Shapovalov targets greater success down under

It was the summer of Shapo in 2017, with Denis Shapovalov bursting onto the tennis scene and rising up the ATP rankings’ top-50 quicker than any other Canadian had done before. Now, the 18-year old from Richmond Hill, Ont., has experience under his belt and looks to parlay his wonderful hard-court run last summer into greater success in Australia.

His draw is a challenging yet intriguing section with many familiar foes in the way. Shapovalov has a first-round matchup with World No. 80 and fellow next-gen star Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, a player he has an interesting history with throughout their junior careers. The two met twice in junior grand slams in 2016, one at Roland Garros, the other at Wimbledon, with the Canadian winning both times. Tsitsipas had won their first encounter at the coveted Orange Bowl tournament a year earlier. Even though this will be their first professional meeting, there is no doubt both Shapovalov and Tsitsipas will take much from these three matches and this matchup should be one of the most anticipated early round contests in the entire tournament.

If Shapovalov should prevail over Tsitsipas, a likely second-round matchup with 32-year-old Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 15 seed, looms. These two share some very recent and memorable history, with the Canadian defeating the 2008 Australian Open finalist just four months ago at the US Open in New York. That was the match that put the world on notice as Shapovalov went on to reach the fourth round in just his second-ever grand slam appearance.

Not looking too far ahead, but if Shapovalov reaches the third round, he could once again find himself with another familiar opponent. Nick Kyrgios is the other seeded player in this section of the draw and is coming off a title in Brisbane last week, setting up the 22-year-old for a deep run at his home slam. Shapovalov won their only matchup back in 2016 in Toronto as a 17-year old, although the No. 17 seed Kyrgios was criticized for not displaying much effort in that match. The Canadian phenom has a tough task ahead of him to make another deep run at a grand slam.

Raonic shrugs off injuries for fresh start

Top-ranked Canadian Milos Raonic had a difficult season last year, with nagging injuries the story once again. His ranking plummeted from a career-high No. 3 to No. 24 at the turn of 2018. He made two quarter-final slam appearances, a fourth-round exit at Roland Garros while he missed the US Open all together due to a wrist injury. From there, the 27-year-old played just three matches, one of them ending in retirement after the US Open last season, and one ATP tournament this year, losing to 18-year-old Australian phenom Alex De Minaur in Brisbane last week.

Heading into the Australian Open, the 2016 semi-finalist is seeded No. 22, Raonic’s lowest seeding at a grand slam since 2012, which was right here in Melbourne. It’s unfamiliar territory that he faces this year, having been the higher seed in grand slams until at least the quarter-finals the last two years.

This year’s draw has provided favourable early rounds for Raonic but gets extremely challenging as the tournament progresses. He opens with No. 90 Lukas Lacko (the 30-year-old Slovak beat Tsitsipas earlier this week in Auckland) in the first round, and he’s projected to play No. 13 Sam Querrey of the United States in the third round. If Raonic advances from there, a date with defending champion Roger Federer could be in the cards. The main objective for Raonic is to stay healthy, and he appeared to be fit during the Tie Break Tennis exhibition tournament earlier this week. Reaching the fourth round should be considered his goal.

Federer eyes 20th major with a returning rival trying to play spoiler

Roger Federer won two grand slams in 2017, bringing his total to an astounding 19 overall and is the overwhelming favourite to win this year’s Australian Open. Despite falling short of No. 20 in New York last year, he went on to win two more titles in Basel and Shanghai.

But for all the success the 36-year-old Swiss enjoyed last year, it did transpire while avoiding one of his kryptonites: Novak Djokovic. Over the last five years, the two have matched up 16 times, with Djokovic coming out the winner on 10 occasions (none of those meetings took place in 2017).  However, they are now on very different career trajectories. Federer is arguably coming off the best season of his career, while the 30-year-old Djokovic failed to win a grand slam for the first time since 2010 and did not play a single match after Wimbledon due to an elbow injury.

The two superstars are on the same half of a loaded bottom section that also includes Raonic, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin Del Potro. This is Federer’s tournament to lose.

