AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2013
Australian Open Diary: Tattoo Ban For Janko
Melbourne, Australia
Janko Tipsarevic's wife has banned him from adding any more tattoos.
ATPWorldTour.com takes a look at the news and talking points at the Australian Open on the first Monday.
Tattoo Ban For Janko
Following his first-round victory over Lleyton Hewitt on Monday, Janko Tipsarevic revealed that his wife, Biljana, has banned him from adding any more tattoos to the six he already has on his arm. “I am currently on an embargo from my wife not allowing me to do any more,” admitted the Serb, who also recently told DEUCE he credits his career transformation to his marriage to the TV host in July 2010.
The 28-year-old Tipsarevic also talked about the difficulty of his first-round draw. “I was going to practise on Margaret Court and Jo [Wilfried Tsonga] was practising there. He started laughing at me. He said, ‘Who is going to play on center court,’ singing like a song. I said, ‘No, please.’
“It's really amazing,” he continued. “I mean, [Hewitt] had so many injuries, and he is turning 32 this year, and the balls that he's making you play just to finish the point. I really needed to produce some extraordinary tennis in order to win in the important points.”
Novak Scouting The Opposition
Questioned after his first-round win on the physical nature of tennis, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic revealed players on the ATP World Tour are more committed than ever to their conditioning and improvement, and try to keep abreast of each other’s developments at the start of a new season.
“Obviously we are trying to be as informed as possible about everybody, especially about their game," said the Serb. "At the start of the season you want to see how everybody's playing, how everybody's feeling, how everybody's confident is on the court or not.
“There has been an obvious evolution of the game in the past five to 10 years. When I came on the tour for the first time, I remember there was not as much commitment and professionalism between the players, especially the ones that were a bit lower ranked. Nowadays, competition is so strong and everybody is dedicated on a day-to-day basis to what they do, what they eat on and off the court. It makes the sport and the players improve every single day.”
Berdych Admires Dominance Of Big Four
Fifth seed Tomas Berdych declared men’s tennis is enjoying its “best era” as he contemplated the challenge of overcoming the Big Four to win a Grand Slam. The Czech has come close in the past, beating Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to reach the Wimbledon final in 2010, which he lost to Rafael Nadal. Last year, he defeated Federer in the US Open quarter-finals before falling to Andy Murray.
“If you look at the draw, if you want to win the slam, you have to beat at least three of them, then it's really tough,” said Berdych. “That's how it is. Today's tennis is really, really strong. I think we are in the best era of our sport ever. It's the same for everybody. I think we all try our best to break that huge barrier in front of us.”
Thinking back on the US Open, Berdych added, “I beat one guy. Then there was another waiting. In the final was another one, as well. I was trying to fight with that. It’s not only about how well you play, but you also need something to add extra, luck, then the big result can happen."
Upset Of The Day
World No. 79 Andrey Kuznetsov closed a gap of 67 places in the Emirates ATP Rankings to upset No. 12-ranked Juan Monaco with an emphatic 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-1 victory. The 21-year-old Russian was making his main draw debut at the Australian Open and had not won a match this season prior to arriving in Melbourne. He broke serve nine times and fired 28 winners to only nine from Monaco as he claimed his first main draw win at a major in just under two hours.
Match Of The Day
World No. 101 Edouard Roger-Vasselin battled into the second round with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 2-6, 7-5, 11-9 victory over qualifier Ruben Bemelmans. The 29-year-old Frenchman was on the brink of defeat when Bemelmans serve for the match at 9-8 in the fifth set, but fought back to win the final three games and claim victory in four hours and 25 minutes, with the final set lasting 95 minutes.
"I'm not sure if it's my longest Grand Slam match, at Wimbledon (in 2012) I lost 10-8 in the fifth,” said Roger-Vasselin as he munched on chocolate and a banana after the match. “I'm a bit tired. I have to recover well tomorrow, have rest and be ready Wednesday for the big match against Julien [Benneteau], my doubles partner."
