Australian Open: The Happy Slam: Recent Episodes
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Stay subscribed to this channel as Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury bring you daily updates during the 2023 Australian Open.
As all eyes turn to Melbourne for the most anticipated two weeks on the tennis calendar, Nine’s Wide World of Sports brings you Australian Open: The Happy Slam.
In this six-part documentary mini-series, James Bracey chats with the stars who made The Australian Open what it is today.
Subscribe so you don’t miss Pat Rafter, Dylan Alcott, Jim Courier, Jelena Dokic, Ajla Tomljanovic and Todd Woodbridge, as they tell their stories of how the Australian Open changed them, and how they changed it.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
In this Episode:
- Novak Djokovic wins his 10th Australian Open
- Emotion we have never seen from Novak before
- What this means for Stefanos Tsitsipas
- Women’s Doubles Final
- Best bits of AO23
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Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Sabalenka’s Maiden Slam
- Back to Back Aussie Men’s Champions
- Biggest Winners from Day 13
- The moment Aryna joined Daphne
- Coming up on Day 14
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Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Men’s Final is set
- Takeaways from the Semis
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 12
- Liam Hemsworth's Cameo?
- Coming up on Day 13
- Who takes home Daphne
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Aussies dominate
- Doubles in Troubles
- Women’s final is set
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 11
- Craig’s missed opportunity
- You have never seen anything like it
- Coming up on Day 12
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with American Tommy Paul.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Novak puts on another masterclass
- Magda Linette keeps taking down the seeds
- Day 10 Results
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 10: New Aussie Nicknames
- Coming up on Day 11
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with Aryna Sabalenka.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Heartbreak for American
- 10 years in waiting for Azarenka
- Day 9 Results
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 9: Tsitsipas big mistake
- Coming up on Day 10
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with AO23 Semi-Finalist, Karen Khachanov.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Novak unstoppable
- Top seeded women keeping falling
- Craig Gabriel with Aryna Sabalenka
- Day 8 Results
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 8: The new Special K’s
- Coming up on Day 9
- How The Happy Slam got it's name
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Top Seed is out
- Craig’s thoughts on in match coaching
- Tsitsipas calls AO his Home Slam
- Day 7 Results
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 7
- Coming up on Day 8: Can the Demon pull off the impossible?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Aussie win and Aussie loss
- Sir Andy’s tournament is over but AO the big loser
- Next bright star?
- Day 6 Results
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 6
- Coming up on Day 7
- Alex deMinaur has a singalong
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with Australia’s highest ranked player left in the AO, Alex de Minaur.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- ANOTHER Top See drops out
- The debate dividing the Tennis World
- 2 set comebacks a theme of AO23
- Day 5 Results
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 5: The Greek God
- Shot of the tournament?
- Coming up on Day 6
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with Russian Tennis player Andrey Rublev.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- More top seeds tumble
- The feel good story of the AO
- Latest on Rafa, Nick and Novak injuries
- Day 4 Results: History made from Murray and Kokkinakis
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 4: Fan ruins the fun
- The peoples champion
- Coming up on Day 5
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with Australian Tennis legend, Sam Stosur.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Rafa is out of the Australian Open
- All rain and no play
- Journos Nick slip up
- Day 3 results
- Biggest Winners and Losers
- Jason Kubler falls 1 short of an AO Record
- Coming up on Day 4
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with American Frances Tiafoe.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Melbourne’s wild weather
- Andy Murray’s stunning 5 setter
- 1462 drought comes to an end for Kim Birrell
- Day 2 Results and Matches postponed
- Novak makes up his own rules
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 2
- Coming up on Day 3
- New public enemy number 1
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with Czech Tennis Player, Petra Kvitova.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Nick Kyrgios is out of the Australian Open
- Rafa’s 1st round battle
- Day 1 Results
- Biggest Winners and Losers from Day 1
- An underdog Aussie
- Rafa’s missing racquet
- Coming up on Day 2
BONUS:Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with Spaniard Paula Badosa.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Nine Radio's tennis commentator Craig Gabriel and Richard Stansbury everyday of the 2023 Australian Open as they keep you up to date on everything you need to know about the play from the day before and what is coming up in the day ahead.
- Who can stop Novak from number 10?
- Craig Tiley's warning to the crowd
- An unlikely bromance
- Ajla Tomljanovic's heartbreak
- Bold Predictions
- Key takeaways from the draw
BONUS:
Craig Gabriel sits down for a chat with Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Growing up, tennis wasn't even on Dylan Alcott's radar. He spent his childhood watching his friends play sports, while he was the time keeper. Fast forward 20 years and Dylan has inspired kids all around the world to believe that you can be anything you want to be.
His story is one of dedication, inspiration and unity. His successes have never been about him, but about what they might do for a young child sitting at home wondering what their future might hold.
