Leading men are left a bit weakened
Murray is hurting, but Nadal, Djokovic and Federer have good chances in Australia.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal knew it was inevitable that sooner or later the Big Four would become the Big Three.
That Andy Murray is the first of the long-time leading four in men’s tennis to signal the end of his career is something Nadal has to keep in perspective.
The No. 2-ranked Nadal enters the Australian Open as a legitimate title contender along with No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 3ranked Roger Federer, both six-time champions at Melbourne Park. Nadal is 32. Djokovic turns 32 in May, a week or so after Murray. Federer is 37.
Five-time finalist Murray plans to start the tournament in Australia, but he has conceded it could be his last after 20 months of struggling to overcome a long-time injury. The severe pain from his surgically repaired right hip is restricting his movement and he has already flagged he’ll retire after Wimbledon — if he can keep playing that long.
Murray practiced Saturday at Melbourne Park not long before Nadal appeared at a news conference to talk about his health after three months out of competitive tennis and his prospects at the Australian Open, the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments that he hasn’t won at least twice.
“Yeah, of course is very bad news,” Nadal said of Murray’s tearful news conference the previous day. “Will be a very important loss for us, for the world of tennis, for the tour, for the fans, even for the rivals that he have been part of a great rivalry between the best players for a long time, and a great competitor.
“But being honest, when somebody like him, that he achieved almost everything in his tennis career, is suffering like he’s doing for such a long time already probably he does the right thing for his mental health.”
Nadal has missed long periods of tennis because of injuries throughout his career, still managing to amass 17 major titles, but has never contemplated a date for retirement.
Federer has credited improvements in travel, in nutrition and in life balance for giving modern tennis players the ability to extend their careers well into their 30s. He was 35 and coming off a long injury layoff when he revived his career with an Australian Open title in 2017. He successfully defended the title last year, his 20th major.
Nadal’s plan for longevity revolves around playing fewer tournaments and resting whenever he has persistent injuries. That became less of an option for Murray, who is contemplating further surgery just to cut down on the pain he feels when he’s doing such simple things as putting on his shoes and socks.
“Seems like he had not very long career because today players are playing that long. But he’s 31 — 10 years ago, if he retired at 31, we will say he had a great and very long career,” Nadal said. “We will miss him. But today is him. Tomorrow another one. We are not 20 anymore. Our generation, everyone is more than 30s.”
The Big Four have dominated the men’s circuit for more than a decade and shared around the major titles with few exceptions, such as Stan Wawrinka’s wins at the 2014 Australian Open, the 2015 French and the 2016 U.S Open, and Marin Cilic’s victory at the 2014 U.S. Open.
There’s a crop of other players coming through, including No. 4-ranked Sasha Zverev, but much of the attention in the first the couple of days at Melbourne Park will be on Nadal, Murray and Djokovic — who went through juniors together — and Federer.
Nadal will open against Australian James Duckworth in the second match Sunday on Rod Laver Arena. Federer has a night match against Denis Istomin on the same center court.
Murray is scheduled to play No. 22-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut on Sunday at Melbourne Arena, the third of the show courts. Djokovic is on the other side of the draw and will start on Day 2.
On the women’s side, topranked Simona Halep has to get through an opening match against Kaia Kanepi, who beat her in the first round at the U.S. Open last year.
Halep lost four straight matches to finish 2018, hampered by a back injury, and was beaten by Ashleigh Barty at the Sydney International to start this season. But she says her back is fine. She’s also without a coach in Melbourne, an appointment she’s taking time to consider.
U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka looms as a potential semifinal rival for Halep, or Serena Williams, or whoever comes out of the tough top quarter.
A lot has changed for Osaka since capturing her first major title in New York last September, having never even reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event.
Her victory there was overshadowed to a degree by Williams’ clash with chair umpire Carlos Ramos during the final and subsequent $17,000 fine.
Williams missed the last Australian Open — she won here in 2017 while pregnant and was still on the sidelines after having her baby — but reached two major finals after returning to tennis. Despite being seeded 16th, she remains a strong contender to win her 24th Grand Slam singles title.
Osaka, meanwhile, is learning as she goes.
The 21-year-old said she’s slightly awkward in one-onone conversations, but feels more at home answering questions and throwing in one-liners at packed news conferences.
As for her goals here, in a women’s field that has featured eight different major winners across the last two years, Osaka said it’s a work in progress, starting with her first-round match against Magda Linette on Tuesday.
“No one wants to lose in the first round of a Slam,” she said. “From there, I’ve been in the third round 100 million times [in reality it’s nine times] already. That would be my next goal. Hopefully semis after that. Then I can think about, like, the finals and winning.”