5 things that could happen next year, from Nadal’s retirement to Raducanu’s resurgence

The future will soon be the past.

It’s one of George Carlins’ funniest one-liners, emphasizing the irresistible march of time and arguably the futility of trying to predict its course.

However, that’s what we try to do in the confident expectation that it will all end with us looking really stupid.

Rafael Nadals retires

Cue Brenda from Bristol is not iconic as the game loses yet another legendary character.

We’ve had a tough 12 months on that front, with Roger Federer and Serena Williams both holding tear-jerking gifts within weeks of each other. Neither departure was unexpected and both players had been at their peak for a long time, but it was still a wake-up call for some fans that tennis moves on.

The final chime of this inevitable chorus of bells is Rafael Nadal’s retirement, which seems closer every day.

A professional who never knows, he said this week when asked if this would be his last professional trip to Australia.

I hope not. I mean, when you’re 36, you never know when your last.

I don’t think this will be the last time here. If this is the last time, let’s try to enjoy as much as possible.

The last 12 months have taken a lot out of Nadal. After the French Open, he needed an intervention on his chronic leg injury, which involved a nerve burning sensation in his lower leg for months at a time, and then suffered a ruptured stomach in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Then he became a father, and although he insists it doesn’t affect his tennis, he always used to say he wouldn’t start a family while on tour.

So don’t be surprised if Nadal wins again at Roland Garros and then raises the white flag to finally admit defeat.

Emma Raducanu finds her feet

Emma Raducanus’ first year on tour was never going to be easy when she had such a rocket ship take off in the game. She has gone through a few coaches to find someone who can both fill in the gaps in her WTA record and embrace the same intensity she brings to work every day.

Her latest recruit is Sebastian Sachs, a young German who has previously worked with Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic. He is known as a meticulous worker, which should go well with Raducanu, who likes to take a rather professional approach to tennis.

He might not last long. It’s not a permanent appointment per se, but he’s still expected to be around for the Australian Open. If he can hang outside of that, he might be able to overcome the red flags identified by previous official Dmitri Tursunov and shape some of the abundant raw material identified by the same man.

He is currently ranked 78th in the world. It would be quite a surprise if he doesn’t improve there significantly and expects to be in the top 30 by the end of the year.

Netflix brings a new and completely different fan brand

January not only brings the first grand slam of the year, but also the release of Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall documentary Break Point, which has been a year in the making.

Tennis bosses are hoping for the kind of success Drive to Survive experienced, and fans are optimistic that their unsung heroes, outside of the established superstars, might get the fame they deserve.

However, they may have to temper their expectations based on what has happened in Formula 1. The F1 Netflix series was aimed heavily at non-motorsport fans, while there are many more who don’t, and the tennis version is expected to be similarly mass-market, focusing on personalities rather than players.

This will probably infuriate die-hard tennis fans, but it’s certainly the approach that was called for, and it may draw on a new genre of drama-hungry fandom that turns purists into gatekeepers of the old ways.

However, you can be sure that tennis needs this. It cannot continue to shrink.

Another step forward for Jack Draper

If you’ve spoken to anyone in British tennis about who has the best chance of becoming the next Andy Murray over the past five years, they’ve almost all said Jack Draper.

Good-looking, rugged, powerful and well-mannered, Draper has all the ingredients to create the consummate professional on and off the court.

The only thing that has let him down so far is his body, with injury never seeming to be far away. However, he began to buck that trend in 2022, winning five Challenger titles before making the tour, but injury halted his progress in the third round of the US Open.

However, Draper has had a strong pre-season and has even signed up to play the doubles next week in Adelaide with Jannik Sinner, showing he feels confident about his fitness and stamina.

Already ranked 40th in the world, he is almost certain to make it to Wimbledon, and he could even get that status at the Australian Open. Watch out for the great service Jack Draper this year. He picks up some scalps. And he really loves weed

Gauff vs Swiatek

The women’s game is crying out for great competition at the top that can take on the relentless clean hitting of Iga Swiatek. He wasn’t unbeaten in 2022, but since Ash Barty pulled out of the Australian Open, he won two of the three grand slams and went on a record winning streak.

But still, many people don’t know who Swiatek is, and he has already revealed that he used to keep Netflix cameras on his arm to focus on his matches. She really needs a dance partner and Coco Gauff seems to be just that. Gauffs game should mesh well with Swiateks thanks to his elite athleticism, fine cross-court backhand and improving net game.

There are weaknesses, of course, his second serve is vulnerable at times, as it was in the French Open final, and his forehand can fly, but he is on the rise and has the mentality to challenge Swiatek. If she did, we could see the making of a great era in women’s tennis.