Global Chick Checks In • So Much Tennis Going on Down Under • Australian Open Warm-ups

Great news tennis fans – Tennis Australia have great ticket booking protection for COVID-19 this year. The booking protection covers the ticket holders for things such as border closures, cancellations, and if you or anyone else in your family have COVID symptoms, and you provide evidence of symptoms you can also get a refund. This is what we call a very generous “book-with-confidence” policy.

Sam Stosur’s singles career will end at the Australian Open 2022. This will be her 20th Oz Open main draw appearance. Pretty impressive from the Aussie who has had a great career both in singles and doubles. She will continue to play doubles with Zhang Shuai from China in 2022. The pair have won the US Open last year, and the Australian Open title in 2019. 

We heard rumours that the player hotel per diem is very generous and the hotels are top-notch. 

Dominic Thiem will miss out on this year’s Aussie Open. He promised to be back in 2023. Get well soon Domi! It will be an interesting field this year. 

Nick Kyrgios has a podcast called @noboundariesshow episode 6 is out soon. “Love me or hate me, you still gonna tune in,” says Nick. 

A Mona Lisa hoodie was worn by Naomi Osaka when she arrived in Melbourne. Let’s hope she is mentally ready for the warm Australian summer ahead. We love her new hair. Will she play with it ?

 Mental health struggles are being talked about more and more by sportspeople. Jelena Dokic is going through a very tough period and will be taking time off social media. This week the former tennis star shared her struggles with her followers on Instagram. She apologised to her fans for not replying but thanked them for their ongoing support. Jelena has been working as a tennis commentator for Channel 9. Her autobiography Unbreakable detailed the abuse she suffered during her career by her father. Despite the abuse, Jelena went on to reach number 4 in the world. Dokic retired in 2014. We hope to see you back soon Jelena. 

The wild card situation for the Australian summer tournaments is: Alex Bolt, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Storm Sanders received wild cards at the Adelaide International, while Nick Kyrgios will be starting off his Aussie months at the Sydney Tennis Classic. 

Storm Sanders achieved a career-high ranking of No. 119 a couple of months ago. Storm attended the wedding of Luke Saville and Daria Gavrilova earlier this month. Daria Gavrilova’s mini-dachshund has an Insta account and a range of merchandise. Check out the very cute dog @tofu_sausage It will be an exciting summer in Australia.

Will there be an exhibition between Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios? Bernard is super keen to play him. Watch this space. 

Global Chick is Back and plans to be everywhere! TennisBalls has missed her and her insights.