Welcome back, everyone, and happy 2023. We hope the year is not merely new, but improved….We’ll review the Netflix series “Break Point” next week and resume Mailbagging. But this week, with a nod to Nick K.—columnist and former gubernatorial candidate, Kristof; not episodically committed tennis player, Kyrgios—let’s start with a game of predictions for the new year. We can revisit in 11+ months and see how we all performed. My answers in bold….
In 2023 Novak Djokovic will…
a. Again challenge for the Grand Slam.
b. Win multiple Slams surpassing Nadal as the all-time leader in majors.
c. Put the Covid-era drama behind him and continuing his laudable work with the PTPA.
d. Suffer a 2017-like swoon.
Iga Swiatek will…
a. Continue playing transcendent tennis and retain the top ranking.
b. Double her 2022 output and win the Grand Slam.
c. Let her tennis slide, but ramp up her off-court profile with signature NFTs, a production studio, her own cryptocurrency, a branded CBD oil and a sports gaming partnership.
d. Win the Australian Open and retire on top.
Carlos Alcaraz will…
a. Continue playing transcendent tennis, retain the top ranking and win more majors.
b. Battle injuries through a disappointing sophomore slump campaign.
c. Have a year akin to Swiatek’s 2021—no majors but lots of progress and deep runs at majors and certification that will serve him well in the long run.
d. Take a surprise sabbatical to become the U.S. Davis Cup team captain.
In 2023, this player will join Federer and Nadal in retirement:
a. Rafael Nadal
b. Venus Williams
c. Andy Murray
d. Simona Halep
e. A and B.
f. All of the above
The WTA will…
a. Capitulate and, in the face of financial loss, re-engage with China.
b. End up moving its year-end event to Saudi Arabia.
c. Deal with its “quiet quitting” issue and find some way to help the many players who should be in their prime years who are instead failing to find joy and fulfillment and taking time off or leaving the sport entirely.
d. Actively seek to merge with/get acquired by ATP.
Peng Shaui will…
a. Announce a tennis comeback.
b. Relocate from China and become an outspoken dissident against authoritarianism, censorship and autocracy.
c. Continue to insist she is fine and walk back her allegations of sexual assault—her life forever changed—but not emerge in public or on social media.
d. Seek public office.
The Laver Cup will…
a. Continue to surmount “Davis” and “United” as tennis’ most relevant Cup.
b. Continue to miss an opportunity by sticking with one gender.
c. Hold its 2023 event in Canada, confounding the U.S.T.A. which made a $6 million investment on the expectation that the U.S. would host the event every other year.
d. All of the above.
The highest-ranked Canadian player, male or female, will be…
a. Bianca Andreescu
b. Leylah Fernandez
c. Felix Auger Aliassime
d. Denis Shapovalov
The highest-ranked American player, male or female, will be…
a. Coco Gauff
b. Madison Keys
c. Sloane Stephens
d. Jessie Pegula
e. A male
The highest-ranked American male will be…
a. John Isner
b. Taylor Fritz, again
c. Frances Tiafoe
d. Reilly Opelka
e. Sebastian Korda
f. Other
The ATP Player to win his first major will be…
a. Casper Ruud
b. Stef Tsitsipas
c. Felix Auger Aliassime
d. Nick Kyrgios
e. Other
f. No one
The WTA Player to win her first major will be…
a. Paula Badosa
b. Maria Sakkari
c. Aryna Sabalenka
d. Coco Gauff
e. Other
f. None of the above
Serena Williams will…
a. Will stroll regally through the door she left open, and go all-out for one last Wimbledon and run at Margaret Court.
b. Start a Y Combinator for women.
c. Play doubles with Venus, appearing on the court last time.
d. Announce that she is devoting herself to becoming “the Serena Williams of pickleball.”
This male player will finish 2023 ranked No. 1:
a. Novak Djokovic
b. Rafa Nadal
c. Nick Kyrgios
d. Carlos Alcaraz
e. Casper Ruud
f. Other
This female player will finish 2023 ranked No. 1:
a. Caroline Garcia
b. A resurgent Naomi Osaka
c. Iga Swiatek
d. Ons Jabeur
e. Other
Coco Gauff will:
a. Win a Major, a full-fledged breakthrough.
b. Quit tennis to join a K-pop quartet.
c. Proceed steadily, playing a sensible schedule…winning some matches she shouldn’t; losing a few she shouldn’t.
d. Take a rumspringa from tennis and take a stint in the writers’ room for the next season of Stranger Things.
Naomi Osaka—now outside the top 40; likely unseeded at the Australian Open, an event she has won twice —will:
a. Rediscover her groove and her love of the game and return to No. 1.
b. Continue to make a considerable impact, irrespective of her results.
c. Announce her retirement.
d. Continue to have a harder time than perhaps she anticipated getting back to being a full-time player.
Of all the trials and proposed rule tinkering, this change will actually be enacted in 2023:
a. Four-game sets
b. No lets on serves
c. Permitted mid-match coaching
d. A combined WTA/ATP entity
e. None of the above.
In 2023, tennis will…
a. Survive just fine, despite some inevitable high-profile retirement.
b. Get a bit of a bump—if the F1-style rebrand—from the Netflix series Break Point.
c. End all the ill-considered policies banning Russians; and withholding ranking points from those tournaments that do.
d. Adjust to a changing media landscape, fully recognizing that the sport’s global appeal and mixed-gendered fields are two golden assets these days, and improve as a value proposition.
e. All of the above.
