And just like that the Australian Open 2023 is done and dusted. This means the prize winners are set in stone and no more stress and anxiety for those teams at the top of the leaderboard. The winners will be announced after the match summary. There will also be some fun things from the tournament as a whole after the full leaderboard is displayed. Enjoy!

The men competing in yesterday’s final were Tsitsipas the 3rd seeded Greek and Djokovic the 9 time Australian Open champion. Tsitsipas was going for his first grand slam final and Djokovic was going for his 22nd. Who would be coming out on top?

Djokovic was the player serving first in this final and he held comfortably to lead 1-0. Tsitsipas did well to hold his first service game as he found himself 15-40 down before winning the next 4 points and the score was level at 1-1. A nervy start however for the Greek. Djokovic held to love before conjuring up another break point at 30-40 and as the saying goes 3rd time lucky, Djokovic broke with his 3rd break point of the match and he led 3-1 opening set. A good hold to back up the break and Djokovic had a comfortable lead in the 1st set. 4 comfortable service holds later and the set was Djokovic’s 6-3. In his last 2 matches of the tournament, Djokovic raced away with the match after taking the 1st set so the 2nd set was huge for Tsitsipas. The Greek did have the luxury of serving first in the 2nd set which meant he didn’t have to do the chasing in the set he needed the most. Both players started the 2nd set well and the score was 2-2. The first deuce game was in the 5th game on the Tsitsipas serve. The Greek did not have to save a break point but it was the first wobble in the 2nd set. Djokovic continued to add the pressure by winning his service game quickly. Tsitsipas once again found himself 15-30 and then at deuce before holding serve at 4-3. Djokovic had his usual unnecessary outburst to his box. He lost concentration because of it and he then found himself 15-30 before holding at 40-30. This just gave Tsitsipas some hope to hang onto in this 2nd set. He held reasonably comfortably to make it 5-4. The first real chance to see if Djokovic could hold his nerve. For a second it looked like he couldn’t as he hit an unforced error at 30-30 to give Tsitsipas a break point/ set point opportunity. A good rally was played and Djokovic showed why he has won so many grand slams as he hit a forehand winner to save the set point. He went on to win the next 2 points and we were level at 5-5. 2 comfortable service holds and the set headed into a tiebreak. Tsitsipas sadly did not play a great tiebreak at all as he made 5 unforced errors on the forehand side and ended up losing the tiebreak 7-4. It was an almost impossible task now for the 3rd seeded Greek to win this match. He would have to do what Djokovic did to him in the French Open final…come back from 2 sets. The 3rd set started perfectly for Tsitsipas as he broke Djokovic for the first time in the match. It did not last long though as Djokovic broke back immediately and it was 1-1. Both players were holding serve comfortably and the score was now 5-4 Djokovic. Tsitsipas was 30-0 up before Djokovic put some pressure on as he won the next 2 points to make it 30-30. The 4th seed was just 2 points away. 2 big serves and Tsitsipas escaped that game to make it 5-5. The set then ended up going to another tiebreak. Tsitsipas would have to play a lot better in this one if he was to win it. Sadly however the Greek lost the first 5 points and it was 5-0 to Djokovic. A slight comeback from Tsitsipas made it 5-3 and Djokovic was thankful to hit a forehand winner to give himself 3 championship points. Tsitsipas took both his service points to make it 6-5 and put some pressure on the 9 time champ. Tsitsipas made yet another forehand unforced error to lose the match and Djokovic was a 10 time champ and is now level again with Nadal on 22 grand slams.

The long awaited fantasy leaderboard is coming up but firstly well done to ‘Sinner’s Injuries’, ‘New Balls Please’, ‘Eish’, ‘Give me a break!’ and ‘Faulty Feet’ who will be highlighted blue on the leaderboard because these 5 teams picked both the male winner, Djokovic and the lady winner, Sabalenka. Another well done to the 33 teams who picked Djokovic who ended up winning the Australian Open.

Now who came where in the top 5?

In first place, was ‘Sinner’s Injuries’. They made their move on day 8 when they first moved into the top 5. They then slowly moved up the leaderboard and on day 10 they moved into 1st position. From then on no one could catch them and they ended up winning the fantasy tournament by a whopping 21 points. They will be winning the R1000.

In Second Place, by 10 points was Lynda’s Team. They were the only team after day 10 that was keeping ‘Sinner’s Injuries’ under pressure but they desperately needed Rybakina to beat Sabalenka to have any chance of snatching the win away from ‘Sinner’s Injuries’. ‘Lynda’s Team’ made their charge for win even later than our winner. Only entering the top 5 on day 10 so a 2nd place is not too bad at all. They will be taking the 2nd place prize which is R500.

In Third Place, moving up 3 spots on the last day is Drop Shots. ‘Drop Shots’ was always in the fight for a prize. They sat in 4th on day 3 and from there on out fluctuated in and out of the top 5 but hardly ever dropping out of the top 10. On day 14 they had both Tsitsipas and Djokovic and this allowed them to enter the top 5 and come in a well-deserved 3rd place. They also ended with the best men’s team of the tournament. Their men scored a whopping 150 points. They will be taking home R220.

Then we come to 4th place and what a battle this was. The team who ended up missing out on a prize was just 2 points off. A whopping 3 teams could not be separated and so we have a 3 way tie for 4th place. ‘Down Under‘, ‘Groundstroke’ and ‘New Balls Please‘ will each be taking home R55. I will start with the journey of Down Under. They will be slightly disappointed I think after being in the top 3 for the majority of the tournament. They were our first leaders as they led after day 1 and sat 3rd on day 3. After that they never left the top 5. So it was only day 2 that they were not in the top 5. A really impressive performance. They led on Day 1,5,7,8 and 9 before ‘Sinner’s Injuries’ snatched it away from then. Well done ‘Down Under‘.
Let’s move onto ‘Groundstroke’. They had a very similar journey to Down Under. I have to give them a massive congratulations as I think it may be the first time that a team never left the top 5 for the entire tournament. From day 1 to day 14 they remained the top 5. Scarily they never led, their highest position was 2nd. Well done to ‘Groundstroke’.
Lastly we take a look at ‘New Balls Please‘. They had a very different fantasy tournament to the 2 teams that they tied with. They only entered the top 5 for the first time on day 13. They picked both winners which helped them move into the top 5 on day 13 and then remain there on day 14. Well done to ‘New Balls Please‘ for coming away with R55.

A special mention must go to Buena Suerta and Klippies who ended with the joint best ladies team. They both had ladies teams which scored a good 109 points which is a lot of points considering how many of the top ladies fell early.

A reminder that the wooden spoon will be transferred from ‘Love All‘ ,who was the winner of the wooden spoon at the end of last year, to ‘Baseline‘ who won it after the Australian Open 2023.

Blue – Teams who picked both winners
Yellow – Only picked 1 winner (either men’s or ladies)
Red – Eliminated (no winners in their teams)

Result Men’s Final

• Djokovic(4) beat Tsitsipas(3) – 6-3; 7-6(4); 7-6(5)

The winner of the tournament ‘Sinners Injuries’ – Here is the winning team

The best team of males – ‘Drop Shots’

The best team of ladies – Shared between Klippies and Buena Suerta

Now onto the best team possible – The Dream Team

Honourable mentions and players who nearly made the dream team

Paul – 41 points
Sinner – 28 points
Korda,Wolf – 25 points

Pegula – 34 points
Pliskova – 33 points
Ostapenko, Vekic – 29 points

Thanks to everyone who entered. Looking forward to the French. Cheers for now.