By Chris Oddo | Sunday, January 18, 2015
Roger Federer is about to play in his record 61st consecutive major, and when he's finished he could be No. 1.
Photo Source: Corleve
Each day we'll crunch some relevant numbers to help guide you through your Australian Open binge. Here's what we came up with for Day 1:
5
Number of Australian Open titles that Serena Williams currently owns. The 18-time Grand Slam champion is already the Open Era leader in that category.
On the men’s side, both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will bid for their 5th title down under. No Open Era male player has won five.
19
Aussie legend Lleyton Hewitt will set the Australian Open record for consecutive appearances this year, passing Fabrice Santoro for first place on the all-time list. Roger Federer will play in his 16th consecutive Australian Open, and Mikhail Youzhny will play in his 15th.
58, 61
Italian Francesca Schiavone will creep within four majors of the all-time record for consecutive Grand Slams played this year, as she’ll compete in her 58th consecutive major. Ai Sugiyama of Japan holds the all-time record at 62. On the men’s side, Roger Federer is competing in his 61st consecutive major, which is the all-time record on the men’s side.
2
Number of times a defending champion has lost in the first round on the men’s side. Roscoe Tanner lost to Chris Lewis in 1977, while Boris Becker fell to Carlos Moya in 1997. Stan Wawrinka opens with Marsel Ilhan of Turkey.
3
Serena Williams will bid to become the second woman in Open Era history to win the US Open and the Australian Open back-to-back for a third time. Steffi Graf achieved the feat in 1989, 1990 and 1994.
1
Roger Federer could become the ATP’s world No. 1 and oldest No 1 in history if he wins the title and Novak Djokovic fails to reach the fourth round.
11
Number of men who notched their first career major title by winning in Australia. But only twice has it happened since 2002.
Connors, 74
Edmondson, 76
Tanner, 77
Gerulaitis, 77
Teacher, 80
Kriek, 81
Edberg, 85
Korda, 98
Johansson, 02
Djokovic, 08
Wawrinka, 14
681
Ranking points that separate Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. Both Williams and Sharapova are defending fourth-round points in Melbourne, which means Sharapova could pass Williams several ways, but it will take a lot.
100
Number of consecutive weeks that Serena Williams has held the WTA’s No. 1 ranking. She becomes just the fourth WTA player to achieve the feat on Monday..
44 years, 113 days
Age of Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm, which makes her the oldest woman to contest the Australian Open’s main draw in Open Era history. According to the WTA, she is only the fifth woman over 40 to play main draw in Melbourne and she is already the oldest woman to win a main draw match in Melbourne.