The 2023 Australian Open ended with wins for Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka. The Serbian phenom captured his tenth title at Melbourne Park, snagging Rafael Nadal to the top of the all-time Grand Slam rankings and returning to the top of the ATP rankings.
Aside from Nole’s records, it certainly wasn’t a memorable tournament in terms of emotions. The 35-year-old from Belgrade fulfilled the forecasts of the day before without losing a single set in the second week, which cleared up any uncertainty about the outcome of the first Major of the season.
In the last few hours, the Australian channel ‘Channel 9’ -which holds the television rights to the Australian Open- has announced that the 2023 edition of the Happy Slam has lost 3 million viewers compared to a year ago (40% less). . .
The most watched match on television was that between Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur, which did not exceed 730,000 viewers. The causes of this decline are several: the definitive withdrawals of Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Ash Barty, the very painful losses of Nick Kyrgios and Carlos Alcaraz, not to mention the premature elimination of outgoing champion Rafael Nadal.
Colin Vickery criticizes Nole Djokovic
«We know that Novak Djokovic really isn’t an audience draw in my mind, so the fact that he’s a part of this this year, I think it doesn’t make any difference,» television pundit Colin Vickery told the Herald Sun.
“The world of tennis lacks television ratings draws at the moment, it is in a transition phase. The draw cards that are reliable like Ash Barty, Federer, are gone and there are very few at the moment.
Novak Djokovic’s coach Goran Ivanisevic recently shared some behind-the-scenes details of the Serb’s journey leading up to his historic Australian Open victory. «You know when a president visits a foreign country and is given a list of 37,000 things to do, meet, etc.
Novak had 37,000 therapies and treatments. All those emotions came to the surface after he won. I mean, the guy spent more time in his car than his previous 16 Australian Open tournaments combined. Incredible medical team, incredible,» Ivanisevic said.
«I still can’t believe what he’s been able to do. I can only be proud of the opportunity to work with such a man, because I can always learn something new, something crazy. It’s great that we’re both temperamental, emotional.» Ivanisevic said.
