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Are 5g of lead and some bends of the knees going to win Carlos Alcaraz a profession Grand Slam?
Is Iga Swiatek going to make a transfer on Melbourne?
Will the clock tick previous midnight (and 1 a.m., and a pair of a.m., and three a.m….) in Australia as soon as once more?
The 2025 Australian Open guarantees to be a cracker. Right here, The Athletic’s tennis writers, Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare, chart among the key storylines to comply with over the subsequent fortnight.
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Will Alcaraz serve up a profession Grand Slam?
Alcaraz doesn’t have many weaknesses. He does have one thing that he does much less properly than every little thing else.
Serve.
It’s higher than common, however not elite. It’s the one place that his nearest rival, Jannik Sinner, has a giant benefit over him. Nevertheless it’s additionally the rationale that good folks assume Alcaraz may dominate tennis for a very long time. He’s gained 4 Grand Slams with a median serve, the considering goes. Think about how good he might be with an ideal one.
Whether or not he has finished that with a barely tweaked service movement will go a great distance towards figuring out whether or not he can full the profession Grand Slam at simply 21 by successful the Australian Open.
He stated in a information convention Saturday that the serve didn’t really feel pure but. He nonetheless needed to fascinated with it, remind himself what to do and what to not do.
“There are some instances that I feel or I really feel like it’s a drawback,” he stated. “Generally within the match that I’ve performed or through the apply, there are some video games that I’m not doing the correct factor.”
He has little question that he and his Babolat Pure Aero racket, newly weighted with 5g of lead within the neck, will get there ultimately.
The change has to do with how and when he coils his physique through the service movement. He used to do it later within the movement and extra rapidly. Now he’s easing his approach into it, including extra fluidity to crucial of tennis pictures.
What does he need from it? “Good rhythm,” he stated, and extra precision. At just a little over six ft tall, he’ll probably by no means have a dominating bullet serve. However at Wimbledon he was serving at 130mph and hitting the strains on command, blowing Novak Djokovic off the courtroom within the last and main the seven-time SW19 champion to comment that he had by no means seen Alcaraz serve higher.
Anytime a participant makes even a slight change in a stroke, it may be dramatic: tennis takes a transparent head and Alcaraz fascinated with the best way to serve may make issues cloudy if a match will get tight.
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Is that this Swiatek’s Australian alternative?
After not going past the quarters of a serious outdoors of Roland Garros for the previous two seasons, Swiatek has a giant alternative in Melbourne. She’s in an inviting quarter and if she will be able to get by that may be a giant favourite within the semifinal towards her slated opponent there Jasmine Paolini.
With new coach Wim Fissette in tow, and probably a sense of liberation after enjoying beneath the cloud of a doping ban over the past couple of months of the 2024 season, she appears well-placed for a deep run. Her efficiency on the United Cup, the place she gained three matches towards top-10 gamers and was a break up in each units towards Coco Gauff earlier than dropping 6-4, 6-4, made her look prepared.
Iga Swiatek has by no means been previous the fourth spherical in Melbourne. (Phil Walter / Getty Photos)
After dropping the No. 1 rating to Aryna Sabalenka whereas serving 22 days of that one-month ban in September and October, Swiatek desires it again as quickly as potential. She additionally desires to disabuse the persistent notion that she will be able to solely obtain success on clay courts, regardless of her outstanding assortment of wins and titles off the floor. It’s only in majors the place she has had extra problem; even then, she is a U.S. Open champion.
The way in which the rating system works implies that Swiatek may reclaim the world No. 1 rating with out an particularly deep run if Sabalenka, the defending champion and Gauff, a semifinalist final yr, exit early. However solely by profiting from her presentable draw and reaching the latter phases will Swiatek correctly reestablish herself after a troublesome few months.
Charlie Eccleshare
Can Tiafoe and Shelton take their subsequent steps?
Frances Tiafoe form of bought caught telling the reality final yr when he stated the one tournaments he cared about have been Wimbledon, his hometown Citi Open in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Open.
Maybe that explains his close to upset of Alcaraz on Centre Court docket at Wimbledon, his second run to the U.S. Open semifinals, and the fairly mediocre outcomes in every single place else. He tried to stroll again that remark Friday at Melbourne Park, however a couple of moments later landed again on the theme of needing to be extra motivated all through the season.
“Ideally I want to play much less and do higher,” Tiafoe stated. “I’m 27 subsequent week. I’ve been round and I’m tremendous excited, tremendous motivated, to be current and attempt to get my greatest stuff week in, week out.”
In the summertime, he stated, he’s keen to die to win each match. The remainder of the yr, he sees opponents who’re extra keen than he’s. He is aware of that has to alter.
