Melbourne was a golden carpet on Saturday, luminous in its summer finery. Some 24 hours later, it's windy, cold, and drizzly. Nature's moods untethered.
The city's Central Business District, where sweeping streets criss-cross narrow by-lanes and coffee and culture collide, is abuzz. Its graffiti-stained walls spark an indie vibe. Flinders Park station isbustling, unmindful of vagaries of the weather. It's building to an apotheosis that'll be played out between chalked lines in the next fortnight.
Melbourne Park, home of the Australian Open, which abuts the gently flowing Yarra, got some reprieve from the southerly winds when the heat index hit 40 degrees at courtside on Saturday. That's as close a breather as the tennis pros are likely to get this fortnight in the season's opening Grand Slam, starting Monday.
It's that time in the calendar when the old is burnished into the new.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, the sport's champagne talent, couldn't finish the 2022 season. The 19-year-old recovered from the tear of his obliques in November, but his right leg wobbled at the height of his preparations for the New Year, forcing a no-show here.
Novak Djokovic, the other part of the stellar storyline that unfolded in the second half of the year, played just 11 tournaments courtesy his vaccine stance. He won five of them, including finishing on top in the ATP Finals in Turin.
The allegory to the inspirational highs of Djokovic's stop-start schedule is give him a short ball and he'll knock it out of sight, stick him with lengthand the mentalist supreme will do the same. Some 12 months after he was deported from Australia, the 36-year-old is looking for a record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title and a tenth crown in Melbourne Park.
There may be injury concerns, a practice session was cut short, but suffice to say that if Djokovic is in the draw, he'll look to own the narrative.
Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal, who opens against the 21-year-old left-hander Jack Draper, has a series of tests lined up before him, leading to a scheduled quarterfinal meeting against the man he came back from the brink to beat in the final last year — Daniil Medvedev.
The Spaniard's Nadalesque show at the Rod Laver Arena last year has been eulogized as sport's opera of the impossible. The 22-time major winner, who lost both his matches this year in the United Cup, is playing his first major after the birth of his son three months ago. So, while only a fool would write Nadal off, these are still early days for the top seed.
Despite American Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka's success in January and No. 1 Iga Swiatek's straight set loss to Jessica Pegula in the team event, sparking injury worries which were underlined by the Pole pulling out of the following week's competition with shoulder issues, the 21-year-old is the player the rest of the field is gunning for.
COCO'S STRENGTH
Coco Gauff, 18, is quietly gaining ground. "If you look at the top-10 right now, most of them are in their 20s, like 22 to 26," the world No. 7 said of the WTA's elite pros. "I feel like most of the tennis players, at least on Tour now, are peaking around 22 to 26," she added. "I've noticed from 15, when I started, to now, I'm at a much different level physically. I'm just continuing to get stronger."
"There's a joke that my mom has," she said. "She is like, you don't have that grown woman strength yet. You'll know when you get it."
RUNE AN EXCITING, TALENT: KYRGIOS
Nick Kyrgios was asked if he had words of advice for the temperamental Dane Holger Rune. The Aussie turned the question on its head. "He's an exciting talent, he's going to have an unbelievable career," Kyrgios said, adding, "I would tell Denmark to just embrace that." He's beating guys like Djokovic in the final of Paris. Focus on that rather than the 30 seconds when things get out of hand."
