The Australian Open is a colourful tournament. Needless to mention, the Swedes adorn themselves with blue and yellow face paint while the Dutch armour themselves in bright shades of orange. Australian Open 2000 has been anything but dull, and we're not just talking about face paint and clothing. There has been a lot of colour, both on court and off court, with controversies and upsets galore - stuff which brings a Grand Slam to life, or at least, from the media's point of view.
The stories of the Australian Open
Grand Slams are always fuelled by controversy, by upsets, by intrigue and fascination with the way the draw pans out, and the fantastic match-ups which occur on a daily basis.
CONTROVERSY: The biggest controversy of first week Australian Open has been the Jelena Dokic saga. Since unexpectedly losing her first round match to little known Hungarian Rita Kuti-Kis, Dokic's behaviour has been far from exemplary. She arrived at her press conference three hours late (players should be prepared for their media commitments half an hour after matches), and had only unfavourable things to say about her opponent in the way of Rita is not a player and never will be a player. She fuelled her own controversy by alleging that the making of tournament draws since her father's spat in Birmingham have all been rigged in an effort to stall her career. Obviously, Jelena has gotten completely out of control and has been fined and given a warning by Tennis Australia for her actions and statements, and it is a shame because she really is one of the brightest stars of the future. So much so that there has been so much expectation of Jelena to do well almost immediately that she has felt the burden of pressure. To cloud her reputation with comments such as these could see her put offside by officials, players, and most importantly the fans.
