The unreasonably short off-season is about to end and soon professional tennis will return in all its glory for 2023.
The 2022 season came with the usual sites and sounds – Rafael Nadal won the French Open, Novak Djokovic slid his way to another title at Wimbledon and Nick Kyrgios grumbled with umpires.
There was also the emergence of a new and dominant world No. 1 in Iga Swiatek, greats Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Ash Barty all retired, and we saw a continuation of great Canadian and American tennis results.
With that said, here are seven bolder-than-usual predictions for the upcoming tennis season:
A Canadian player will win a grand slam event
We said we’d be bold, didn’t we?
Though suggesting a Canadian player could win a grand slam event has never sounded less far-fetched.
Mississauga, Ont.’s Bianca Andreescu, of course, achieved this feat in 2019, becoming the first Canadian in tennis history to win a singles major by capturing the US Open.
Two years later, Montreal’s Leylah Annie Fernandez finished runner-up at the same event.
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov have both reached the semifinals stages at majors, with Shapovalov having his best showing at 2021 Wimbledon, while Auger-Aliassime made the final four at Flushing Meadows in 2021.
The two friends, helped by Vasek Pospisil in doubles, also just won a historic Davis Cup title for Canada in Malaga, Spain.
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Auger-Aliassime appears to be the prime contender of the group in singles. He won a Canadian-record 60 singles matches in 2022, collected four singles titles, produced a 16-match winning streak from early October into November, and qualified for the end-of-year ATP finals.
Although the Montreal native didn’t get past the quarterfinals stage at any of the four grand slams, he particularly shone on hard courts last season, winning 74 per cent of his matches on the surface.
He should be among the top players to watch at the Australian Open in just over three weeks.
Also, let’s not discount Ottawa’s Gaby Dabrowski as a majors contender.
She’s a top 10 fixture in doubles, has won two mixed doubles majors in the past and won four titles this past season, predominantly playing with Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos.
Dominic Thiem will return to the top 20
At the end of the 2020 season, Austria’s Dominic Thiem looked poised as one of the prime contenders on the ATP circuit for years to come.
He had finally won his maiden grand slam, defeating Alexander Zverev in the finals of the US Open, he’d twice been runner-up at Roland Garros and had 17 singles titles in his career, more than any other current player in his 20s.
Physical issues would set back this momentum as he navigated a knee injury in early 2021, then eventually pulled the plug on his season in June due to wrist pain.
It would be 14 months before he’d record another ATP match win, finally notching a victory at a Challenger event in Austria.
Thiem would flash signs of his former stardom in the fall of 2022, reaching the semifinals in Gijon and Antwerp and returning to the top 100 as a result.
With a full preseason ahead to fine-tune his skills, and virtually no ATP points to defend for the first half of 2023, expect a big rise.
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An American man or woman will win a singles major
American tennis is on the rise again.
Although the women’s field has long been the beneficiary of the Williams sisters’ dominance, it has been a bit hard-pressed to find a steady champion outside of Serena and Venus.
With the two sisters exiting the spotlight, two top-10 forces on the WTA look ready to break through for a major: Teenage sensation Coco Gauff and 28-year-old Jessica Pegula.
Just four places separate the pair in the rankings, as Pegula has reached a career-high of No. 3, while Gauff is seventh overall.
Gauff advanced to her maiden slam final, finishing runner-up at Roland Garros to Iga Swiatek in June.
Pegula has been one of the most consistent players on the women’s circuit, advancing to the quarterfinals in four of the last five majors, and winning the WTA1000 in Guadalajara toward the end of the season.
It is no coincidence the tandem also makes an exceptional doubles team, winning three titles and making one slam final together in 2022.
Pegula or Gauff will both have strong chances for a maiden slam victory.
Meanwhile, the men’s field has not had a major singles champion since Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003 at the age of 21.
In fact, since Roddick retired, no one has been particularly close.
Frances Tiafoe did make a statement run at Flushing Meadows this year, knocking off Nadal en route to the semifinals of the tournament, becoming the first American man to reach that stage since 2006.
Just one other American male has advanced to a semi-final since 2009: John Isner made the final four at Wimbledon in 2018.