For most tennis players, the Australian Open shapes them, but in Dylan Alcott’s case — he has shaped it.
The Moment:
Heading into the 2022 Australian Open, Dylan Alcott announced that his final match of the tournament would be his final professional match. He was aiming for an eighth straight title. Far from his first match at Melbourne Park, this one would be center court and televised to millions around the world, but an unexpected award the night before would throw his championship aspirations up in the air.
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Jelena Dokic’s story, in life and in tennis, can be described in one word — fighter. Jelena’s family struggles and issues with her father are well-documented, but now she's opened up on how that really affected her, both on and off the court.
Jelena says she didn’t have her own identity, she was lost, but it was thanks to tennis and the Australian Open she was able to come back to life.
Through her strength and spreading her story she continues to inspire people in and out of tennis to never give up.
The Moment:
Until 2009 Jelena Dokic had only won two matches at the Australian Open, and they were more than a decade earlier. Not only had she been struggling on court, she was battling some pretty tough demons off of it.
Her run at the 2009 Australian Open was not only unexpected, but would send her into sporting folklore as an Aussie underdog who would never give up.
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Todd Woodbridge isn’t a doubles tennis player, Todd Woodbridge isn’t a singles tennis player... Todd Woodbridge is a tennis person. Growing up watching Australian icons take the court, he dreamt of one day representing his country and holding up the trophy at Wimbledon. Not only did he go on to hold that trophy up multiple times, he went on to be one of the icons he once idolized.
You can feel the passion and love Todd has for tennis every time he opens his mouth to talk about an issue, whether it be doubles tennis, the growth of the Australian Open, or stars like Nick Kyrgios.
The Moment:
For most people, losing one half of arguably the greatest doubles team in history would set them back. That wasn’t the case for Todd Woodbridge. After the retirement of his partner Mark Woodforde, Todd looked for a new partner to take on the tennis world and that came in the form of Swedish player, Jonas Bjorkman.
Heading into the 2001 Australian Open, no one knew if Todd could take his new team to the top of the mountain, but he and Jonas soon silenced any doubters.
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Life for Australia’s new number one female tennis player has gotten off to a good start, making quarter finals at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2022. But she makes it very clear she is only just getting started and is out to prove she can go even further.
The self proclaimed ‘late bloomer’ opens up on the lessons she has learned since three-time Grand Slam champion Ash Barty retired and the rules she puts in place for herself around big tournaments. Ajla is open, honest and raw when discussing her own struggles, issues within the game and the moments that have helped her succeed in her career.
The Moment:2022 US Open Round 3 vs. the GOAT, Serena Williams, in what would be her last ever professional match.
Ajla opens up on how she had her own doubts about playing the legend at her home tournament, but it was the Americans themselves that lit a fire within her to go on and do the unthinkable.
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It would be hard to think about the Australian Open without Jim Courier. Having won the tournament in 1992, Jim jumped into sporting lore with his post-victory swim in the Yarra River. From that point on he forged a special bond with the AO and the people that love it so much.
He opens up on why he keeps coming back to Australia year after year, reveals the only player he gets nervous talking to, and doesn’t miss when speaking passionately about key issues in tennis, including a former world number one.
The Moment:
It was one of the most amazing sporting moments the world has seen. In 1995, Jim Courier took on friend Pat Sampras in the Australian Open semi-final. Sampras was visibly hurting, but no one in the crowd, commentary box, or at home watching knew what was wrong.
Courier explains why he broke a rule the night before the match, and what made him yell out to Pete mid-match to stop and continue the following day — a moment that inevitably cost him the game.
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Pat Rafter is one of Australia’s greatest ever tennis players, but despite his great success on court he reveals his failings still keep him awake at night.
Rafter talks about how his love for tennis and the Australian Open has grown as he went from a boy from the country idolizing Newcombe and Roach, to an icon of not only his country, but his sport.
The Moment:
2001 Australian Open Semi-Final vs Andre Agassi. It was one of the hottest matches Melbourne has put on offer, and unfortunately for Pat, it would be his undoing as he was learning about a chronic health issue that would ultimately lead to his retirement.
While he was visibly suffering on court, Rafter never once thought about quitting the match and that is why this match took him from a star to a legend.
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As all eyes turn to Melbourne for the most anticipated two weeks on the tennis calendar, Nine’s Wide World of Sports brings you Australian Open: The Happy Slam.
In this six-part documentary mini-series, James Bracey chats with the stars who made The Australian Open what it is today.
Subscribe so you don’t miss Pat Rafter, Dylan Alcott, Jim Courier, Jelena Dokic, Ajla Tomljanovic and Todd Woodbridge, as they tell their stories of how the Australian Open changed them, and how they changed it.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.