The semifinals of the Australian Open tournament this year are set and there’s one top takeaway — 30 is the new 20. Of the eight semifinalists this year, only two — CoCo Vandeweghe and Grigor Dimitrov — are aged below 30.
First proof that fortune favours the older came from Venus Williams, who has reached the semifinal of the Australian Open for the first time in 14 years. Williams, aged 36, defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4, 7-6 (3), in the quarterfinals. In doing so, she became the oldest woman to reach the Australian Open semifinals in singles in the Open era.
She will now meet CoCo Vandeweghe, also from USA. Vandeweghe has been nothing short of a ‘giant killer’ this tournament, swatting away some big names on her way to the semis, including reigning champion and No.1 Angelique Kerber, and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza to name a few.
The other Williams sister did not want to be left far behind. Meeting first-time semifinalist Johanna Konta, 35-year-old Serena Williams went about business as usual, winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. She now awaits a formidable force at the semis, a player whom she faced last in 1998.
A comeback like no other
It has been a tournament of resurgence — from Federer and Nadal to Dimitrov and Zverev — but no story is more touching and poignant than that of 34-year-old Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, possibly one of the unlikeliest contenders this year. Lucic-Baroni stormed into the tennis scene when she won the women’s doubles title at the US Open in 1998. She was only 15 then. She reached the semifinals of the 1999 Wimbledon tournament, beating the then No.4 Monica Seles.
After such a promising start, her career veered off as she dealt with a series of problems both on and off court, including alleged abuse from her father. She dropped out of the top 100 rankings and for many years after that, struggled to even finance her career after her sponsors backed out.
Her comeback this year has been nothing short of remarkable, defeating No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 5 Karolina Pliskova, who was last year’s US Open runner-up. Lucic-Baroni reached the semifinals 19 years after her only previous singles match win at the Australian Open.
The Return of Roger Federer
It was vintage Federer all of last week, as the 35-year-old reached the semifinals of the Australian Open for the 13th time in 14 years. The win over his opponent Mischa Zverev was Federer’s 85th win overall at Melbourne, making the Australian Open his most successful Grand Slam.
Federer took six months off after a knee injury, ruling him out for the latter half of 2016. The former World No.1 slipped to 17 in the rankings, making it so much more difficult for him this tournament with a tough draw. In his road to the semis, he defeated Tomas Berdych and followed it up with a five-setter win against the indomitable Kei Nishikori. The exultant leap after that win was a delight to watch.
He will now meet his fellow countryman Stanislas Wawrinka in the semis. The 31-year-old, who until a few years ago was always seen in the shadow of Federer, is a force to reckon with and current favourite to win the tournament.
But even Wawrinka’s top form did not deter fans from envisioning a ‘Fedal’ — a Federer and Nadal Grand Slam final that marked most tennis seasons in the last decade. It was almost as if Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were feeding off each other’s comebacks, with the 30-year-old Spaniard moving to the semis after defeating World No.3 Milos Raonic in straight sets. This win was Nadal’s 50th at an Australian Open, where he won the title in 2009 and was runner-up in 2012 and 2014.
His win meant that this is the first time since the 1968 French Open that three 30-somethings have made the men’s semifinals at a Grand Slam.
The first week of this year’s Australian Open was one of the most surprising starts to a Grand Slam tournament in recent years. The second week has been just as delightful for tennis fans, a welcome contrast from the same time last year, when evidence of rampant match-fixing in tennis cropped up. What will the rest of the tournament hold? Will it truly be the year of the veterans?
