The 2016 year was a huge year for tennis and it looks as though the golden generations domination of the sport is finally coming to an end. Both the men’s and women’s number one spot changed hands at the end of the year. Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are all under threat for the first time in their careers after dominating the sport for such a long time. One thing is for certain that they will not give up their thorns without a battle.
With the Australian Open just around the corner, a number of questions will be answered. Roger Federer is back after being out for six months with an injury. It will be interesting to see what impact his layoff has had and if he is able to mount a serious challenge for the title. The best sky bet free bet to put on though is for Andy Murray to finally win the tournament. He has been in the final five time and has lost each one. This time around he will want to go one better and finally managed to lift the trophy.
At 35 years old, Williams may be coming to the end of her career but there is no doubting her desire and heart. She is on the verge of breaking all the records in the female game and if she can win a couple more grand slams she will overtake Margaret Smith Court’s record of 24 titles. This season could well be her last to make it so she will be giving it her all and will be extremely hard to stop.
With Williams and Federer coming to the end of their careers 2017 is a vital year for them as they will both want to go out on top. It may well be the last season that they play and how well it goes this season will decide if they stay on for another year or not. With Federer undergoing an operation on his knee last year, he will be hoping that his body can hold out for one last time.
Federer has slipped down the rankings and is now in 16th place and has not won a grand slam in over four years. If he is able to win another Grand Slam it will be the first time since 1972 that a player at his age has won a major tournament. The last time was Ken Rosewall who was 37 and won the Australian Open.
Andy Murray will be hoping that he make a claim to be one of the best players ever to have played the sport by holding onto the number one ranking and winning more grand slams. He won an amazing nine titles in 2016 which took him above Djokovic for the first time. It will be hard for him to improve on his impressive year but one way he can is to finally win the Australian Open. After losing the final five times he will be looking to set the record straight this time around.
Djokovic will be keen to put last year behind him as it was not a good year for the former number one. He had an injury to his elbow along with problems in his private life which had an impact on his form. He will be wanting to get back to the form where he held all the four grand slams at the same time and regain the top spot in the rankings.
