Australian Open 2025

2024 is not over but the 2025 tennis season has begun, with tourneys in HK, Oz and NZ.

Looking back at the predictions for 2024, it was thought, rightly as it turned out, that Sinner and Alcaraz would do well. Quite correctly, too, Zverev was seen as a major threat, although you have to wonder if he'll ever get that elusive Slam title.

In the normal way you'd have to fancy Sinner to have another dominant year but who knows what's going to happen with this drugs thingy? Alcaraz had an amazing early summer in triumphing at RG and Wimbledon and he seems certain to have another good 12 months in 2025.

Zverev and Medvedev are likely to finish high up the rankings again. Bit surprised to see Fritz end up at 4th. You feel he's a bit over-ranked. Rune, favoured by some to do great things in 2024, fell away somewhat. If Draper can stay fit, and he's out injured already for the new year, there's a chance he could break into the top 10.

Intriguing that Murray is working with Djoko, who I think will still be a danger to the big boys. Maybe there is still further Slam glory awaiting Novak.

Sabalenka and Swiatek look set to dominate in the women's. The same fitness proviso applying to Draper applies to Raducanu. If she can actually get through a reasonable number of tournaments in 2025 then she ought to make the top 20.

One to watch in the women's is Mirra Andreeva, who is only 17 but already has reached 16th in the world.

Struggling to get excited about the 2025 season after recent months. I found the last 4-5 months of the tennis calendar in 2024 really dull and a serious lack of quality players. Outside of Sinner and Alcaraz, really struggling to see who is going to threaten. Have to think they will probably split the slams again. I really thought Zverev would have broken through and won a slam by now and I do still feel he will win one but it will probably have to be this year. I think he might finally nick one, maybe Oz open.

I look at the other players and Medvedev and he is not the same player he was, Fritz a good player but nothing special, Rublev over rated. Others in top 10 are Ruud, De Minaur and an ageing Dimitrov. Really weak moments in men's tennis to be honest.

Djokovic now past winning slams and even as a huge fan I kind of hope he retires this year after Wimbledon or US Open. Dont want to be seeing him losing to nobodies in early rounds of slams. I think he can always make a run at Australian open but he doesnt have the game / legs / consistency to go through 7 five setters back to back now. His game in 2024 was about 60% of what it was at his peak, no shame in it though as he approaches 38!!

Thought Djoko would go far in Brisbane but he's lost today to Opelka.

This Mpetshi Perricard looks some player. He's already up to 31 in the rankings and top players will be glad he's likely to be seeded at Melbourne.

From a GB point of view Raducanu, true to form, pulled out injured in Auckland although she looks set to compete in the AO. Cam Norrie got thru a couple of rounds in HK but then lost to Nishi who appears to be in good nick.

Encouraging stuff from Katie Boulter (who has announced her engagement to de Minaur.) Boulter had some good wins in the United Cup before going down in a three-hour match with Swiatek.

My tip for the top, Mirra Andreeva, has already reached the semi in Brisbane, taking out Jabeur. She now takes on Sabalenka.

Slasher - I know what you mean. It all seems a bit flat at the moment. It's hardly surprising after the amazing years when the Big Four, now reduced to just one, were going strong.

But there have been some good matches at the opening events and we do have a Slam coming up so let's hope for some excitement.

That loss today kind of sums up where Djokovic is at, much more prone to upsets now. That being said Opelka played unbelievable and his 1st serve % was crazy high so I think he would have been a nitemare opponent for anyone today. Agree that perricard guy looks very dangerous. Whoever has tickets for Perricard vs Opelka can expect few if any rallies!!

Here is hoping the Oz open brings some good matches

America won the United Cup, with Gauff upsetting Swiatek and then Fritz edging Hurkacz.
Sabalenka took the Brisbane title but Opelka had to retire from his final.

Osaka was a set up in her title match in Auckland but she, too, had to retire with what appears to be an abdominal injury. Remains to be seen if she'll be fit for the AO.

sirfredperry wrote:... after the amazing years when the Big Four, now reduced to just one ....

