down and start a family.
With her fertility journey proving difficult due to endometriosis, Collins decided to delay her retirement and return to touring. Now she has a history of being a strong competitor, she’ll talk back to the crowd, let out raucous screams after winning points and isn’t afraid to speak her mind, she’ll also tell anyone who will hear that she does. don’t care what people think.
She took it to another level in her second round match with Australian qualifier Destanee Aiava, understandably a partisan crowd, Collins would win 6-2 in the third game, spurred on by the crowd that was clearly against her.
After the game-winning kiss, she said in her on-court interview: “You know I was thinking during the game, I was like, ‘hmm, if I’m out here, I might as well get that much.'” mammy i just love five star holidays so part of that check will go towards that so thanks guys.’
She would double down on her comments in her post-match press conference before going out to Madison Keys in the next round.
Collins has a strong character, but after getting to know her a little last year on tour, she’s a nice person who doesn’t like to be in the limelight, and in fact, it’s hard to believe if you’ve seen her in court games , wants to get away from it.
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Highlights of Collins’ win over Elena Rybakina to win the Miami Open title last year
Coach Hantuchov
Gigi has managed to miss all of Daniela Hantuchova’s training sessions in Melbourne
Now thanks to Andrea Petkovic I now know what a ‘hexenschuss’ is, literally translated to ‘shot by a witch’, more commonly known as lumbago.
This came up when he talked about Jacob Fearnley’s straight sets loss to Sascha Zverev, Jacob had to take a sick leave with lower back pain and Andrea joked that he had given him a ‘hexenschuss’.
And when it comes to my dual role of commentary and coach, I believe I’ve been nominated once again as coach of Daniela Hantuchova, who plays in the two legends’ competitions, but until now I’ve missed all of Dani’s practices which they haven’t gone. ok so not sure i’ll make it to the end of the week with my coaching accreditation intact!
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