2022 was an incredibly volatile year for professional tennis. Here are five crazy moments that stand out.<\/p>\n
This is one of the more bizarre events in tennis history, never mind 2022. Novak Djokovic is one of the game\u2019s greatest players and record winner of the Australian Open<\/a> with nine titles. But through a combination of politics, foolishness, and alleged deception Djokovic found himself on the wrong end of a deportation order<\/a>.<\/p>\n This all stemmed from Djokovic steadfastly refusing to take a Covid-19 vaccination at any point in the last two years. Vaccination would have enabled him to travel the world and play any tournament he liked. \u00a0Without having to quarantine for two weeks or get an exemption. Djokovic chose not to be vaccinated and entered Australia on the basis he got an exemption from the relevant authorities.\u00a0 However, the Australian government got wind that he might have a fake certificate and decided to deport him. Djokovic challenged the ruling in court but was unsuccessful. Djokovic was held at a deportation centre along with other migrants, as opposed to his customary five star hotel…<\/p>\n Which of course led to an international incident, with accusations by Djokovic\u2019s family<\/a> he was being tortured. There were also protestations by the Serbian Prime Minister and opportunists like Nigel Farage turned up in Serbia to offer support\u2026<\/p>\n Oh, and Rafael Nadal won<\/a> the Australian Open…<\/p>\n Ash Barty was the clear World #1. Not only that, but in 2021 Barty became the first Australian to win Wimbledon<\/a> since 1980 and in 2022 Barty became the first Australian to win their championship since 1978.<\/p>\n Barty was set to dominate for another 12 to 24 months with so many ranking points built up.\u00a0Therefore, it was a massive surprise when Barty announced her retirement<\/a> in March at the age of 25. Curiously, this was Barty\u2019s second cutting of ties with professional tennis, she took a break five years previously to play professional cricket.<\/p>\n There may have been signs which we did not take notice of. During 2020 and 2021 Barty pulled out of a number of tournaments. She didn\u2019t play the 2020 US Open<\/a> or defend her French Open<\/a> title. She missed the end of year championships in 2021. In fact, despite winning three Grand Slam titles, Barty never defended her title the following year.<\/p>\n Although ranked #1 for 121 weeks, Barty may go down as one of the most polarizing #1 tennis players.<\/p>\n It is fair to say Zverev did not have a good 2022. Off court accusations and the attack of the Umpire\u2019s chair in Mexico ensured Zverev was often in the news. Unfortunately for him, this culminated in his terrible injury at the French Open against Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n It was the semifinal stage and thanks to heavy rain, the roof was closed and the match played \u201cindoors.\u201d Due to the rain and cold, the court was extremely heavy and slow. Besides the fraught conditions, Zverev approached the match as if he played on a hardcourt. \u00a0Constantly planting his feet on the heavy clay to hit the ball as hard as possible. Zverev even blew a number of mini leads throughout the match. Nadal was his usual belligerent self, running everything down. The way Zverev got injured which was shocking. His feet got stuck in the clay and twisted his ankle completely, tearing three ligaments. Shocking as tennis is a non-contact sport and you don\u2019t expect an injury of that magnitude. \u00a0Zverev screamed in agony, a sorry sight.<\/p>\nAshleigh Barty retires from all tennis<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Alexander Zverev\u2019s crazy injury<\/strong><\/h4>\n