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Jake Michaels
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ESPN Associate Editor- Jake Michaels is a Melbourne-based sports writer who covers everything from Aussie Rules to Formula One, basketball to boxing. He joined ESPN in June, 2013 and works as an Associate Editor, covering sport in Australia and around the world.
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Matt Walsh
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Assistant Editor- Matt Walsh is a Melbourne-based sports journalist who willingly travels far and wide to watch any sport. Not only has he seen NFL in Dallas, football in London, baseball in Arlington and hockey in Boston, he’s covered F1, AFL, Wimbledon and the Australian Open for a number of media outlets.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Another Australian Open is in the books and congratulations have to go out to Ash Barty and Rafael Nadal.
Once again it’s time to rate the performances of the locals. For this excercise, we are only considering singles performances only, not doubles.
So, taking into account experience, expectation, opposition and of course performance, it’s time to grade them.
Ash Barty
Won Australian Open
Grade: A++
A result 44 years in the making, Ash Barty delivered a near perfect tournament to clinch her third Grand Slam title and the first by an Australian since 1978. Barty didn’t lose a set throughout the tournament, and rallied beautifully when challenged in the final against American Danielle Collins. Down 1-5 in the secont set, Barty broke back twice — cooly — to get the match on serve and win in a tiebreak. She remains the world’s best player and by some margin; in the rankings she’s more than 2600 points clear of her nearest rival.
Alex De Minaur
Defeated by Jannik Sinner (11th seed) in 4th round
Grade: A
He was well and truly overwhelmed by Sinner in the fourth round but the Demon enjoyed a career best Australian Open. As the 32nd seed, going beyond the round of 32 should be considered a win and in reaching the last 16, de Minaur’s ranking will rise into the 20s. He left Melbourne Park 12 months ago saying he needed to improve in a few areas, and he did. It will be interesting to see how he looks this time next year.
Christopher O’Connell
Defeated by Maxime Cressy in 3rd round
Grade: A
Few would have expected O’Connell to progress out of the first round but the 27-year-old wildcard from Sydney enjoyed a great first week at Melbourne Park. O’Connell caused one of the boilovers of the tournament in upsetting 13th seed Diego Schwartzman in straight sets. He also managed to take a set off the talented serve-and-vollyer Cressy. Overall, a job well done and a nice pay packet of AU$221,000.
Maddison Inglis
Defeated by Kaia Kanepi in 3rd round
Grade: B+
What a breakthrough tournament for the 24-year-old! Inglis won her first Slam main draw match against US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez — the 23rd seed at the Australian Open — and then backed it up in the second round with a three-set win over American qualifier Hailey Baptiste. She eventually fell in the third round to veteran (and eventual quarterfinalist Kaia Kanpei in three after winning the first set in convincing fashion. It’s a massive springboard for Maddie, who’ll look to build in 2022.
Aleksander Vukic
Defeated by Radu Albot in 2nd round
Grade: B-
Vukic notched the biggest win of his career in the first round when he upset 31st seed Lloyd Harris in four sets, but was undone in the second by a qualifier, Radu Albot in the second round. He would have seen that match as a big opportunity; he has aspirations of breaking into the top 100 this season, and a third-round Slam berth would have had him well on the way.
Nick Kyrgios
Defeated by Daniil Medvedev (2nd seed) in 2nd round
Grade: C+
Kyrgios is a tough one to grade. He looked brilliant in his first round win over Liam Broady and took a set off world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev but ultimately he bowed out in the second round. Kyrgios is a better player than that and he needs to work his way back into the top 30 to avoid being drawn close to a big seed. Still, it was an impressive fortnight at Melbourne Park for Kyrgios, who won the men’s doubles with Thanasi Kokkinakis in what was a dream run for the lifelong friends.
Samantha Stosur
Defeated by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (10th seed) in 2nd round
Grade: B
It’s only right, really, that Stosur managed to win a singles match in her final Slam – her home slam. A US Open champion, Stosur defeated an American, wildcard Robin Anderson to win through to a second-round date with 10th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – a tough ask in anyone’s book.
John Millman
Defeated by Alexander Zverev (3rd seed) in 2nd round
Grade: C-
A bit of a rough draw for Millman, who was always going to have to battle to get out of the second round. He won his first match against 40-year-old veteran Feliciano Lopez in four sets, but was undone comfortably by the wolrd No. 3 Zverev in the second round, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0.
Thanasi Kokkinakis
Defeated by Yannick Hanfmann in 1st round
Grade: D
Riding the high after winning his first career ATP title in Adelaide just days prior, there was a little expectation surrounding Kokkinakis, and espcially his first-round match against a qualifier in Yannick Hanfmann. Unfortunately, Kokkinakis went down in straight sets, but the silver lining was his incredible doubles run with good friend Nick Kyrgios.
Ajla Tomjlanovic
Defeated by Paula Badosa (8th seed) in 1st round
Grade: D
Much like Kokkinakis who came into the tournament with strong form, Tomjlanovic was coming off a career-best year in 2021, but drew a stiff first-round opponent in eighth seed Paula Badosa. Nonetheless, the result will disappoint the world No. 43, who went down 6-4, 6-0.