Question: Who is Australia’s highest ranked male tennis player?

Answer: This guy…

His name is John Peers and he is ranked number 27 in the world for doubles. Never heard of him? Neither had we. Peers only recently came to the forefront, winning three tournaments last year with his Scottish doubles partner. Last year the 25 year-old made over $250,000. Not a bad living for a guy you have never heard of.

Tsonga on the streets

Apparently Jo-Wilfried Tsonga forgot his accreditation today. Instead, the French star was forced to buy a ground pass just to get into Melbourne Park.

The most I have ever had in common with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: I forgot my credential today, too! Tsonga bought a day pass to get in. #ausopen

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 20, 2014

So apparently Tsonga forgot his accreditation & was forced to buy day pass to get on grounds. Not a surprise at all. #ausopen

— Erik Gudris (@ATNtennis) January 20, 2014

Stanislas Wawrinka tattoo

Those watching Stanislas Wawrinka’s charge against Spain’s Tommy Robredo last night would have noticed two things. One, Wawrinka is a good chance to win this tournament. Two, he has a very prominent, wordy tattoo on his arm. In swirly cursive text, Wawrinka’s limb embellishment reads: “Ever tried. Ever Failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Inspiring stuff.

Battle of the babes

Someone has to say it: Tomorrow’s quarter final match between Ana Ivanovic and Eugenie Bouchard has to be the most attractive showdown in tennis history. Both women have fierce on-court tactics making them hot favourites to win the tournament, but they also both happen to be – in the words of Derek Zoolander – really, really, ridiculously good-looking. Ivanovic has posed in a bikini for Sports Illustrated and has numerous endorsements and, at age 19, Bouchard has already garnered quite a bit of attention.

While Bouchard has the Genie Army on her side, Ivanovic has proved to be incredibly popular in Australia. The Australian Open’s tweet announcing that Ivanovic had knocked Serena Williams from the tournament was the most retweeted so far. The result was retweeted a record 2427 times and her win was highly discussed on social media, pulling 123,000 tweets during the match and peaking at 7232 tweets per minute at the conclusion of the match.

At the end of the day, how the women look is not what is going to make this quarter final a great match. Both are deserving of a win; Ivanovic is long overdue for a comeback, while Bouchard is emerging as a poised, focussed young star.