A Look Back at January 2016 — Stunning Upsets, the German Uprising, and Bad Tennis Omens
Back in January of 2016, Andy Murray was #2 in the world, and still enjoying training with coach Amelie Mauresmo.
— annie (@annie_hc5) January 16, 2016
We here at Tennis Inside Out reached a Twitter milestone, and Kate revealed Val’s favorite keywords… We’re currently at 177,000 a year later, which seems below average and is probably indicative of what the tennis season of 2016 turned out to be.
For salacious January 2016 events, we have Borna Coric’s hot tub photo, which is either extremely graphic or a really mysterious illusion…
…plus that moment when Stan Wawrinka was asked if he was aware his fans obsessed over his fantastic ass…
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Of course the biggest event in January is always the Australian Open, and 2016 had some BIG surprises.
Once again, American tennis fans got their hopes up with some amazing highlights early in the tournament, and a stroke of good luck when Bjorn Fratangelo lost in the final round of qualifying but got into the main draw as Lucky Loser…
A day of comebacks for Americans in AO qualies. Fritz rallies from 0-4 down in the third and now Harrison saves 4 MP to beat Nedovyesov.
— Josh Meiseles (@jmeistennis) January 16, 2016
Unfortunately, it all went awry in the very first round of the main draw, with B-Frat going out to Frenchman Stephane Robert in straights, and Harry dropping to Russian Andrey Kuznetsov in straights. Taylor Fritz unfortunately drew fellow #Merican Jack Sock, and ultimately lost an insane battle at 4-6 6-3 6-0 3-6 4-6. Still suffering from that nasty bug from the previous tournament, Sock sadly bowed in straight sets to Lukas Rosol in round 2.
There were the usual frustrations with coverage of the event, which often included lengthy talking head segments instead of live tennis, and less-than-stellar streaming options…
Welcome to another year of ESPN streams being like A GAME behind….wtf???
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) January 18, 2016
We saw 3 games of Bencic/Bonda on ESPN….and I’m expecting 700 games now of the Nishi/GGL match.
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) January 22, 2016
So TC coverage switches to ESPN…and ESPN is doing a promo for the match that is going on right now….
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) January 26, 2016
There were also some thirsty cameramen on site…
Cameraman just lingered on Poots’ inner thighs for quite a long while there.
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) January 18, 2016
Our favorite Polish princess continued a disappointing trend at the AO…
Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open in the last six seasons:
2011: SFs
2012: QFs
2013: R4
2014: R3
2015: R2
2016: R1— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) January 18, 2016
She lost to the ever-feisty Yulia Putentseva and her celebrated inner thighs, who had an interesting tactic during the match. (Not to be confused with Caro’s shade-throwing assessment of her game this year… O_o)
“Oh my god, I was cramping all the third set…. I tried to keep my emotions inside and imagine I was losing actually. It’s easier that way.”
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) January 18, 2016
It wouldn’t be a real tournament without an inexplicable performance from the uber-talented but temperamental Frenchman Benoit Paire…who lost to teenager Noah Rubin in three TB sets.
Now Ben is walking funny..but he’s up 2-0…after nearly falling over hitting a forehand swipe at the net. Muttering en Francais to himself.
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) January 18, 2016
Today’s (not so) winning combination courtesy of Benoit Paire. Two different shoes and a broken racquet. #ausopen pic.twitter.com/fZixcBSUFM
— Matt Fitzgerald (@tennisfitz) January 18, 2016
Go on to PAGE 4 for STUNNING UPSETS and bad puns…
