I admit I haven’t been paying as much attention to the Australian Open as I typically do this time of year. Honestly, with the distractions of ongoing fires and a heavier-than-anticipated work schedule, I’ve actually slept for a good portion of the overnight period where I’ve usually been entertained by ESPN2’s opportunistic scheduling that takes full advantage of the time differential that puts daytime events in Melbourne in prime time and nighttime events in hours where my typical insomnia reigns supreme. But I had a bout the other night that allowed me to finally catch up, just in time to see a truly inspiring American success story complete a career-long rise that at times was Sisyphusian.
Incredibly, it’s been 15 years since I did projects for The Tennis Channel, and one of my key takeaways was for as much as the sport cherishes and honors its champions from all over the globe to truly matter on these shores we need an American to resonate. At the time, a teenage protege of Chris Evert’s, Madison Keys, was just beginning to become known. The legendary Evert recounted to THE ATHLETIC’s tennis expert Matthew Futterman yesterday what we discovered to be burdgeoning at the time:
“From 10 years old, she had more power than anyone her age, easy power,” Evert wrote in a text message Saturday morning. “On a good day, she could beat anyone, but on a bad day would make lots of errors. Hadn’t figured out how to harness the power yet. At 14, in her first pro tournament, she beat a top 80 player.”
Evert can still see the 114mph ace she hit. Then, Keys was coming for tennis. Instead, tennis sort of came for her. At first, the buzz empowered her, but then it became something like a panic.
And as THE BIG LEAD’s Joe Lago observed yesterday, that panic eventually drove her to a couch:
“I think I’ve done a lot of work to no longer need this,” Keys told ESPN. “I really wanted it, but it was no longer the thing that was going to define me, and kind of letting go of that burden I think finally gave myself the ability to actually play for it.
The “it” and the “this” was what had me wide awake early yesterday as Lago recounted:
Keys felt overwhelmed by the curse of having never won a Grand Slam tournament, and despite amassing nine WTA Tour titles and over $19 million in prize money, she found it difficult coming to grips with the one glaring omission on her career resume. The 29-year-old…finally enjoyed her major title breakthrough Saturday at the Australian Open. The 19th-seeded American played the match of her life to defeat No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in a cathartic career achievement that left Keys both laughing and crying afterward.
It was a literal wakeup call for me to pay more attention to what was transpiring Down Under, and it had me aware enough to set my alarm for 12:30 AM Pacific time to see the championship performance that went down early this morning on the men’s side, as CBS SPORTS’ Isabel Gonzalez described:
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner beat No. 2 Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 on Sunday to win the Australian Open for the second straight year. Sinner is the first Italian to win three Grand Slams, as he also won the 2024 US Open.
Sinner dominated from the beginning and did not face a break point throughout the two-hour, 42-minute match. He is 80-6 since the start of 2024, which includes nine ATP trophies — three of them majors.
Impressive? Obvs. But I’d be less than honest if I tried to convince you I could have picked Sinner out of a police lineup before this morning despite his prior success. Great Italians only take Americans so far, trust me.
But the rising tide of a true American success story raises all boats, and it certainly got the attention of this dinghy. So now I’m reinvested, better informed and eagerly awaiting the spring and summer where Sinner might get a crack at fellow Gen A star Carlos Alcaraz or even the complicated millennial in the clubhouse Novak Djokovic, who he might have faced this year had he not suffered an untimely injury in his semifinal match with Zverev.
All they may need is a young American upstart to join them. That could unlock a few more doors to popularity.
Courage…