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[이데일리 스타in 임정우 기자] The Australian Open tennis tournament, the first major tournament in the 2021 season, will open in Melbourne, Australia on the 8th.
The Australian Open, which opened in mid-January every year, begins in early February in the aftermath of Corona 19 this year. This is because all athletes and officials participating in the Australian Open must self-isolate for two weeks after entering Australia.
Prior to the Australian Open, in Melbourne, Australia, men’s pro-tennis (ATP) and women’s pro-tennis (WTA) tour competitions are being held at the Australian Open venue.
The hotel workers where the players stayed were confirmed as Corona 19, and all the games scheduled to be held on the 4th were postponed. The event schedule resumed on the 5th, and the Australian Open event organizing committee affirmed that “The Australian Open will open normally from the 8th,” but the spread of Corona 19 still remains.
The biggest concern of this year’s Australian Open is whether Rafael Nadal (2nd place, Spain) can surpass the record of winning the most major championships in’Tennis Emperor’ Roger Federer (5th place, Switzerland). Nadal conquered the French Open last year and achieved his 20th career in singles in major tournaments.
This is the tie record for the most men’s singles wins in major tournaments with Federer. Federer is absent from this year’s Australian Open due to a knee injury, so if Nadal wins this tournament, a new history will be written.
In order for Nadal to win this tournament, the target he must overcome is Novak Djokovic (1st place, Serbia). Djokovic, who challenged the 3rd consecutive victory in the tournament, showed a strong figure in this tournament, winning eight times in the Australian Open alone. Djokovic, one year younger than Nadal, has won 17 major tournaments so far, and is ranked 3rd in the most major men’s singles championship after Federer and Nadal. Nadal has won the Australian Open once in 2009 and has since been runner-up in 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019.
As a Korean player, Kwon Soon-woo (97th place, Dangjin City Hall) will compete in the men’s singles finals. Kwon Soon-woo advanced to the second round of the major tournament for the first time at the US Open last year. He said in an interview ahead of this competition, “Our goal is to reach the 3rd round this year.” Also, in men’s doubles, Nam Ji-seong (Sejong City Hall) and Song Min-gyu (KDB Development Bank) are in the group. Nam Ji-sung and Song Min-gyu are the players who climbed to the second round of the doubles last year.
In the women’s singles, Serena Williams (11th, USA) will again challenge the tie record for the most singles championship in major tournaments both men and women. If Williams wins this tournament, he will climb to the top 24 times in major singles and tie the record with Margaret Court (retired, Australia). Williams, who returned to the court after giving birth to a daughter in 2017, has been in the singles finals of the majors four times since becoming a mother, but they all finished second. After giving birth, the Australian Open advanced to the quarterfinals in 2019 and to the third round last year.
In women’s tennis, since Angelique Kerber (25th place, Germany) in 2016, there are no players who won two major tournaments a year. This year, in addition to Williams, home court Ashley Barty (1st place, Australia), last year winner Sophia Kenin (4th place, USA), 2019 champion Osaka Naomi (3rd place, Japan), 2019 Wimbledon winner Simona Hallef (2nd place) ·Romania) are being mentioned as candidates for the championship.
The prize money for the men’s and women’s singles championship in this competition is Australian dollars 2.75 million (about 2.34 billion won). Even if they are eliminated in the first round of the singles final, they will receive Australian dollars 100,000, over 80 million won in Korean money.