A Day At the Drive 2021: Djokovic, Nadal, Barty, S Williams

After Novak Djokovic, Filip Krajinovic and Jannik Sinner, two WTA stars stepped on the court in Adelaide at A Day at the Drive exhibition. The seven-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams took down the 2019 champion Naomi Osaka 6-2, 2-6, 7-6.

Williams played well behind the serve and forehand, overcame the second set and stayed focused in the decider to bring the victory home. Serena held at love in the third game with a backhand crosscourt winner and sealed the fifth game with a forehand down the line winner to remain in front.



Overpowering the opponent, Williams secured a break a few minutes later with a backhand winner at the net, opening a 4-2 gap and forcing Osaka's error to extend the advantage. Dominating so far, Serena grabbed another break in game eight following a forced error to wrap up the opener after 21 minutes.

Naomi made a better start in set number two and scored a break in the first game following a double fault from Serena. The Japanese confirmed the break with a hold at 15 and landed a backhand winner in game four for another comfortable service game and a 3-1 lead.

Serena suffered another break in game five thanks to a forehand error and fell 5-1 down when Naomi placed a backhand winner. Osaka sealed the set with a service winner in game eight, setting a decider after 44 minutes. Serena won the match tie break 10-7 with a service winner to seal the deal and score a win.

The tennis world has reacted with disbelief after watching Australians without masks pack a stadium for the first tennis tournament of the year due to the nation’s strong Covid response.



World No.1 Novak Djokovic caused a stir ahead of the ‘Memorial Drive’ exhibition when he withdrew from his match 30 minutes prior, only to take part.

Seeing Djokovic in action in 2021 delighted tennis diehards, but it was another image that had fans around the world in awe.

Adelaide locals packed out the stadium ahead of the exhibition and due to Australia’s remarkably low Covid-19 numbers South Australians are not required to wear masks.





This is an unusual sight for tennis fans around the world during the Covid-19 global pandemic, considering the US Open and French Open were played in front of minimal to no fans.

Furthermore, players are not required to wear masks before and after the match because of the 14 days quarantine required upon entering Australia.

This had fans around the world stunned and ‘jealous’ at the once normal way-of-life.

Former World No.1 Maria Sharapova led the applause for the tennis to be back.

http://instagram.com/p/CKmPKxos9wD

Following Serena Williams’ match with Naomi Osaka, the 23-time Grand Slam champ said she was so exicted to play in front of a crowd.