SEN Tennis expert Brett Phillips has declared the current Australian Open as the most open field in several years, following a number of losses from top seeded players at Melbourne Park.
Iga Swiatek, the number one female ranked player, was the biggest name to be knocked out on Sunday as she went down 4-6 4-6 to Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan.
American seven seed Coco Gauff and men’s six seed Felix Auger-Aliassime were also eliminated in the fourth round.
Phillips said there are a significant amount of players who have made their best run at a slam and the possibility of a first time Grand Slam winner is becoming more likely.
“There’s an opening and there’s no doubt about that,” Phillips said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“When you look at what is left in the draw, there are some absolute openings.
“Seb Korda, what a fabulous performance he has had and Jiri Lehecka, the 71st ranked player in the world has never been this far before.
“There’s a few (big players) that have fallen by the wayside like (Daniil) Medvedev.
“There’s no Nadal as he’s out of the picture.
“There’s no Casper Ruud either.
“There’s still some good competition there.”
The upsets at this year’s iteration of the Australian Open has been attributed to the ‘Netflix curse’ in which all the players in the streaming services latest sports docu-series, ‘Break Point’, are all injured or have failed to progress to the quarter-finals.
Phillips attributed the oddity to coincidence rather than a curse but noted the irony of the series being about the next generation of tennis stars set to rival Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. .
“It’s become quite the story and it’s quite ironic really,” Phillips said.
“It’s unbelievable that all the main characters are knocked out as we enter the second week.
“I think it just goes to show you the level of competition on the mens and the women's side.
“There is a little bit of the Netflix curse.”
The final hope for Australia at the Australian Open is Alex de Minaur who faces nine-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic for a spot in the quarter-finals.
