Let’s see what happened in January 2013. The Australian Open and all the warm up events gave a sort of preview about the upcoming seasons
The Good 
1-Djokovic
This guy is just incredible and he made it clear that this is not his moment, this is his era. Novak is strong, confident and he knows he has an edge against everybody. His incredible victory against Wawrinka (the Swiss looked like Superman more than a player) was the testimony of what Nole can achieve. In the AO final he demonstrated once again that from a mental point of view he is much stronger than Murray (that he is not that bad either!) that might be his competitor no.1
2- Sloane Stephens
The American teenager is such good news for tennis. She is young (19), she is strong and she has a lovely personality. By defeating her childhood idol (Serena Williams) she demonstrated she doesn’t fear anybody. By playing down Azarenka’s controversy she showed her class. By SMSing the mother soon after the match with Serena like every teenager would do… well that was lovely!
3-Li Na
She lost another AO final and once again when she was 1 set up, but she came out as a real winner. The Chinese won again the hearts of the public (Chinese and international). When she fell twice and the second time she was laughing like a schoolboy when they were testing if she was fine after hitting the ground with her head…people loved her. The Chinese Federation is proud of her and so her compatriots. Well done!
4-Tennis Australia
The Federation, the Australian Open… every organisation involved in tennis in Australia has been doing a marvellous job. It is impressing how they are managing Bernard Tomic and how they are succeeding in taking out the best of him (not easy) with tough decisions such as leaving him out of the Davis Cup.
Tennis Australia is also managing to properly nurture youngsters such as Ashley Barty.
The Australian Open is always a huge success and definitely the “Happy Slam”. Tennis is and it must be about happiness. Australia is a healthy environment for this.
5-The Bryans
The flying twins are definitely the most iconic characters in doubles history. They may jump a little less now than few years ago, but they are great fun and wonderful personalities. By winning their 13th Slam they make history to be the most successful couple in majors.
Also in the good:
Kimiko Date-Drum: the 42 years-old get to the 3rd round of the AO trashing Nadia Petrova with the enthusiasm of a teenager. Refreshing…a good example for Tomic 😉
Errani-Vinci: If you couldn’t understand why they are the world no.1 in doubles, well you can get it watching again their match against the Williams sisters. Sara and Roberta are not the tallest players on tour… but gosh they are incredible when playing together. Winning the Australian Open was just another great achievement!
The Bad 
1-Azarenka
Vika is world no.1, she has just won her second slam and she is ruining her image…. Big time.
The Belarusian is a lovely girl but she is projecting a horrible image of herself and that’s really not good in tennis. The super controversial medical time-out with Sloane Stephens, her weird relationship with Redfoo (it’s private… but she is a public image…so that’s not private!), her way to celebrate… people they do not like it at all.
Forums, comments on videos in YouTube and news are flooded by bad opinions about her. 99% of the public at Melbourne Park was against her… she needs to change that otherwise she will pay for it and that’s a shame because she is such a good competitor.
Look at this video, the comments, and unlikes… to understand what we are talking about…
2-Indian Federation
They just can’t handle the situation. They keep on fighting with their most representative players…well… you can say with all of them but Paes to be boycotted for the Davis Cup. They can’t also produce a tennis player that is competitive in singles. Time to change something… or time to change everything?
3-Doping
Lance Armstrong did a huge big mess. Now there are doubts all over the tennis community. Noah accused the Spanish athletes, Nadal gets upset, Federer says there are not enough controls, Bartoli says there are too many, Agassi … whatever, it’s a big mess, we are sure (or we really hope) that doping is not widespread in tennis, but they should find a clear framework for controls. Try to think if even a low ranked player is found positive… that would be a mess. To be careful
4-Stosur
Sam can’t win a match in Australia. It’s a bit of a shame. She crashed out in the first round in Brisbane to Sofia Ardivsson, in the first round in Sydney (3rd time in 4 years) to Zheng and with Zheng again in the 2nd round of the Australian Open. In addition she lost 6 of the last 7 official matches… creepy.
5-Janowicz
We were so eager to see Jerzy in action in 2013 after the magnificent tournament he played in Paris, but then he lost in the first round in Auckland against Baker and he crashed out in straight sets at the AO at the hands of Almagro. He made news only for an incredible tantrum he had in the 2nd round (AO) where he even struggled to defeat the world no.397 …7-5 at the 5th set… We were expecting far more from him. Still hoping.
Also in the bad:
Serena: She came to the AO in order to demolish everybody and become the super-magnificent-deserving world no.1 to get injured, been defeated by a (super) teenager, and crash out from doubles… ahi
The Maybe
1-Tomic
Bernard had an incredible turnaround to beat everybody in January (but Roger) and get his first career title in Sydney. He wins, he entertains the crowd, the Australians start to like him again. It seems he has completely recovered till the very last days when he lost the driving licence for excess speed … with his brand new bright yellow Ferrari (???). Maybe we should wait a bit more.
2-Murray
Andy won Brisbane, he got to the AO final defeating King Roger in 5 sets, but he couldn’t make with Nole as he was clearly inferior from a mental point of view. Murray did improve a lot, but maybe he needs more…
3-Dimitrov
Baby Federer hits the headline for his (very plausible) relationship with Queen Maria (Sharapova). Then he reaches the final in Brisbane, then… bye bye… he crashes out to Fognini in Sydney (he looked injured) and he loses in the opener at the AO at the hands of Benneteau. Grigor is there with his tennis, but maybe he needs to be more consistent.
4-Nadal
The super King of Clay, the Spanish legend. He was meant to play the Mubadala and the AO, he couldn’t for strange reasons (stomach virus and lack of preparation). He would fall in the “bad” category, but we have high hopes for the South American swing in February. Maybe it will be the super good news … at least we hope so.
5- Federer
If have Rafa, we need to have Roger. The Swiss Maestro had a strange AO. He didn’t do any warm up tournament and he played a very good tennis, also with Murray. Roger had a terrible draw to breeze past, Paire, Davydenko, (super bold) Tomic and Raonic… all in straight sets. He lost to Murray (a very fit Murray) only at the decider. Roger tennis is becoming much more solid, much less “shanks” and a better shot selection. With Andy he wasn’t as aggressive as he should have been… but maybe… this is going to be another very good year for the Maestro!
