Tennis is the sport with the shortest off-season in the business. The top eight players in the men’s circuit played their year-end championships on November 21 in Turin, Italy and one week later Canada and Australia were battling in Malaga, Spain for the final of the Davis Cup. Just a few weeks later, with the Christmas festivities still underway, the new 2023 season already presents the first major tournament of the year, with the Australian Open scheduled to begin on January 16 in Melbourne, Australia.
The ladies have had a slightly longer break, with all official competition wrapped up by mid-November. Still, for some players, the real off-season will come just before the spring when they will pause their perennial world tour chasing points to go back to their bases and work on their fitness.
Djokovic and Nadal Lead the Pursuit to Alcaraz
The new season starts with a teenager occupying the number one spot in the world ranking. Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz reached the top of the ranking at just 19 years of age by winning the US Open last September. In 2023, he will face the hard task to defend his leadership against a tough group of challengers. Roger Federer is now enjoying his retirement, but Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, the two super-champions that have dominated the past two decades alongside the Swiss “Maestro” are not ready to hang up their rackets yet.
Djokovic played only 11 events in 2022, but he still won Wimbledon as well as four other tournaments. This year, he will be able to participate in more events, starting with the Australian Open in which he has previously won eight titles. Rafael Nadal comes from a triumphant season during which he won two major tournaments (in Australia and at Roland Garros) despite a rib fracture and a serious problem with his foot. He also became a father for the first time.
“Djokovic EBN17 (26)” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by si.robi
There is a small group of younger players eager to win major titles and climb the rankings all the way to the top. Twenty-seven-year-old Russian Daniil Medvedev, who spent 13 weeks at number one in 2022, wants to win his second Grand Slam title after the 2021 US Open. German Alexander Zverev is still looking for his first major win and wants to make up for the lost time after missing six months due to a serious injury that prevented him from completing his semifinal against Rafael Nadal in Paris. Finally, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas is looking to recover from a below-average season that saw him lose many matches despite being a favorite to win.
Who Can Beat Swiatek in 2023?
On the women’s tour, the 21-year-old Iga Swiatek dominated the 2022 season ending with an impressive 67-9 record, winning two major titles and eight tournaments, then finishing the year firmly at the top of the WTA ranking with more than twice as many points as second-ranked Ons Jabeur. The Tunisian player, the first woman from an Arab country to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament, could not take the last win at Wimbledon either, where she lost to Rybakina from Kazakhstan, or at the US Open where Swiatek dominated her.
In 2023, women’s tennis is looking for an official challenger to Swiatek’s domination after former number one Ashleigh Barty suddenly retired from tennis last April at age 25. This followed Barty’s win at the Australian Open, after many other players that started the 2022 season with high expectations failed to leave their mark.
All-time greatest Serena Williams played her first match in June just before Wimbledon and soon afterward announced the US Open would be the last tournament of her career. At Flushing Meadows, the 41-year-old American showed some of her old magic, but eventually had to bow out in the third round after an epic match at Arthur Ashe Stadium against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
Despite managing to take home over $50 million during the year, Naomi Osaka only played 11 events ending the season with a lackluster 14-9 record due to her continued struggles with injuries and mental health issues. And British sensation Emma Raducanu, who stunned the world at the 2021 US Open taking home the trophy starting from the qualifying rounds, failed to consolidate her position among the top-ranked players with a disappointing 17-19 record caused in part by continuous changes in her coaching team.
“Arthur Ashe Stadium – 2019 U.S. Open” (CC BY 2.0) by Jeffrey P. Horne
Tennis Every Day from Around the World
Fans will be able to follow the season throughout the year and take part in the action as tennis has quickly become one of the fastest-growing sports in the sports betting community. As mentioned, the tours will have their first important appointment with the Australian Open in January, followed by two events in the United States during the month of March at Indian Wells, California, and in Miami, Florida.
Spring will see the tours move to Europe with the most important tournaments in Madrid and Rome before the two major events of Roland Garros in Paris and Wimbledon in London. In summer, tennis will return to North America with the Canadian Open in Montreal and Toronto and another important appointment in the United States, this time for the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, where according to Bonusfinder US local fans can find many new ways to take part to the action. As sports betting is introduced to the Buckeye State, Bet365 will offer sports fans the possibility to receive a registration bonus of up to $300 to experience the biggest live betting site in America.
Every major tournament sees up to 400 matches taking place within a short timeframe of just two weeks, and given that it is possible to bet not only on the result of every match but also on the result of an individual set, an individual game, or even a single point, the opportunities to use the bonus are endless, in every season of the year and at every time of the day.
With matches taking place every day almost around the clock at tournaments around the world, and a new docuseries about the 2022 season to be launched on Netflix in mid-January, tennis offers sports fans an unparalleled range of opportunities to enjoy the sport and follow its champions throughout the year.