Top Seeds, Defending Champions Retain Australian Open Title

For the second consecutive year, Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka win the first major of the year in Australia, and both remain at no. 1 in the world for the time being.  I have some comments on both feats and what it means for tennis.

Novak Djokovic def. Andy Murray 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2

-Djokovic wins 35th career title, last '12 World Tour Finals
-It is his 4th Australian Open win which ties him with Agassi and Federer for most in the open era; Emerson won 6 prior to the open era
-He is the first man to win 3 consecutive Aussie Opens
-It is his 6th major ('08 Aussie Open, '11 Aussie Open, '11 Wimbledon, '11 US Open, '12 Aussie Open, '13 Aussie Open)

In my mind, this means we are now in the Djokovic era of tennis.  He is the best player, at least for now.  Not only did he have the great 2011 season, he was the most consistent player over the year of chaos in 2012 and now opens 2013 by winning a major.  I guess we will see for sure if he can continue his consistency throughout the year but it seems to me though he is not perfect, he is the best.  He has reached 8 of the past 10 major finals and is now 2nd all-time behind Federer's massive 23 with 11 consecutive semis reached.

Victoria Azarenka def. Na Li 4-6 6-4 6-3

-Azarenka wins 15th career title, last '12 Linz
-It is her 2nd Australian Open win and 2nd major ('12 Aussie Open, '13 Aussie Open)
-It is the 13th time in the open era a woman has defended her Australian Open title.  The others were Court (twice), Goolagong Cawley (twice), Graf (twice), Seles (twice), Hingis (twice), Davenport, and S.Williams

In my mind, this separates Azarenka from the crowd of one-time major winners, and especially from the younger player.  She is the first player to win her second major since Clijsters at '09 US Open.  Only 4 other active women have 2 or more majors (Serena-15, Venus-7, Sharapova-4, Kuznetsova-2) while there are 5 with only one major now.  Women's tennis is such that several women can rise up and win a major, especially those in their late-20s but Azarenka has established herself as a slam-in slam-out contender, and with Kvitova's disappearance from the top tier, she could be on top for many years to come.