John McEnroe on 2023 Australian Open upsets after Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur lose
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Updated 23/01/2023 at 17:10 GMT
Seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe thinks there is no clear reason for the high number of surprising results at this year’s Australian Open. For the first time in the Open era, the top two seeds in both the men’s and women’s draws have failed to go beyond the last 16. There have also been many other shocks in the opening round rounds of the tournament in Melbourne.
'Great to see' - McEnroe on unpredictable results in first week of Australian Open
Eurosport expert John McEnroe believes there is “no definitive reason” for the big number of shocks at this year’s Australian Open - but thinks it should be "good for the game".
For the first time since tennis’ Open Era began in 1968, the top two seeds in both the men’s and women’s draws have failed to reach the quarter-finals.
Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud and Ons Jabeur were all knocked out in the second round, while Iga Swiatek was beaten by Elena Rybakina.
Just two of the top-16 ranked women’s players are left going into the last eight, while only three top-10 seeds are left on the men's side - third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, fourth seed Novak Djokovic and fifth seed Andrey Rublev.
“Ever since Australia changed its date to the first event, players have been trying to figure out the best way to maximise their preparation,” McEnroe told Eurosport.
“It's difficult to know [what that is]. It seems that the general attitude is to go out there two to four weeks before. If you do something like that, it impacts what you're doing over the Christmas holidays, it impacts what you're doing over New Year's. It's a tough commitment.
“Players presumably want more of an off-season, so they can recover mentally and physically, we've been talking about that ever since I was Coco's [Gauff] age [18]. We're still working and trying to figure out what's best for the players.
“There's no definite reason this [the upsets] has happened.”
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He continued: “Rafa got hurt, Iga seems emotionally in a different place, not as settled as she was. Ruud, maybe the pressure got to him or he played too many exhibitions.
“You can look at what each individual player has done and come up with what you think is the answer, but at the end of the day, you don't know.
“Look at [Andy] Murray, would anyone have thought he would have played to 4:05 in the morning?”
In the women’s draw, there is a high possibility of a first-time Grand Slam winner because Wimbledon champion Rybakina and former French Open holder Jelena Ostapenko will face each other in the last eight, so one of them will be eliminated after Tuesday.
The only other major champion is Victoria Azarenka, who faces world No. 3 Jessica Pegula. Karolina Pliskova plays Madga Linette and Aryna Sabalenka is against Donna Vekic in the other quarter-finals.
Djokovic is the only Grand Slam winner left in the men’s draw and Tsitsipas is the only other major finalist.
There are three Americans in the last eight, with Sebastian Korda up against Karen Khachanov and Ben Shelton versus his compatriot Tommy Paul.
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McEnroe isn’t reading too much into the stats and is intrigued by the storylines that will play out in the final week of this year’s Australian Open.
“That's the thing about Grand Slam events,” he said. “They are unpredictable and that's also what makes them great in a way, but people like to throw out these stats like, ‘Wow, first time since the top two seeds have not made it’.
“The good news is that I think we are going to see a new injection of fresh blood and new faces, which ultimately will be good for the game.
“Carlos Alcaraz, he's been an unbelievable breath of fresh air, hopefully he'll be back soon. Holger Rune is only 19 years old.
“We weren't talking about Sebastian Korda a whole lot a couple of years ago, or a year ago. So hopefully these stories will become as interesting and as exciting as the ones we've grown accustomed to.”
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