Wrapping up the 2014 Australian Open: 11 things we took away from the tournament

6. From courting photographers to reaching her maiden Slam semis, Eugenie Bouchard was the talk of the town. The Canadian teenager proved that she has the game to go with her glamour, and turned in a fine performance over the fortnight. Apart from the minor Justin Bieber blip, she did nothing wrong and there is no shame in losing to Li Na, who is infinitely more experienced than the youngster. On the plus side, she has managed a collection of stuffed animals courtesy the Genie Army!

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 23: Eugenie Bouchard of Canada serves in her semifinal match against Na Li of China during day 11 of the 2014 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 23, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

7. The Australian Open has been a happy hunting ground for Novak Djokovic in the past – he has won four titles here. Yet, his quarterfinal exit did not surprise me. He is a phenomenal hard court player and consistently makes it to the semis and finals of most Grand Slams, but he is nowhere close to his 2011 form when he won 3 Grand Slams. He needs to regroup and rework his strategy if he wants to add to his tally.

8. I am sure that both Pete Sampras and Chris Evert were invited to present the singles trophies in the hope that Nadal and Serena would be victors. Ironical then that neither of the two events happened. Nadal and Serena can reach those milestones at the French Open later this year where they are both defending champions. Another eerie similarity between the two – they both had back injuries during their matches.

9. Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov finally lived up to his nickname of ‘Baby Fed’ by reaching the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career in his 13th attempt. He took a set off Nadal and played a great match for the first two sets. It remains to be seen how well he plays moving forward and how he handles the media scrutiny over his relationship with Maria Sharapova.

10. Nadal’s hand blister became such a huge talking point that there was a Twitter account dedicated to it! The cameras zooming in on his hand whenever he took a medical time out, trying to get a better look at the blister, just added to all the drama.

11. Every player talks about how amazing the facilities are at the Australian Open and how it is the ‘Happy Slam’. Record crowds come to watch the matches and their involvement is fantastic as well. For me, the tournament has become synonymous with Kia Motors and their Australian COO who always speaks after the finals, despite the fact that all the fans want to see is the players talk. It is quite funny. Jokes apart, credit to the tournament organizers and sponsors for a fantastic event and here’s looking forward to a great tennis year!