ADADFans in the crowd wore Bryant jerseys with the numbers 8 or 24. Australian Open organizers also played a short video tribute to Bryant ahead of the match, one of the most anticipated encounters in the two-week, season-opening major. “We saw Kobe a lot at the U.S. Open”— he was there a lot last year,” Stubbs said. He’s one of the great, great champions.”Gauff lost in the fourth round at the U.S. Open last year and beat defending Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka here before losing in the fourth round at Melbourne Park to fellow American Sofia Kenin. Definitely when I found out that, I was really, really sad, because it was someone that for sure I was looking up growing up and someone very special,” 10th-seeded Gael Monfils said after his loss to Dominic Thiem.

Source: Washington Post January 27, 2020 08:48 UTC