While the draw didn’t do Federer any favours, it did for Rafael Nadal. The No. 1 player in the world has a very favourable draw – his biggest threats in the top section are two players (Kyrgios and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov) who have never even made it to a slam final.

Kyrgios seems finally poised for a deep run on home turf and appears to be keeping his emotions in check. He won the tune-up event in Brisbane last week and hopes to ride that momentum through his section.

Dimitrov is coming off a career year in which he made the semi-finals in Australia and won the ATP World Tour finals, improving his ranking to No. 3 in the world. Nadal still lurks in the shadows of Federer but don’t be surprised if he wins his 17th career grand slam in Melbourne.

Two notable absentees this year are five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray who misses out with a hip injury, and world No. 24 Kei Nishikori who hasn’t played since August with a nagging wrist issue.

Trio of women set sights on first career slam

Serena Williams is still working her way back into form after pregnancy, which gives the women’s singles competition one more Serena-free slam before she returns. With the 23-time grand slam champion out of the picture, fellow American Sloane Stephens and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko went on improbable runs at the US Open and French Open respectively, winning their first grand slams. Those titles were expected to go to players at the top of the women’s game, but it was a year of surprise champions, which left a number of top-ranked players still without one of the four coveted grand slam trophies.

Simona Halep, currently the No. 1 player in the world, goes into Melbourne as the odds-on favourite. The 26-year-old Romanian has failed to follow up that title on many occasions, but she is coming off a title win in Shenzhen in her first tournament of the year and appears to be in good form heading into Melbourne.

Another player that many are predicting to finally win a slam is No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki. We’ve all heard this before – perhaps more than a dozen times – where Wozniacki is placed among the favourites but can’t win the big one. With Williams and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka not competing at Melbourne this year, this may be the Dane’s last-best career chance. Following the US Open, the 27-year-old Wozniacki went on to win the Tokyo premier event and capture the WTA Tour finals, the biggest title in her career. Starting 2018 off on the right foot, she reached the final in Auckland and is in fantastic form to finally win her first slam.

Elina Svitolina may not have been at the top of the women’s game as long as Halep or Wozniacki, but nobody had a better 2017 than the 23-year-old Ukrainian. The No. 4 seed won five titles last season, more than any other player on tour and, sure enough, won her first tournament of 2018 in Brisbane last week.

Garbine Muguruza, who won the other grand slam in 2017 (the second of her career), got off to a shaky start this year, having to pull out of the tune-up event in Sydney due to a thigh injury. A now-healthy Muguruza will have her say if any of the three (Halep, Wozniacki and Svitolina) try to claim their first crown. Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova is still on the upswing looking for her first title since returning from her drug suspension. 

Bouchard battling to find any rhythm

Last year, top Canadian women’s player Genie Bouchard took another step back as she failed to reach the fourth round at any of the grand slams. The 23-year-old Westmount, Que., native advanced to just one semi-final in Sydney and one quarter-final in Madrid (where she defeated both Sharapova and German Angelique Kerber). Bouchard’s ranking has plummeted all the way back to No. 83 and she’ll exit the top 100 Monday for the first time since 2013. She’s currently on a five-match losing streak, including a loss in Hobart this week to No. 69 Aryna Sabalenka.

There have been changes in the off-season for Bouchard, who parted ways with coach Thomas Hogstedt of Sweden to bring in veteran American coach Harold Solomon (he worked with Jennifer Capriati and Jim Courier). Bouchard also added hitting partner Robbye Poole, who worked with Serena Williams for two years, winning five slams together. These changes will hopefully be the catalyst for an improved 2018 for Bouchard, but it’s unlikely to start with a deep run in Melbourne. 

Although she faces No. 87 Oceane Dodin of France in the first round – Dodin hasn’t played since September – Bouchard would then likely have to play tournament favourite Halep in the second round. Bouchard has third-round points to defend from 2017, so her ranking would drop even further if she fails to achieve a run to the third round. There is a silver lining, however, as 

Bouchard has virtually no points to defend after the Australian Open through April, so she’ll have plenty of tournaments to revitalize her ranking back into the top-100.

For now, Canadian tennis fans can still hope that their top women’s player will rebound this season and find some of the magic that excited the entire country in 2014 when she reached the Wimbledon final.