Australian Opens With Appropriate Result

Australia is unique. Their government is both democratic and monarchal. Their landscape includes both states and territories. Their landmarks are the Great Barrier Reef and the Sydney Opera House. Simply stated, Australia is an inherit contradiction. Why should their tennis tournament conform?

On Saturday, Novak Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2). With his victory, Djokovic garnered the Australian Open Championship. “This match was especially important because I was the favorite and I knew everybody was expecting me to win, so anything but the win was a loss,” Djokovic said. “I wanted really to win because I felt my chance. I wanted to win my first Grand Slam. Now things are different.”

Djokovic also addressed his future. “It's not possible that only one tournament is changing the history,” he said. “I played amazing tennis here, so I think I absolutely deserved to win, even against [Federer] in the semifinals. Sure, he's going to come back in a big style. He's still planning to be the best player in the world. We all know how good he is. We're going to see a lot of him, of course, this year.”

Since 1990, Marcos Baghdatis, Michael Chang, Arnaud Clément, Thomas Enqvist Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Petr Korda, Todd Martin, Carlos Moya, Marcelo Rios, and Rainer Schuttler have scored finals appearances. Their performances were unremarkable. However, their aberrations were uniquely Australian.