Two days ago the BBC ran the following sporting headline: "Djokovic loses in Brisbane in shock defeat by Opelka".    

I think a more accurate headline would have been: "Geriatric loses to big serving giant at the peak of his physical fitness".  

Although Djokovic is the "one" remaining of the Big Four, he is a shadow of the physical specimen he once was.  Nowadays Djokovic has to rely on court intelligence, skill and luck to have an opportunity to add to his Grand Slam Singles tally.

Another of the headlines talked about Djoko losing to the world 293. But of course Opelka has been quite highly ranked and is only so lowly due to injury. A case of a headline being accurate and misleading at the same time.

You may have noticed Collins and Swiatek being a bit frosty with each other in the United Cup. Apparently stems with a disageement they had about the extent of Collins' injury at the Olympics.

But Swiatek had only the briefest of handshakes with Gauff at the end of their cup match. Don't know what the problem is there.

It does strike me that the tennis men seem to get on a lot better with each other than the women do.

Monfils, aged 38, might well have secured the title of oldest tournament winner for 2025* already by downing Zizou Bergs in the Auckland final.

FAA has just taken the Adelaide title, beating Korda in three.

AO starts tomorrow with most of the bottom half of the men's draw being played. Alcaraz and Djoko are in this bottom half so can't meet Sinner before the final. As a consequence Sinner appears to have an easier path.

Defending champs Sinner and Sabalenka must be regarded as favourites. If Djoko is to take the title again he may well have to beat Alcaraz, Zverev and Sinner. Can't really see it happening.

I see the AO are still insisting on having two matches each night so there are bound to be some late-night finishes. It seems the players are powerless to stop this.

*Later. Monfils is, in fact, the oldest ATP tour winner at 38yrs 4months since Ken Rosewall who won Hong Kong at the age of 43 in 1977.

Rather a rain-ruined opening day in Melbourne. Sabalenka beat Stephen's in straight sets. The American staged a fight back from 0-4 in the opening set but ultimately went down 3 and 2.
Briton Kartal bowed out in straight sets sets.

Zverev's straight-sets win over Pouille looked fairly routine from the 4, 4 and 4 scoreline. But Sasha missed numerous BPs which he won't be able to afford to do if he is to go deep.

Also, Pouille showed glimpses of the player who was once highly-ranked.

Djokovic losing to a complete nobody here in round 1, Kyrgios also in trouble. I would think the tournament director will not want to see both them going out! Considering who they are up against, these would be shockingly poor results

2nd day at Melbourne and Djoko has lost the first set to rising star Basavareddy who is looking like some player. But will he be able to keep it up? Probably not.

Jack Draper had a struggle but came thru in five. Other Brit wins have gone to Dart, an LL, and Burrage.

Kyrgios is two sets to love down and appearing to be struggling with injury v Fearnley of GB.

Alcaraz took the first set v Shevchenko but was 5-3 down in the second set before taking it 7-5 .

Tsitsipas is out, beaten in four by Michelsen of the USA. Sinner won in straight sets and there were comfortable wins for Swiatek and Gauff.

What is going on with Tsitsipas in recent years?? Another awful result for him today, to think a few years back he was a multiple grand slam finalist and now he looks like getting nowhere near one. So inconsistent

Not only Tsistsipas out but also Dimi who had to retire while a set down.

Djoko has just beaten Basavareddy who put up a good show but was hindered with injury. Djoko hit a lot of DFs but was able to take advantage of his opponent's difficulty.

Fearnley beat Kyrgios although the Australian, clearly far from 100% fit, was close to taking it to a 4th set.

Even against an under-par opponent, Fearnley did well to win and, in particular, to block out a hostile crowd.

The ludicrous scheduling meant that Osaka and Garcia had to start at 10.30pm local time. There should only be one night match per court and if that means it is always going to be a men's match to ensure at least three sets, then so be it.

