Philipp Kohlschreiber will miss the AO for only the second time since 2005.
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With six weeks to go until the delayed 2021 Australian Open, a lot will change.
But as singles entries have closed for this most challenging of Grand Slams, it’s clear that the players are not dissuaded by the strict conditions and short lead up.
On the men’s side, only a pair of veterans have not signed on for the dance.
At 37, and still in the top 100 (by a couple of spots), Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber will miss the Australian Open for only the second time since … 2005.
He’s 22-14 in Melbourne in his career. And he’s reached the third round or better six times, almost always losing to top-ranked opposition.
Verdasco’s Australian Open streak ends at 17
The other missing man is Fernando Verdasco of Spain.
Also 37 (a month younger than Kohlschreiber), the lefty has played the tournament 17 consecutive times. He reached the third round the last two years, and his epic semifinal against countryman Rafael Nadal in 2009 will not soon be forgotten.
Nor will his choice of practice-court attire (or non-attire).
Verdasco’s streak of 67 consecutive Grand Slams played ended in August, when he missed the US Open. He also didn’t play Roland Garros. His first major main draw was Wimbledon in 2003.
Other than those two, the field is full. Which of course doesn’t mean there won’t be no-shows.
Notable among those with question marks is Roger Federer, who is returning in 2021 after missing the entire year after the 2020 Australian Open. Even with the three-week delay, it’s hard to fathom he’ll be fit and ready to play best-of-five sets in time.
Included on the list is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The veteran Frenchman has maintained his ranking at No. 62 because of the freeze. But he hasn’t played since opening losses in Doha and Melbourne early in 2020 (the latter a retirement).
The current cutoff stands at No. 104. Yen-Hsun Lu (doesn’t it feel he’s been on a protected ranking for years?) and Mackenzie McDonald are both in on protecteds; Joao Sousa is the first alternate.
The women are all aboard
Meanwhile, the women are ready to go.
Almost every eligible player has entered. In the last days before the deadline, Caroline Garcia of France was the lone holdout not officially entered. But even she is on the list now.
The protected ranking players are Yaroslava Shvedova (No. 47), Vera Zvonareva (No. 78), Katie Boulter (No. 85) and Mona Barthel (No. 101).
Missing are Carla Suárez Navarro, who is battling cancer, but who also wrapped up her career in 2020. As well, Taylor Townsend, expecting her first child in March, obviously won’t be joining the party.
At No. 102, German Andrea Petkovic is the last one straight in.
Missing among those who are just below the initial cutoff and would have been likely to end up in the main draw are Monica Puig and Kristie Ahn.
Kiki Bertens signed on
World No. 9 Kiki Bertens, who had Achilles surgery in late October and said then she would be missing the Australian swing. She also has entered the tuneup event the week before at Melbourne Park.
Since, per her Instagram, she has just started working out in the gym, that seems … aspirational. But it will give her some motivation as she works to get back on tour from a tough surgery.
Serena Williams is also entered in both the Melbourne WTA event, and the Australian Open.
Lucky losers list open
The players have to finalize their travel and team members by Wednesday.
And the window for withdrawals that allowed alternates to move into the main draw is closing quickly.
The fact that the qualifying is being played so far ahead of the tournament itself will hurt those players on the bubble. And with it, their opportunity to earn a minimum of $100,000 AUD, even if they lose in the first round.
The way it will work – at least for the women – is that the alternates can only move into the main draw until the start of the qualifying in Dubai on Jan. 9.
After that, any withdrawals – and you know there will be some late ones – will be filled by lucky losers.
The challenge there is that only six lucky losers will be allowed to travel and enter Australia for those purposes.
After that, it gets interesting.
If those six spots are spoken for in the month between the qualifying and the start of the Australian Open, the next players in line will be Australian players who competed in the qualifying – no matter how early they lost.
But if that supply gets used up, they are down to the doubles player who are in the main draw in Melbourne, but also played in the singles qualifying in Dubai.
If it gets down further than that, any doubles players in the Australian Open main draw would be next.
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Thanks Stephanie. The Direct TV schedule now shows Tennis Channel starting coverage of Abu Dhabi Tues. (Jan. 5) at 10 pm. Pacific standard time and Delray beginning Thurs. Jan. 7 at 9:30 am PST. No Antalya yet. Wonder if Aussie Open qualies being telecast or streamed anywhere?
