Australian Open: Men’s Biggest Winners and Losers

Novak Djockovic clinched his place among the games elite with his 6th Australian Open Title, but he wasn’t the only winner over the past few weeks. 

Andrey Kuznetsov may not have won the tournament, but is still considered one of the biggest winners. He really showed some grit by getting past the 30th seed, Jeremy Chardy, in a long 2nd round straight set win. He was scheduled to face Rafa in the third round, but luckily for Andrey, Rafa didn’t make it out of the first round. Kuznetsov made the best of his chance by eliminating Dudi Sela in 4 sets before being eliminated in 4 by Gael Monfils. This was the farthest Kuznetsov has ever gone in a grand slam, and the points gained by making it to the 4th round allowed him to jump from 74th to 52nd in this weeks rankings.

Another man that was one of the big winners was the man who eliminated Kuznetsov. Gael Monfils was another guy that took advantage of a weak draw, and really impressed with his workmanlike performances. We all love Gael for his flare and charisma, but he earned a great amount of respect for his focus throughout the tournament, including his Quarterfinal loss to Milos Raonic. Gael’s first Australian Open Quarterfinal allowed him to jump from 25th all the way up to 17th in the latest rankings.

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Rubbing the Rock

Rajeev Ram was one of the best stories through the first few days of this tournament. The American isn’t known by many casual fans because he doesn’t play in a whole lot of tournaments, but he certainly impressed this tournament. He shocked 11th seeded Kevin Anderson in the first round before bowing out in an insane 5 setter to Stephane Robert in the 2nd round. A second round appearance doesn’t seem like much to many, but the effort allowed Ram to jump 12 spots up to 81st in the world this week.

Unfortunately not everyone was a winner this week. The early portion of the tournament featured a number of shocking upsets, and some guys that just did not have the luck of the draw on their side.

We would be insane if we began the list of losers with anyone other than Rafa Nadal. Nadal is still considered to be one of the big 4, but has not played like it over the last few years. However, many experts felt as if this was the best Rafa had been playing in a while, and believed this would be the tournament he finally makes a long run. Unfortunately. Rafa was a major disappointment falling out in the first round to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. This loss didn’t drop him in the rankings, but the first round exit will surely effect his confidence heading into the clay court season.

There is about to be a revolution in the game of tennis with a lot of young guns expected to break through this season, but none of them had a positive Australian Open. Unfortunately for Thanasi Kokkanakis, he wasn’t even able to compete in his home slam, and dropped 12 spots in the rankings because of a shoulder injury. Kokkanakis’ best friend Nick Kyrgios was another guy that really didn’t perform up to expectations this tournament. Nicky was seeded 29th coming into the tournament, but was bounced without much of an issue by Tomas Berdych in the third round. Other young stars like Alexander Zverev and Hyeon Chung didn’t have the luck of the draw on their side. They were both bounced with relative ease by eventual finalist and top 2 seeds Novak Djockovic and Andy Murray. However, the biggest loser of the young guns has to be Borna Coric. Borna wasn’t expected to make a crazy run into the second week, but surely wasn’t expected to be romped to the tune of 6-3 6-2 6-2 by Albert Ramos in the first round.

Next: Australian Open Men's Final

All in all this wasn’t the most thrilling Australian Open, but it was one that will be remembered for a long time. Obviously it will be remembered as the tournament that Novak tied the great Roy Emerson with his 6th Australian Open title, but it will also be remembered as the tournament we said good bye to a legend. Lleyton Hewitt has been one of the most inspirational players in the history of the game. He taught all youngsters that having the proper mentality is just as important as having talent. It will be fun to see who takes that lesson to heart, and makes a breakthrough this season.