If Djokovic gets through his 2nd round I think he could really have his hands full in round 3 with either Machac or Opelka. Make no mistake Novak is there for the taking right now, he is making so many more errors and I think he could really struggle to reach an anticipated QF showdown with Alcaraz. To be honest even if he gets there I dont really see him getting close to a win there, it pains me to say it as a Novak fan but he is a shadow of the player he was. Hope he can prove me wrong one last time but I feel like the Olympics last year was his final hurrah.

Hadnt realised SFP that Dimitrov was out too. Kyrgios result I am very surprised by and its kind of a shame because I think him against Zverev could have been a very good match if they had both got there and if Kyrgios had built some form, not to be anyway.

Sounds like solid wins for Sinner and Alcaraz, that was a potential banana skin for Sinner as defending champion and the fact that there were two tie breaks suggest it certainly wasnt a straight forward win even if it was 3 sets

Rublev out, beaten in straight sets by 18yr old Brazilian qualifier Joao Fonseca. A year ago this guy was down in the 700s ranking-wise but has now climbed to 118.

Medvedev lost his rag at one point in his opener v wild card Samrej and went down two sets to one before coming thru.

Norrie lost to Berrettini but there were wins for Boulter and Raducanu, who managed to overcome service blips which saw her coughing up 15 DFs.

Rising French star Mpetshi Perricard was two sets down to Monfils before levelling the match only for the veteran to take the 5th 6-4. Another old stager, Stan the Man, had the chance to take his match to a 5th but went out in four to Sonego. Is this the Man's last AO?

Shelton had a tough draw in Nakashima but won in three tight sets. Rune needed five sets to see off Zhizhen Zhang - a name likely to send opponents to sleep.

There was quite a lot of talk about a 16-year-old Aussie Emerson Jones (handy first name for a tennis player). But she had to face Rybakina and only managed two games.

Another top men's seed has a prospective tough match tonight/tomorrow. Casper Ruud takes on 19-year-old Jakub Mensik who claimed some notable scalps last year.

Top four era is over. Djokovic is a shadow of the physical specimen he once was. Sinner and Alcaraz appeared in the winter of the top four/three era and are left standing in the ruins. What next - a new cohort of wannerbes to try to make their mark during this interregnum?

Sinner thru easily and Djoko thru in four. Draper and Kokkinakis are one set all.

Big shock in the women's with last year's runner up and Olympic champ Qinwen Zheng going out in straight sets to German veteran Siegemund. Excellent win for Osaka who took out the dangerous Muchova who I fancied would go far.

I reckoned Ruud would have his hands full with Jakub Mensik and so it's proving with the Czech on the brink of victory in the 4th.

LATER: Mensik wrapped it up in that 4th set to send Ruud out.

Well I thought Draper was down and out as K served for the match but in no time at all it's Draper who has broken, held and broken again to take the match into a 5th set.

Meanwhile Jacob Fearnley has reached the third round with a four-set victory over Cazaux of France. This is heady stuff from a guy who until recently was well down the rankings.

Lucky Loser Harriet Dart took the first set v Donna Vekic but that was as good as it got and she only won two more games after that.

Good, plucky win by Draper who managed to outlast Kokkinakis, although the Briton was mighty close to defeat.

Blow me down he's got ANOTHER Aussie in the next round but at least it's an unseeded opponent in the shape of Vukic.

While Draper has a good chance of reaching the 4th round you feel it'll be the end of the road for Fearnley as he now has to face Zverev.

Aussie WC Tristasn Schoolkate exceeded all expectations by merely getting the first set v Sinner but now the Italian has taken a two sets to one lead.

Hurkacz and Tiafoe both out, beaten by unseeded players. 18-yr-old Brazilian Fonseca, who shocked Rublev in round one, took Sonego to five sets before bowing out. Rune beat Berrettini in four.

Boulter went out in three to Kudermetova which was a bad draw given the Russian has been ranked as high as nine.

