A women’s game reinvigorated

Was Australian Open 2018 the shot in the arm the women’s game needed?

Some might argue it was perfectly healthy as it was. Throughout 2017, a globally-representative group of intriguing personalities combined to deliver many great storylines – and an impressively high level of tennis.

Yet beyond sporting icons Serena and Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova – none of whom are currently in the top five – you could argue there are few other female players commanding global recognition.

It wasn’t always this way. In his book Venus Envy, Jon Wertheim writes: “In the year 2000, the WTA Tour set records for attendance and prize money and regularly drew television viewership that eclipsed men’s tennis … Mention (without surnames) Venus, Serena, Martina, Anna, Lindsay, Monica and Mary on virtually any street corner in the world and most people know you are talking tennis.”

> QUIZ: can you name these tennis tattoos?

Anecdotally, at least, that’s not the case now. When Angelique Kerber stunned Serena Williams in the Australian Open final two years ago, a family member – a sports fan, no less – contacted me. “That was amazing, what a match,” they said. “I’d never even heard of Kerber! She was fantastic.”

The German had been entrenched in the top 10 for four years.

A year earlier, Sam Stosur, a WTA Player Council member, wondered how the tour could get better at marketing its highly-ranked players. “Simona Halep has got to No.2 in the world, but do many people know her?” she said. “We’ve got these (great) players in the top five and you’ve got to make sure that people know who they are.”

Three years later, that’s a struggle the WTA apparently still faces. After watching the Australian Open women’s final between Halep and Caroline Wozniacki, a friend sent me a text. “So this is what happens when Serena has a baby? Others get a look in,” they wrote. “Where is Sharapova? I’ve never heard of Halep.”

Halep was the reigning world No.1.

Yet thanks to what was an extraordinary Australian Open, the WTA’s fortunes in this area may be improving. The women’s tournament had everyone talking, thanks to a succession of memorable, high-quality battles on the tournament’s premier court, Rod Laver Arena. There were Ash Barty’s prime-time battles against Aryna Sabalenka and Camila Giorgi. Halep’s third-round epic against Lauren Davis, finishing 15-13 in the third. Kerber’s shot-making classic against a gallant Hsieh Su-Wei in the last 16. A simply superb semifinal between Halep and Kerber, won by Halep 9-7 in the third. And then, of course, the thrilling three-set, three-hour final between Wozniacki and Halep.

“What was so positive about this Australian Open was just the level of play from the girls,” said former pro Nicole Pratt, now head of women’s professional tennis in Australia. “The physicality, the decision-making, how they played under pressure, how they competed. It was a showcase.

“I obviously spend a lot of time watching and coaching tennis and spending time with our top Australian players, but just to see those semifinals actually gave me a little bit of a different perspective on where the women’s game is at. And it was exciting.

“I was leaving the (Halep-Kerber semifinal) thinking that was actually one of the best matches I’ve seen in a long time. Yes, there was a winner and a loser, but I felt like the winner was women’s tennis. If we can repeat those type of matches in the future, then (the game) is going to continue to do well, from a worldwide perspective.”

> FEATURE: top 10 trends to stay

Casual fans may have wondered how it was possible they were not aware of Halep, the world No.1 and top seed. Well, that might be because she hasn’t consistently thrived on the Grand Slam stage. And especially so in Australia, where she’d fallen in the first round the past two years and given part-time fans fewer opportunities to see her compete.

She wasn’t the only example. For much of 2017, the WTA tour and the Grand Slams existed as parallel universes. Like Halep, Karolina Pliskova briefly reached world No.1 yet despite winning three WTA titles, managed only one major semifinal. Wozniacki, who ended the year at No.3, reached a staggering eight WTA finals and triumphed in Singapore, but never progressed beyond a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Ditto Elina Svitolina, who peaked at No.3 thanks to a tour-leading five WTA titles despite reaching just one major quarterfinal.

Alternatively, Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza, CoCo Vandeweghe, Sloane Stephens and Jelena Ostapenko flourished at the sport’s four biggest events, yet only won two WTA titles between them.

The result of this dissonance? Players arrived at Melbourne Park with high rankings and seedings – thanks to consistently impressive tour-level results – who had little impact at the majors and were relatively unknown beyond die-hard tennis fans.

“It’s certainly not great for women’s tennis when (highly-ranked players) are not recognisable,” Pratt said.

“We within tennis know that week in, week out, these players are playing at just such an incredibly high level. But the reality is the Grand Slams are still seen – from the public point of view – as the pinnacle of tennis. They are very aware of who wins Wimbledon. And they may not be as aware of who’s No.1, No.2 or No.3. So of course the public may not be as familiar with (Halep, Pliskova, Svitolina, etc) as Muguruza who won Wimbledon, or Kerber who won the Australian Open (in 2016).”

At Australian Open 2018, those parallel universes finally intersected. Halep, Wozniacki, Pliskova and Svitolina – then four of the world’s top six – all advanced to the quarterfinals. Halep and Wozniacki clashed in a rare 1 v 2 final. Fans enjoyed the opportunity to see these top women playing on the biggest courts, in high-stakes matches, deep into a major event.

“You need the best ones to battle each other for the greatest titles regularly,” observed French tennis writer Carole Bouchard, who was in Melbourne covering the tournament.

“Surprises are fine. But surprises all the time would mean no regular storylines that the fans can get attached to. And if they can’t get attached to one, or can’t look forward to those two big guns fighting each other, it’s getting more difficult for them to engage.

“They need to be able to “read” what’s going on, and that goes with top players playing up to their ranking in the main events and so giving sense to those events and to the rankings. And so to the tournaments coming before and after the Slams.”

Indeed, in the first big tournament after the Australian Open, in Doha, Wozniacki and Halep continued their winning ways by reaching the semifinals. They were joined by Muguruza – making it three of the top four seeds in the semis – and eventual champion Petra Kvitova, who like Muguruza was a two-time major winner. It made for another memorable event.

> RELATED: dream week for Kvitova, Federer

Yet unlike Doha – which in Australia, for example, is broadcast only on pay-TV or streaming services – the Australian Open screened on a major free-to-air network. That meant female players were watched by countless more people, and because of the extremely high quality of the tennis, it dominated media and conversation.

That same family member who texted about Kerber in 2016? They’re a staunch Angie fan now. And they loved what Wozniacki and Halep produced in 2018. “Wozniacki hits way harder than I thought she could. I haven’t actually seen her play much – I am impressed by her,” they texted during the final. “(But) I love Halep. I think she’s amazing. I love her guts.” Another friend was blown away by the same match, telling me: “I’m not normally so much a fan of women’s tennis. But that final was amazing. So absorbing. Such a battle! I loved it.”

Bouchard said that although Wozniacki already had a fairly well-established profile, the tournament did wonders for Halep’s. “I think she got a bit more into people’s hearts than she did before because she lost a final again,” she said.

“Fans see her trying again and again, fighting her heart out through so many matches so they start to feel for her when she loses at the end. I think it gave Halep a better connection with the general public, which will help her at some point to get over the last hurdle.”

Pratt felt the tournament did wonders for all of the top women.

“It means the fans have genuine warriors to follow throughout the course of the year,” she said.

“There’s no reason why that level of tennis shouldn’t continue. Surface wise, they’re all-court players. Obviously some would favour certain surfaces, but they can all play on all different surfaces.

“I just hope now we continue to go from strength to strength.”