Andy Murray and fallen five highlight parlous state of men’s tennis | Kevin Mitchell
The world’s top five arrived at the 2017 Australian Open with realistic title aspirations. This year there is no guarantee they will even reach the starting lineIn the year since the five top‑ranked men’s players – Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori – arrived in Melbourne with reasonable expectations of challenging for the first grand slam title of the season, the tennis world has been tumble-dried like a 20-foot wave.Djokovic – once so dominant at the Australian Open – fell in the second round, Murray and Nishikori reached the last 16, Raonic got to the quarter‑finals and only Wawrinka reached the semi-finals. More significantly in a wider context, though, not one of them made it...