Raducanu, though, came thru in straights v Anasimova despite trailing in both sets. Bad news is that she'll now have to face Swiatek

Medvedev in real trouble two sets down to Learner Tien. Med as usual far too passive playing miles behind the baseline

sirfredperry wrote:Medvedev in real trouble two sets down to Learner Tien. Med as usual far too passive playing miles behind the baseline

Learner becomes the teacher.

JuliusHMarx wrote:

sirfredperry wrote:Medvedev in real trouble two sets down to Learner Tien. Med as usual far too passive playing miles behind the baseline

Learner becomes the teacher.

Nice one, Julius. The young man beat Med at Med's own game. But in some ways Med was the perfect opponent for Tien who could float his backhands back while Med disappeared to the back of the court. You felt Sinner or Alcaraz would have hit Tien off the court.

But this is not to take away from a phenomenal achievement by the 19 year old.

Routine straight-sets win for Zverev over Briton Fearnley. Alcaraz also thru in four. Just watching D-Fokina who saved MPs in the third over teenager Mensik and is now heading for victory a break up in the 5th.

The battle of the mums saw Osaka having to retire after losing the first set to Bencic.

We can probably expect another late-night finish today with Draper and Vukic getting the short straw by having to play the second night match. Yesterday play finished just short of 3am. Madness.

Davidovich Fokina is some battler, got to hand it to him with his last two wins. The guy must be in bits physically. I think Draper might start regretting all these 5 setters if he faces Alcaraz. I recall that was the one thing that really cost Murray in his career at slams, for me he was a better player than the 3 slams he won and I know he had to contend with the Big 3 but I just think too many slams Murray got drawn into 5th set dogfights and they end up costing you dearly later in the tournament.

I think Draper has spent 8 hours on court heading into his 3rd round match and this has to catch up with you, just got to be more ruthless in early rounds.

Zverev looking very solid so far, could he finally deliver on the grand slam stage!? Still very much looking like a Sinner vs Alcaraz final. Sinner has by far the easiest draw of any player and Alcaraz has had a pretty easy draw so far.

I am very surprised with how easily Djokovic has dispatched of Machac, I thought that could go the distance as Machac has been in really good form and in recent months has beaten Alcaraz, Rublev, Dimitrov and nearly beat Fritz. He is a very good solid player.

Draper, if he is to do it, is going to have to do it the hard way as he's into a 5th set v Vukic.

At least Jack's still out there as at 5-5 in the 4th set tiebreak the Australian was just two points from the match.

Quite agree, Slasher, about saving energy in the early rounds. Of course, having a bit of a struggle in an early-round match gets you battle-hardened but the Draper route to the 4th round , if he gets there, is not be recommended.

Last year Medvedev played a ridiculous number of sets to reach the final and had nothing left after taking a two sets to love v Sinner. You may recall Federer's first win in Melbourne when his opponent Safin was exhausted after a number of long matches (the Russian exacted revenge the following year).

Marathon man (or should that be Snickers man) Draper again came thru in five. It looked all over in the 5th when Draper had points for a double break only to be pegged back to 3-3 from where it went to a tiebreak which the Briton won 10-8.

Doubt whether Draper would have beaten his next opponent Alcaraz in any case but that seems even more unlikely now after such exhausting matches.

Draper certainly has the game to stay highly ranked. He's a leftie with a big serve and powerful groundstrokes and gets round the court well. As with a lot of big guys fitness is always a problem, though.

I was a bit disappointed with Machac as I, too, thought he would give Djoko a good match. He seemed a little short of firepower.

Raducanu got just one game off Swiatek. Monfils saw off Fritz who, to me, appears somewhat over-ranked at four.

The Tien fairy tale continues with the teenager beating Moutet in straight sets. You can see how Tien won more than 20 successive matches on the challenger tour last year.

Aussie hopes in the shape of De Minaur live on, with De M beating Cerundolo in four. He'll now meet Michelsen who knocked out Khachanov.

Few problems for Sinner in a straight-sets win. Rune was two sets to one down and 4-2 down in the 4th before recovering to go thru in five.

Mrs Gael Monfils aka Svitolina joined her husband in reaching round 4 beating last year's French and Wimbledon runner-up Paolini.

