2023 Australian Open

#4 Djokovic over #3 Tsitsipas in 5 

Djokovic is still the man. Last year he was booted out of the tournament for not bowing down to Covid nonsense (hold on to your history books, kids, the greatest irrational panic of the last century or so was in full effect in the sports world back then), so this year he seemed extra incentivized to whomp the shit out of everyone and that's what he did. He only dropped 1 set in the entire tourney (a 2nd set tiebreak to a qualifier!) and even though it feels like the next crop of talent is ready to step up (hmmm., seems like Americans are playing tennis again though the future seems to be Russian (*)), Djokovic is still the best in the biz.

My favorite match that I saw was in the round of 16 where Rublev defeated Rune in 5 sets.  Man, keep an eye on Rune: he's definitely not completely in control of his powers (yanked a lot of balls into the 5th row), but when he gets around on a ball--holy shit! That kid hits rockets! If you've got ESPN+ and wanna see some top quality tennis, the 5th set of this one was NCAA tournament-quality nail biting entertainment. (https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/19fdbaf5-b5cf-4dc0-be0d-486999e0b601)

#5 Sabalenka over #22 Rybakina in 3

I only caught random Ladies' matches, but I saw Sabalenka a few times: big hitter, good game but like most Russians (**), when she gets down on herself, she gets doooooowwwwwnnnn, which is precisely what keeps her from dominating like she could. Didn't see the Final but I was impressed with Rybakina's performance over Azarenka in the semis. Nice run from Pliskova and Azarenka to remind us that they're still capable of getting big wins. 

Saw a random smattering of the Aussie this year, wish I'd seen more. 

(*) Or at least I think they're Russian. Now that we don't have Covid to panic about any more, we've moved to pretending like ignoring the Russian flag is how wars get won. I'd like to think that level headed objectivity will return to civilization but it might take a while. 

(**) It's okay to root for Sabalenka, she at least has the good taste to pretend like she's not from Moscow, which I guess that makes her acceptable....but is she vaccinated....? Has she jumped through all possible pointless hoops for acceptance?