A Look Back at January 2016 — Stunning Upsets, the German Uprising, and Bad Tennis Omens
While the US Open is known for its loud, drunk crowd at night matches, and the French Open for its whistling, booing spectators, the “Happy Slam” had its own moments of less-than-stellar behavior…
Daria and Poots aren’t the only entertaining personalities on tour. We just had to share some of these funny highlights from Timea Bacsinszky, Belinda Bencic, Laura Robson, and Jamie Hampton…
Fans ask Timea for some of her items after she won
She says, I don’t have a contract like Roger
You want some underwear as well?! Cue Laughs— Forced Errors (@ForcedErrors) January 19, 2016
You know you’ve been injured when you get 9 happy birthday emails from different hospitals #fragile
— Laura Robson (@laurarobson5) January 21, 2016
“Why does Switzerland produce such great tennis players?” Belinda: “For me, it’s chocolate. (laughs).” #Bencic #AusOpen
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) January 22, 2016
“sock and keys should play mixed and be referred to as the lost items.” haha
— Jamie Hampton (@Jamie_Hampton) January 19, 2016
In a stunning upset right at the start of the tournament, Fernando Verdasco showed once again the incredible level of tennis he is capable of, with a masterful win that offered a small measure of revenge for that crushing AO loss to his fellow countryman so many years ago…
Wow Nando. 111mph FH, 139mph ace. 3-2.
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) January 19, 2016
Rafael Nadal is the first Top 5 seed to lose in the Australian Open first round since 2007, when No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic fell to Mardy Fish.
— Josh Meiseles (@jmeistennis) January 19, 2016
Nando eating and drinking when Jim asks him a Q….lol…”Sorry, I need to eat. If not, I’m dead.”
— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) January 19, 2016
That was one of the greatest exhibitions of power tennis our sport has ever seen. #Verdasco crushed. #AusOpen
— Craig O’Shannessy (@BrainGameTennis) January 19, 2016
While Angelique Kerber narrowly escaped an early exit in the first round exit to Misaki Doi, there were some big upsets on the ladies’ side, including the heartwarming story of a player who had been ready to give up on tennis altogether…
.@JoKonta91 seals the upset, beats No.8 seed Venus Williams 64 62 to move into the second round. Tough trip Down Under for Venus. #AusOpen
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) January 19, 2016
Shuai Zhang has an emotional victory over Halep #AusOpen https://t.co/tXDpUXlw3n
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 19, 2016
#AusOpen The Germans are having a good slam! Siegemund beat Jankovic & Beck beating Bacsinszky just now. Both play each other in R3!
— Chris Brown (@ChrisBrownSport) January 21, 2016
Meanwhile, some of the ladies were showing their girl power by posing with some dangerous Australian residents…
Some players and some wild animals. Via WTA Snapchat account. pic.twitter.com/8hVVXnAGF7
— José Morais (@ZezeAM) January 21, 2016
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Rusty with his victory lap at AO 2016, including his own hashtag…
Lleyton after his win “kids are now old enough to have memories of this… dad limping out on the tennis court” #HewBeauty #ausopen
— Mel (@GrandSlamGal) January 19, 2016
In other Aussie news, the young hopeful struggling then (and now) with sidelining injuries was doing the PR circuit; though we were missing his exciting tennis prowess, we were also clearly not missing out on the chance to make another naughty pun with his name…
In other “young hopeful” news, Dominic Thiem was experimenting with bleach-blonde hair, which we rather enjoyed once it grew past its strangely yellow cotton candy phase…
For those people who have answered Thiem in my #LT pic.twitter.com/ZkbO3xzVYS
— ulysseel (@ulysseel) January 20, 2016
Despite what looked like a fairly straightforward scoreline, Roger Federer’s 3-set match against the unorthodox Alexandr Dolgopolov was a throbbing, energetic affair… *eyedart*
Go on to PAGE 5 for the craziest upset contenders, and facts we never knew…