On spreading the word of your site, I agree probably a lot of fans attending matches in person aren’t the serious type who read about it much. But serious fans like me do go to tournaments and I am sure would be regular viewers of your site if they knew about it. Maybe you can contact tournaments and they can give you a plug for free since you are giving them free publcity with your coverage of their events.
Ha thanks. But there’s a separation of church and state and the notion of having tournaments “give me a plug” implies I’m obligated to give them slurpy coverage.
When I write good stories, social media that helps ensure they get passed around pretty quickly. A lot more “online” tennis fans than “tournament attending” tennis fans out there!
I’m hearing the problem with Antalya is that the site is just not set up to be able to set up the cameras required to properly broadcast it. It’s not a Tour-level site – it’s a last-minute fill-in.
I suspect something similar about the AO in Doha and Dubai. Not only thousands of miles away from Tennis Australia and their equipment/technicians, but also on two sites. It’s always possible. But given all the challenges they have it’s probably pretty far down the list.
I want to second goldengirl’s comments about how well you have covered the tennis world and answer our comments/questions. Keep up the good work, Stephanie. I would suggest putting an ad in programs/drawsheets at tournaments to spread the word on your site. Once tennis fans see it, they will be regular viewers.
My question this time is I looked at the Tennis Channel schedule on Direct TV for next week and don’t see either the ATP or WTA tournaments shown, only “Encore” telecasts. I hope it is only the guide hasn’t been updated. TC Plus website never shows schedule that far in advance so can’t tell from that. So wondered if you can find out if the women’s tournament at Abu Dhabi and men’s at Del Rey and Antalya will be shown. Thanks.
Thanks for the kind words! I would note that people who actually attend tournaments probably spend exponentially less time reading about it than online fans. 🙂
As for the broadcasts, two things could be in play.
Tennis channel has the rights to “most” 250 events as of 2021. A total of 16 (which is not that many). What that means, I guess we will see. You’d think, at least, Delray Beach would be on there.
As for the WTA, I was told by one of the Tennis Channel broadcasters that she would be in studio in L.A. for that first week of the season. Since they don’t let women broadcast men’s tennis on Tennis Channel too often, I assume this will be for the WTA event (12-hour time difference for them – they should be perky with it starting at 10 p.m. the night before, their time. I guess good practice for the Australian Open).
All these events were not originally planned, as you know. So I suspect whomever is in charge of updating this stuff at DirecTV took a nice Christmas holiday.
There isn’t much point in acquiring all those rights if the season is started and they don’t show any live programming when it’s available. That’s for sure.
Update: Tennis Channel’s website has listings for Abu Dhabi and Delray (as I guessed). Starting Jan. 6 for the WTA and as of Thursday for the men (second day of the event, if memory serves). No Antalya in sight. But you never know.
Tks very much.
Are you able to tell us which tournaments our Canadian players will be participating in, or is it still too early?
Also, haven’t heard anything about Rebecca Marino since her Dad passed away. Do you know if she is planning on playing in 2021?
Tks.
I THINK she is? But there are almost no tournaments available to play so far, for players with her ranking. So TBD.
Andreescu is entered in the Melbourne tournament the week before the Australian Open.
Raonic and Pospisil are entered in the Delray Beach tournament.
That’s about it, so far.
Polansky, Steven Diez and Brayden Schnur are in the Australian Open qualifying in Doha. I don’t think there are any Canadian women in the qualifying other than Bouchard.
Fernandez’s ranking is sort of borderline. So she will play the week before in the Melbourne tournament. And perhaps the qualifying in Abu Dhabi.
The ATP Cup is still in a state of disorganization. So until that’s cleared up it’s too soon to know where the men will play the week before the AO.
Merry Christmas, Stephanie, & here’s hoping for a better (can’t be worse, can it?) 2021. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all the hard work you do to give us the latest & accurate info on what is happening in the tennis world all year long. I, also, like that you have a ‘Comments’ section that we don’t need to register for, & that you always answer. So, a BIG thank you for Open Court!
Thanks for the kind words! 2021 has GOT to be better!
Have a Merry Xmas yourself and stay safe.