Open Court publishes on Tuesdays and Fridays, bringing you sports, life, and the stuff we need to talk about with author and sports journalist Joanne C. Gerstner. Subscribe here and get Open Court straight to your email! If you're part of our subscriber fam, feel free to share this email and get your friends involved. We welcome your comments too, please share at the end of this piece or @joannecgerstner.
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One of the reasons we love sports comes from the magical things. We witness special performances, mainline the emotions, and share in the championship glow as if we had won the title ourselves.
We don't know what is going to happen, so the ride can be intense and wild.
Sometimes, even with those frameworks in place, the best events rise to new levels of must-see thanks to additional dimensions.
I know this weekend's Australian Open men's and women's singles finals requires some serious night owl action. (3:30 a.m. Eastern, ESPN)
But do it. Get the coffee. Get the snacks. Curl up on the couch and enjoy.
STAY AWAKE.
History could be made on two fronts: Rafael Nadal could pass Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (at 20) as the all-time men's singles Grand Slam title winner; and Ash Barty could become the first Aussie woman to win the tournament in 42 years.
Nadal and Barty mean a lot to tennis, serving as classy, hard-working, super talented representatives for their countries and sports.
But there is a lot more going on making me selfishly root for Barty over American Danielle Collins. I am hoping Nadal can find something extra to beat Daniil Medvedev.
Seeing Nadal, 35, on the court right now is a miracle. Even he wasn't sure it was going to happen, telling his team days before he was supposed to leave Spain for Australia that he wasn't physically ready to go. He missed a good chunk of 2021, including Wimbledon, the Tokyo Olympics and the U.S. Open, due to a painful, nagging left foot injury. Technical term: super busted wheel. Nadal's strength is speed and the ability to slide into his shots - no matter the surface. He underwent surgery the first week of September to repair and clean out the damaged bones, and then started the long process of rehab.
The Aussie is a punishing start to the tennis season, thanks to the pounding of the hard court surface and the draining baking from Melbourne's 90-plus degree summer heat.
You just can't show up and work your way into the tourney. You need to ready to go. Nadal knows what he needs to do, now in the 20th year of being pro, so if he has doubts - we know things are no joke.
He has won 20 Grand Slams, but only one of the haul comes from Australia. (Of course, the vast majority of his bling comes from Nadal straight-up owning Roland Garros since 2005.)
He's in the remaining days of his career, with the injuries coming faster and the recoveries taking longer. But he is here. And the gratefulness he is openly showing for these special moments needs to be noted. He knows. We know.
He said it beautifully on Instagram:
This certainly not ordained. It is special. Nadal has been out there scrapping, looking brilliant for half a match, and then utterly gassed at other times...the hallmarks of an aging star.
The truth is inescapable: he's still got it, but it may not last. Medvedev is going to push him, run Nadal around, and hope he can break what is left.
It will be a match.
The women's match also looks to be special, with Barty chasing history, and American Collins making a lovely statement of her comeback strength after ovarian cyst surgery last year.
Barty, the No. 1 player in the world, is one of the biggest overall stars in Australia. Winning the French Open (2019) and Wimbledon (2021) certainly put her front and center. The bonus round is Barty's open pride of being Indigenous, part of the Ngaragu that live in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. Australia has an evolving relationship with acknowledging its violent and repressive history with its Indigenous people. Athletes such as Evonne Goolagong and Cathy Freeman broke down some of the bias, with Barty is taking things to the next level in the discussion.
Barty's success, and her strong advocacy for more children to play tennis, is making a difference in public perception. People love and listen to Barty, and she understands her importance in this moment.
Oh, did I mention she has not lost a set yet in the tournament? She has been a clinic, rolling through opponents with her powerful all-around game. Seeing a 5-foot-5 player enact some destruction is nice to see. Barty is having fun, and she is hella dangerous.
Standing between Barty and the Aussie Open title is Collins, who has also been playing her own brand of fearless and ruthless tennis. Collins, 28, is stone-cold on the court. She just pounds and pounds her groundies, and runs everything down. She comes to kill. She makes her opponents fall part. Which is some tennis I love, because it is not pretty or fancy - just ripping the heart out.
Collins has figured out the key to life on the court - hit the shit out of everything, but be smart. Know when to bring the pain. That sounds like duh, but trust me, knowing the calibration of when to do what, especially when everybody is the best in the world, is an ethos that doesn't always click. Collins evolved, and she is now able to go for broke and be smart.
Both the men and women will be firepower v. the grinders.
I'll be up, snuggled on the couch with Sophia the cat - the main feline TV consumer of the house, and soaking in every moment.
This is the good stuff. Don't miss it.
SNEAK PEAK FOR OPEN COURT IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS:
Skating, oh yeah, we're going to get some good stuff. Including from exclusive things some people who run around with Olympic medals. (Vaguebooking, I know. Hang on to your skateguards and be patient.)
The new Run BTS: the global struggle to get the band's new merch of a crashing app. Good times.
Beijing Olympics stuff, because I am watching the events that are cool. Like curling.
And as always, if there is something Open Court should be talking about, lemme know! Comment below or on @joannecgerstner.
