Australian Open: Curtain Closes on First Grand Slam of the Year

The Yonex Stringing Team wrapped up its second consecutive year as official stringer of the Australian Open last Sunday, January 29^th. The team at this year’s tournament was once again made up of a diverse group, this time composed of 25 stringers hailing from 15 countries. The stringers remained hard at work throughout the tournament, performing a maximum of 524 restrings in one day. The final amount of restrings at the end of the tournament came to 5,460—103% of the previous year’s total.



Want to experience Grand Slam-grade stringing at home? Find a Yonex stringer near you here.

Team Yonex at the Australian Open

This year would see 30 players at the Australian Open competing with Yonex tennis gear, boasting great results across a number of exciting matches.

Stan Wawrinka (VCORE Duel G 97, POWER CUSHION ECLIPSION) and CoCo Vandeweghe (EZONE DR 98) both picked up great wins over the two weeks, placing as semifinalists in men’s and women’s singles respectively. The un-seed CoCo pulled off a number of upsets at the tournament, picking up wins against the No. 1 and No. 7 seeds. Her results looking forward will certainly be something to keep an eye on. Meanwhile, women’s doubles would see Czech Andrea Hlavackova (VCORE SV 100, POLYTOUR PRO 125) place as finalist with partner Shuai Peng. Andrea recently started using the VCORE SV, harnessing its heavy spin and power to blast past the No. 1 and No. 3 seeded pairs.

Other Team Yonex players at the tournament included Angelique Kerber (VCORE, POLYTOUR FIRE 120), Nick Kyrgios (EZONE DR 98, POLYTOUR PRO 120), Naomi Osaka (EZONE DR 98, POLYTOUR PRO 125/REXIS 130) and Daria Gavrilova (EZONE DR 100, POLYTOUR PRO 125). Backed by the cheers of her hometown crowd, Daria—affectionately dubbed “Dasha”—made it to the fourth round of her home tournament for a second year in a row.

Gustavo Fernandez (VCORE Tour F 97, POLYTOUR SPIN G 125) won his second wheelchair men’s singles Grand Slam title, and his first title at the Australian Open. The 23-year-old boasts great results on the court, and won his first Grand Slam title at last year’s Roland Garros. Coming back from a set down, the Argentine defeated Frenchman Nicolas Peifer, winning 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.

New to Team Yonex this year were Caroline Garcia (VCORE SV 100, Yonex String), Frances Tiafoe (VCORE Duel G 97), Annika Beck (VCORE SV 100, POLYTOUR PRO 125) and Yanina Wickmayer (VCORE SV 100). 2016 Roland Garros doubles champion Caroline placed as semifinalist in the Australian Open doubles tournament with partner Kristina Mladenovic.