Draper takes on Alcaraz tomorrow. Can't really see Jack winning. You'd have to fancy Carlos even if the Briton had not had three draining five-setters.

Djoko faces Lehecka while 17-yr-old Mirra Andreeva will be looking to repeat her shock win over Sabalenka at last year's French. Difficult, though, to look beyond Sabalenka for the Melbourne title.

Draper had to, er, Jack it in after going two sets down to Alcaraz. Apparently it was a hip problem.

Alcaraz, as expected, will now have a q-final v Djoko who saw off Lehecka in straight sets, with L making too many UEs to really make a match of it.

I know there are some who think that Djoko is no longer capable of beating the really big boys and that Carlos will be too much for him. But it's always foolish to write Novak off.

Zverev dropped the second set v Humbert but had little trouble after that, taking it in four. Tommy Paul had a surprisingly easy passage, with opponent D-Fokina only winning three games.

Andreeva also only won three games against Sabalenka who appears on course for a semi v Gauff who beat Bencic in three but has a potentially tougher q-final opponent in Badosa than Sab has in Pavlyuchenkova.

Djoko ducked the Channel 9 on-court interview after this match. Explained that he'd taken offence at one of 9's commentators' on-air remarks about Djoko and Serbian fans.

Commentator said he was only joking, had been joking previously with the Serbian fans and he has now apologised on Balkan TV. But Djoko wants an apology on Ch 9.

Remarks included saying Djoko was a has-been and over-rated. Bit of a storm in a teacup. You could conclude that Novak is being over-touchy here and lacking in a sense of humour.

Not managed to see any Aus Open yet this year but have listened to some of the match commentaries on BBC 5 Live. Heard Pat Cash this morning talking about Jack Draper and the 5 setters which ultimately led to his match retirement against Alcaraz. He said for a big guy with potentially powerful shots he plays too much like a claycourter on this surface, too far back, and having too many long rallies. The likes of Murray and Zverev have also had this issue and hopefully Draper is still young enough to adapt his game as appropriate.

Raducanu's heavy defeat against Swiatek must have been a chastening loss, but this will keep happening to her, meeting the top players early on when her ranking is relatively low.

On Djokovic, I agree he is past his best now, but he's so strong on this surface you still have to give him a chance and I wouldn't be surprised to see him beat Alcaraz who hasn't too date performed as well at Aus Open as the other slams.

MrI - glad that you're among those that feel Djoko has a chance against Alcaraz. It's a counterpoint to those - wrongly in my opinion - who seem prepared to write Novak off.

Personally, I hope Carlos wins as I think it's time to finally draw a line under the dominance of the old Big 3/4.

What about Zverev's chances? He'll have to get past the Novak-Carlos winner and, probably, Sinner if he wants to take the title. Maybe he's destined never to win a Slam.

Sinner woke up feeling unwell and had to have a stroke of luck to get thru in four against Rune.

The net broke and there was a 20-minute delay while they fixed it and that gave Sinner a chance to have a breather.

He'll now take on De Minaur who won in straight sets v Michelsen. The American had a nightmare start, losing the first eight games before recovering to at least make something of a match of it.

De Minaur reminds me somewhat of David Ferrar in that he is lightning quick and waspish. His consistency and competitiveness is enough to beat most players but I always feel, though, that he doesn't quite have the game to worry the guys at the very top.

Giant-killer Tien, hampered by injury went out in four to Sonego. The Italian now plays Shelton who beat Monfils when Gael had to retire early in the 4th when two sets to one down.

You feel Monfils would have had a finer career if he'd abandoned his tactic of standing miles behind the baseline. For a man with so much talent he should have been far more successful than he's been. A more attacking approach might well have prevented the frequent injuries that have hampered his progress.

At least his wife is thru - beating Kudermetova. Svitolina now plays Keys who bt Rybakina who had been having back problems. The other q-final will feature Swiatek and Navarro.

The Djoko-Channel 9 row seems to have been resolved, with the commentator guy apologising.