The Aus Open is in full swing and we’re here to give you the recap

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Far out. The amount of things that have happened in the women’s sports world keeps sweeping us off our feet. We literally have a Google Doc that we add stories and news to every day - so we can make sure they all make it into the newsletter. And the lists just keep getting longer…and longer…and longer…..

Let’s start off with the obvious - the Australian Open, as it’s happening right on the shores of Australia, where our lil team here at Missing Perspectives is based. It’s been a hugely exciting week, with female athletes front and centre. We’ve just seen Coco Gauff enter the semi-finals (along with Aryna Sabalenka - they’ll be playing tonight) AND we also saw also one of the longest tiebreaks in grand slam history (more on that below - see, we need an incentive to keep you scrolling!?). There’s also been chat about sexist start times for matches, with women starting late - AGAIN, KEEP READING PLEASE!!

On a side note, Ash Barty has launched a foundation that will help empower young Australians through sport. We can’t wait to see where this goes, and the impact it will have. Speaking of amazing women, we’ve been covering the domination of incredible female referees - and our content is really resonating! Yoshimi Yamashita became the first female referee at the Asian Cup when she handled the game between Australia and India last Saturday. The best bit is that she was joined by two female assistants — Makoto Bozono and Naomi Teshirogi — and we can’t wait to see more of them.

Finally, we want to ask you: what do YOU want to see covered in Level The Field and Missing Perspectives this year? Athletes? Sports? We want to hear from you!

Chat again soon,

The Missing Perspectives Team xxx

Ashtyn Hiron: We’re watching the women at the Australian Open

Eyes glued to the screen, butts on the edge of our seats - I hope Australia was watching the longest tiebreaker in Women’s Grand Slam Singles history during the Australian Open, as Anna Blinkova claimed a Round 2 win over No.3 Elena Rybakina. The tears, exhaustion and pure joy that followed that victory encompassed all that sport is about. 

As thousands of watchful eyes and eager tourists flock to Melbourne - it’s the young guns whose talents are shining through. Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva is playing well above her years, topping her idol last week. The Russian teenager beat Ons Jabeur 6-0, 6-2. Reaching the third round of the Australian Open for the first time, she’s joined by a bunch of impressive and emerging juniors. Leading the charge for the young guns and ranked in the Women’s Singles top 8 is 19-year-old Coco Gauff.

I love the unconventional energy she brings to tennis. The American publicly and proudly shared the special messages she has written on her shoes. One quote reads: ”You can change the world with your racket”, touching on the importance of speaking out about core issues. She also has the names of her little brothers written on there, and the coordinates of her home court in Florida. Thanks Coco - we love outspoken women who are proud of their roots and values. She’s also just a straight-out character. Post quarterfinal she was asked why her match went so quickly, to which she answered, “I wanna go to the movies”.

We can’t talk about this Australian Open and leave out the blaring fact that scheduling still favours male athletes. Take Novak Djokovic for example, playing at 7pm prime-time for Australians to watch on a summer's night after they’ve knocked off for the day. Then take Aryna Sabalenka who is playing at almost midnight in front of a virtually empty stadium when most of Australia is already in bed.

 Both are wildly successful athletes and known household names. How do we help female athletes move forward when they're held back by something like scheduling? It’s the little things that make a big difference.

And we’re here to highlight the little things so we can start to make a difference.

The “healthy glow” of a sun tan is anything but

It’s clear that people across the country continue to have unhealthy love of sun tanning – which causes premature ageing, irreparable skin damage, changes to DNA and even death from skin cancer. From a health perspective, a big concern has long been the link between sun tanning and skin cancer. Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, and according to Cancer Council, skin cancer causes more deaths than transport accidents every year in Australia. Read our article about the impacts of tanning, in partnership with Cancer Council. It’s really important to have this front of mind when attending sports matches this year.