Now, the country has nine American men inside the top 50.
While Tiafoe is certainly a dangerous hard-court threat, Taylor Fritz looks poised as the best contender to make a run at a major.
He won Indian Wells this season, defeating Nadal in the finals, broke inside the top 10 of the rankings and qualified for the end-of-year ATP Finals, advancing to the semis before falling in a tight two sets to Novak Djokovic.
Raducanu will return
Britain’s Emma Raducanu had one of the most improbable storybook runs in tennis history in 2021, coming through qualifying to win the US Open.
With her stunning victory, came life-changing money, endorsements and a huge new spotlight that shone on her across the United Kingdom.
It’s not surprising that Raducanu, who recently turned 20, needed time to adapt to these newfound pressures and expectations.
Raducanu went 17-19 across 36 matches in 2022, and after failing to advance past the first round at Flushing Meadows, saw her ranking plummet significantly.
She enters 2023 ranked 80th in the world.
She’s also said to have a strong work ethic and commitment to improving her game.
A sophomore slump is nothing out of the ordinary for any young player, and being out of the spotlight and with fewer expectations in 2023, Raducanu is poised to bounce back as a steady WTA contender.
Iga Swiatek will win Wimbledon
There is little Swiatek failed to accomplish during her career-best 2022 season.
The soft-spoken and polite Polish star was a human wrecking ball on court, winning two of the four majors on the tennis calendar with wins at Roland Garros and the US Open, and had an astounding 37-match winning streak – the longest on the WTA in 32 years.
Although Swiatek can be pencilled in as the No. 1 favourite at the Australian Open, it’s been the All-England Club where she has yet to produce a standout result.
Swiatek’s versatility on court with her heavy topspin forehand, dynamic backhand and exceptional athleticism can enable her to achieve greatness on all surfaces in tennis.
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Plus, a focal point of her off-season has been improving on grass courts.
As a professional, Swiatek has yet to advance past the fourth round of Wimbledon – but she did win it as a junior, her only junior grand slam singles title.
Why not more glory for Iga at the most prestigious tournament of them all?
Serena Williams will return … for doubles?
Twenty-three-time slam champion and global sporting icon Serena Williams officially announced that she was “evolving away” from tennis last season, penning a piece in Vogue magazine.
Although she didn’t explicitly use the word, it certainly implied to the tennis world that she was retiring.
Williams’ announcement came during her week of competition at the National Bank Open in Toronto, and she’d seemingly close out her legendary career with two more tournaments – Cincinnati and the US Open in Flushing Meadows, where she won two matches before bowing out in a third-round thriller to Ajla Tomljanovic.
Although she was treated to a lovely send-off, something tells me she isn’t quite finished.
Perhaps this isn’t such a bold prediction – Williams claimed on a conference call promoting her investment company that she is not retired and quietly alluded to a possible return.
“The chances are very high – you can come to my house; I have a court,” she told reporters.
It’s possible this is smoke and mirrors, but if that fire or motivation returns, what would stop Williams from accepting a wild card to play doubles at a major tournament? She could, of course, team up with sister Venus, who remains an active player on the tour at the age of 42.
Also, I’d love it if that invitation for court time were extended to me.
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Rebecca Marino will reach a new career high
Rebecca Marino was one of several Canadians who enjoyed a strong 2022 season, and the year was no doubt her best on tour in over a decade.
The recently turned 32-year-old had 49 singles wins across the calendar year, won a $60,000 ITF title in Arcadia, Calif., advanced to the third round of the US Open and reached the quarterfinals at events in Washington and Chennai.
The terrific results propelled her back inside the top 100 for the first time since 2012, and she will begin 2023 ranked 64th, a substantial leap from her starting position of 144th back in January.
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Marino’s story is well documented: She took a five-year hiatus from tennis, beginning in 2013, due to mental health struggles, making a triumphant return in 2018 by winning the first event she played on the ITF circuit.
Since then, she’s steadily ascended back up the rankings, using her lethal serve and deadly forehand combination.
Marino achieved her career-high ranking of 38th in July 2011, and she’ll have multiple opportunities to gain points and best that this upcoming season.
It will all begin Down Under in Australia.
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