The first Sunday start at the Australian Open has seen the first British casualty – while Novak Djokovic has revisited his 2022 deportation before beginning his latest title defence.
Jannick Sinner, who beat the world No.1 three times in November, started his bid for a maiden Grand Slam with a comfortable win with the help of his own fan club.
While the Canadian who lost to Emma Raducanu in the teenage 2021 US Open final said she felt old after recording one of the first wins of the 2024 Grand Slam season and Maria Sakkari continued her perfect start to the year.
But two Wimbledon finalists are out of the tournament. Here is what has happened so far at the Australian Open.
No Plan B British No.2 Jodie Burrage took the first set against Tamara Korpatsch but after the German took a long toilet break, she return to win 2-6 6-3 6-0. Burrage made 45 unforced errors and had her serve broken five times by the world No.81 who has not beaten the world No.102 in three consecutive matches.
She lost nine of the last 10 games on windy Court 13.
“A bit of a tough one today,” said Burrage. Still pretty raw, to be honest, so still a lot of emotions there. It was just a tough end to a match really. I found it tough to serve in that wind and just my game in general.
“I tried to adjust as much as possible, but when you hit a bigger ball I guess and don’t grind it out, when it gets windy, it’s not as easy to play, but that’s just what I need to learn to do. I need to learn to have a bit of a plan B because there was no plan B there today.
Djokovic in knots Djokovic felt his “stomach was in knots” – and is still in touch with Mehdi
The Serbian superstar was set to open his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title in the night session on Rod Laver Arena against teenager Dino Prizmic.
But in his pre-tournament press conference in his native language, the defending champion spoke about his 2022 deportation from Melbourne after he entered Australia without a Covid-19 vaccine and was detained in the Park Hotel for immigrants.
Djokovic revealed he had arrived in the same Melbourne airport terminal as in 2022. I saw the whole path I went over that day, the immigration office, I even recognized a man who was there two years ago. It did not feel, my stomach was in knots,” he said.
The 10-time champion here claimed the “one good thing” to come from his deportation was the “media attention” directed to another detainees in Melbourne, including Iranian Mehdi was who released after nine years.
Djokovic revealed: “I feel some kind of special connection with Mehdi. We keep in touch, he lives in Minnesota now, so we will see each other when I go to the US. He told me that he was grateful for the attention my case brought.
