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Tennis welcomed a primary males’s Grand Slam champion from exterior the ‘Big Three’ since 2016 in Dominic Thiem throughout a 2020 marketing campaign with compelling storylines regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out virtually half the season, together with Wimbledon.
The ladies’s tour additionally discovered new younger champions in American Sofia Kenin and Iga Swiatek of Poland, whereas world No. 1 Ash Barty’s season got here to an abrupt halt in February as she opted to not journey out of Australia for the remainder of the 12 months due to the pandemic.
Organisers breathed a sigh of reduction when fears of disruption to the Australian Open from bushfire smoke receded simply earlier than the 12 months’s first Grand Slam however lower than two months later they confronted a way more complicated downside.
The skilled tennis circuit, which requires gamers to jet all over the world, was pressured into shutdown in early March as international locations went into lockdown and closed their borders to include the unfold of the novel coronavirus.
The grasscourt main at Wimbledon was the largest casualty because it was cancelled for the primary time since World War II whereas the revamped Fed Cup and Davis Cup finals additionally fell prey.
The five-month shutdown stopped lower-level gamers from incomes a dwelling, presenting a possibility for the fractured tennis world to return collectively and work in unison to boost funds for these on the circuit in want of economic help.
In August, the season resumed in Italy amid strict well being measures and managed ‘bubbles’, a blueprint that allowed the U.S. Open and the rescheduled French Open to be held.
It was on the fanless Flushing Meadows that Thiem ended the iron-grip of the triumvirate of Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on Grand Slams, the primary main gained by a participant exterior the trio since Stan Wawrinka’s 2016 triumph in New York.
DJOKOVIC DEFAULT
Thiem’s triumph was, nonetheless, aided by the absence of Nadal, who didn’t defend his title because of COVID-19 issues, whereas Djokovic misplaced his fourth-round match by default after inadvertently hitting a line decide with a tennis ball.
That ended a 26-Zero profitable run in 2020 for Djokovic that included an eighth Australian Open title for his 17th slam.
The Serbian, who was criticised for organising an exhibition occasion in June throughout which he and a number of other gamers examined COVID-19 constructive, additionally created a breakaway gamers’ physique that met sturdy opposition from some athletes and directors.
Djokovic, nonetheless, recovered strongly from his ignominious exit in New York to win the Rome Masters and in addition reached the French Open remaining, the place he went right down to arch-rival Nadal. He ended the 12 months as the boys’s primary for the sixth time.
Nadal’s 13th crown at Roland Garros was his 20th main and tied him for essentially the most males’s titles with Federer, who performed the Australian Open earlier than two knee operations ended his season.
While Djokovic and Nadal confirmed they’ll proceed to be main contenders in 2021, Thiem, Daniil Medvedev and U.S. Open finalist Alexander Zverev underlined their potential.
Thiem’s first main win in his fourth remaining was adopted by Russian Medvedev’s victory in the season-ending ATP Finals, which was held for the ultimate time in London earlier than shifting to Turn in Italy for the subsequent 5 years.
WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS
On the ladies’s tour, Barty reached at the least the semi-finals in three of the 4 occasions she contested in the primary two months of the 12 months however as a result of pandemic she opted to take a seat out the remainder of the season, together with the usand French Opens.
Romania’s world No. 2 Simona Halep additionally skipped the U.S. Open however then went on a 17-match profitable streak that ended in Paris, the place 23-time main winner Serena Williams was pressured to withdraw with an Achilles harm earlier than her second-round match.
Kenin, 22, gained the WTA Player of the Year award after her Australian Open victory and runner-up end at Roland Garros to 19-year-old Swiatek, who grew to become the youngest French Open ladies’s winner for 28 years.
The 12 months additionally marked the comeback of twice main winner Victoria Azarenka, who gained her first title since 2016 on the Western & Southern Open when Naomi Osaka withdrew injured.
Two weeks later the pair met once more in the U.S. Open remaining however this time it was the Japanese who emerged victorious, choosing up her third Grand Slam trophy.
Osaka, born to a Japanese mom and Haitian father and is the very best paid ladies athlete in the world, was additionally hailed for shining the sunshine on racial injustice through the event.
Before every match at Flushing Meadows, she wore a masks bearing the title of a special Black American who had suffered racial injustice in the United States.
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