Power Ranking the Men's and Women's Semifinalists: Australian Open 2023
Who's the most powerful/great among the final eight?
Eight players remain in the singles draws of the 2023 Australian Open, four each on the men’s and women’s sides. Here’s just one tantalizing storyline: Tommy Paul has become the first American man to reach the semifinals in Australia since 2009, and he has done so less than six years removed from playing a US Open doubles match so drunk that he could not remember how to hold a racket. For other interesting pieces of trivia about this year’s semifinalists, Best Tennis Substack1 is sharing this brief power ranking to see who’s likeliest to win before play for the men commences at 10:30 PM EST tonight. (Ladies are at 3:30 AM EST. ⏰ ) Please note these power rankings are arranged in a hierarchal fashion from extremely powerful, to very powerful, to quite powerful, to simply powerful.
WOMEN’S SINGLES, POWER RANKED
Extremely Powerful: Aryna Sabalenka (24, Minsk, Belarus)
Strengths: Really strong, playing most consistent Grand Slam tennis of her career
Weaknesses: More or less completely forgot how to serve last year
Very Powerful: Elena Ryabakina (23, Hard to Determine)
Strengths: Backhand, Difficult to Rattle, Channels rage about her ungenerous court assignments well
Weaknesses: Movement only okay
Quite Powerful: Viktoria Azarenka (33, Minsk, Belarus)
Strengths: Momentum (in her first Australian Open semifinal since she won the Australian Open ten years ago)
Weaknesses: In her first Australian Open semifinal since she won the Australian Open ten years ago
Simply Powerful: Magda Linette (30, Poznan, Poland)
Strengths: Precision, point construction, her forehands and backhands can move so slowly her opponents become confused/take a nap—then she’ll rip a winner!
Weaknesses: In her first Grand Slam semifinal, her forehands and backhands can move so slowly that her opponents can just blast her off the court
MEN’S SINGLES, POWER RANKED
Extremely Powerful: Novak Djokovic (Belgrade, Serbia, 35)
Strengths: (1) vegan (2) perhaps the greatest male tennis player in history (3) often accompanied by a troll-like figure named Goran who supplies Djokovic with a mysterious brown liquid that gives him special abilities
Weaknesses: Overheads
Very Powerful: Stefanos Tsistipas (24, Athens, Greece)
Strengths: (1) Forehand (2) Philosophy (3) Serve (4) Fashion
Weaknesses: (1) Daddy Issues (2) Service Return
Quite Powerful: Karen Kachanov (26, Moscow, Russia)
Strengths: big dude/hitter, can rally for days
Weaknesses: Minimal shot variety, movement barely okay
Simply Powerful: Tommy Paul (25, Boca Raton, Florida)
Strengths: Smooth operator, nice hands, flattens out the backhand
Weaknesses: Instagram models, rarely asserts his will on the court
Who We Think Will Win: Djokovic, Sabalenka
Who We’re Rooting For: Everyone except Djokovic, Sabalenka
No one could find this Substack on Google so I changed the name. SEO = optimized.