Perhaps one of the grandest aspects encompassed in tennis’ major tournaments is their vast unpredictability. While the men’s tour has found a pattern of greatness in its ‘Big Four’ in the recent past, Australian Open 2018 was as unexpected of an event as they come – on both the men’s and women’s sides.
From Hyeon Chung’s improbable run to the red-line performance of Elise Mertens and draw-bending upsets of Kyle Edmund and Su-Wei Hsieh, AO2018 offered us delightfully different paths to championship weekend, and – with it – a few new faces to know, plus a resurgent one or two as well.
1. Chung makes the semis, and history
South Korean 21-year-old Chung was on the radar of tennis aficionados coming into Melbourne Park a fortnight ago, but no-one could foresee him doing what he did to make the last four. His victories built as the tournament did, including No.4 seed Sascha Zverev in the third round, and then the match of his career against a hobbled Novak Djokovic, the six-time AO champion in round four.
“I'm just happy to play with Novak again,” a shy, soft-spoken Chung said after the upset. “I'm just honoured to see him on the tour… Today my dreams come true.”
Dreams and history: His semifinal appearance was the first of any South Korean player at a major, punctuated by his steely follow-up to the Djokovic upset, batting aside American journeyman Tennys Sandgren in the quarterfinals.
What had been sweet for 10 days finished bitter, though, with Chung retiring in his semifinal bout with Roger Federer, undone by blisters that had been silently spelling torment for him behind the scenes. He’s the newest face in tennis – and a spectacularly bespectacled one at that.
2. Mertens has an Aussie summer to remember
Like Chung, Mertens had been a player to watch by those who watch tennis for a living, yet she found her form Down Under, first with a successful week at the Hopman Cup in Perth, and then with her second successive title in Hobart the week prior to the AO.
But it was in Melbourne where she played her pivotal best. A straight-set shocker over Daria Gavrilova in the second round, a win over Alize Cornet in the stifling heat, and a drubbing of No.4 Elina Svitolina to make her maiden major semi.
Mertens would push eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki to the brink in their semifinal, holding two set points in the second before succumbing in a tiebreak. Will she be the next coming of her mentor and Belgian countrywoman, Kim Clijsters? She’s says she’s a mix of Clijsters and Justine Henin – and that could be a dangerous combo to watch out for in the future.
3. No Andy Murray? No problem
British hopes seemed dashed with the absence of Scotland’s finest – a hip injury sending Murray to the surgeon’s table – and the second-round exit of Johanna Konta, a former semifinalist here. But then came Edmund, the world No.49 who quietly beat US Open runner-up Kevin Anderson in the first round and then found a hole in the draw, diving through it and into the quarterfinals, where he delivered another bracket breaker: a victory over No.3 Grigor Dimitrov.
He was the sixth British man to make a Grand Slam semifinal in the Open Era. That’s where he ran into the ace machine that is Marin Cilic, but Edmund showed that, at his best, he could be a threat to the top. He has a much-improved serve and a booming forehand.
“Now I know what it feels like to be Andy Murray for the last eight years,” he quipped on court after the Dimitrov win. Indeed. Spotlight: Large, bright and quintessentially British.
4. Su-Wei here to Hsieh?
Stay a while, won’t you Su-Wei? Ten years after the Chinese Taipei player made the fourth round at Melbourne Park in 2008, she did so again, in quirky, slice-laden fashion … to the delight of fans and the bewilderment of opponents.
The doubles expert brought her angle-happy, pace-averse game to centre-stage, confounding Wimbledon champ Garbine Muguruza in the second round, then out-ninja-ing the ninja herself, Agnieszka Radwanska, in round three. She was on the brink of an upset against Angelique Kerber in the fourth round, the 2016 winner needing to summon her best to outwit Hsieh.
“I don't have a plan,” she admitted to reporters, cracking a wry smile after the Kerber loss. “I was try(ing) to still going my Su-Wei style, you know.” As quirky off-court as on it, the 32-year-old is the not-new new name in women’s tennis. Hopefully here to stay.
5. The supporting characters in starring roles
How do you know who is going to get hot during a fortnight of championship tennis? Naomi Osaka did so against Aussie hope Ash Barty in round three, the Japanese powerhouse herself a future major contender and newly under the advisement of Sascha Bajin, the former hitting partner of Serena Williams.
No one saw it coming for American Tennys Sandgren, ranked No.97 in the world and winning his first Grand Slam matches with triumphs over Stan Wawrinka (still dealing with injury) and a pedestrian Dominic Thiem in rounds two and three. Sandgren found success can be a double-edged sword with his social media past coming into question, but you couldn’t query his tennis: It was lightning in a bottle when he needed it to be until Chung stopped him in the quarters.
So too for Marton Fucsovics, a junior Wimbledon champion who is now 25. Like Sandgren he hadn’t won a Grand Slam main draw match before this AO, then registered three of them, including over major semifinalist Sam Querrey in round two. Only Federer would stop him, and Fucsovics – and his moustache – could use this as a launching pad for greater things to come.
Who’s next? That’s why we watch.