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There isn’t a higher place to start out than on the Australian Open, which is a form of carbon copy of the U.S. Open. Quick exhausting courts and rowdy crowds that completely love Tiafoe. What can he do with that?
Identical goes for Ben Shelton, a quarterfinalist right here two years in the past, and a U.S. Open semifinalist later in his first full season however now No. 21 on the planet. Sophomore yr didn’t go as he thought it would, particularly on the Grand Slams, the place he made the second week simply as soon as and bowed out within the fourth spherical of Wimbledon.
Shelton continues to be pretty early in his tennis life in contrast with the competitors. He didn’t begin enjoying in earnest till he was 12. However on the exhausting courts right here the place he’s very comfy, he’ll harbor ambitions of difficult Taylor Fritz because the American most definitely to interrupt that two-decade-plus streak and not using a males’s Grand Slam.
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Will the late end’s coolness put on off?
It is likely to be the U.S. Open that launched a late-finishing match coverage in 2024, and the French Open that noticed Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti enjoying till 3:06 a.m., however nowhere does late-night tennis just like the Australian Open. Daniil Medvedev and Emil Ruusuvuori hit 3:40 a.m. in 2024. Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis went till 4:05 a.m. in 2023. And Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis went later than all of them in 2008, enjoying till 4:34 a.m.
Daniil Medvedev signing interviews after a 3:40 a.m. end eventually yr’s match. He beat Emil Ruusuvuori in 5 units. (Anthony Wallace / AFP through Getty Photos)
In New York, the late-night-tennis transition from quirky unique membership to all-too-regular grind formally went by, as gamers complained concerning the cascade down from lengthy day session matches into an extended day’s journey into evening, which may enfeeble performances within the subsequent spherical. This yr’s match is certain to convey some furtive glances on the clock and roars of adoring followers into the small hours. Whether or not they stay an idiosyncratic one-off or a continuing will decide how a lot they outline the match.
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How will Rybakina deal with her teaching scenario?
Elena Rybakina figured to be beginning her Grand Slam season contemporary along with her new coach Goran Ivanisevic, till she wasn’t.
The Kazakh world No. 6 is locked in a stalemate with the WTA over her former coach and present member of her crew — an unnamed position — Stefano Vukov. The WTA is investigating allegations that Vukov behaved abusively towards Rybakina, and has provisionally suspended him from accessing WTA teaching credentials. He’s ineligible for an Australian Open credential too, so is in Melbourne with out being allowed contained in the match.
He has denied the allegations, and Rybakina Saturday doubled down on her assertion that Vukov has “by no means mistreated” her.
“As I stated earlier than, I’ve by no means made any complaints or any of this stuff,” Rybakina stated in a information convention. “I all the time stated that he by no means mistreated me.
“I’m not pleased with the entire scenario,” she stated. “The people who find themselves not so near the tennis world, they only see the feedback after which they’re selecting it up.”
The WTA has confirmed the investigation and provisionally suspended Vukov pending its end result. Sources briefed on the investigation final week instructed The Athletic that the WTA’s report could be full in days. It’s but to launch any findings.
In a vacuum, Rybakina needs to be among the many favorites for the match. The quick exhausting courts are perfect for her recreation. Her serve slides away from opponents. The bounces are true, permitting her the rock her groundstrokes. Along with her teaching points, she will be able to wrestle with insomnia, which weakens her immune system.
She stated she simply desires to give attention to her matches. Is that potential?
Matt Futterman
Can a British participant comply with in Murray’s footsteps?
Andy Murray’s presence on Djokovic’s crew serves as a reminder of how reliant British tennis has been on him in Melbourne. Since Murray’s fifth Australian Open last 9 years in the past, Kyle Edmund in 2018 is the one British participant to have reached a quarterfinal or higher.
May that change this yr? The standout probabilities appear like No. 15 seed Jack Draper or No. 22 seed Katie Boulter, with Emma Raducanu in her ordinary place of being a giant risk — if she’s wholesome.
“I’m feeling nice about Katie Boulter, given how she performed towards Swiatek on the United Cup,” stated Laura Robson, British former junior Wimbledon champion who reached the fourth spherical of each Wimbledon and the U.S. Open as a youngster, of a three-hour epic that Swiatek finally gained 6-7(4) 6-1, 6-4.
“After the primary set it was a type of conditions the place previously you might need fearful that she was going to fade away. For her to nonetheless be in it two hours later, it was actually a constructive signal.”
Not like Boulter, Draper has expertise of going deep at a Grand Slam after his run to the semifinals on the U.S. Open. He’s been nursing a niggle along with his hip, however stated in a information convention on Saturday that he’s feeling good and wouldn’t be right here if he wasn’t feeling 100%.
Raducanu has been managing a bodily problem too after struggling a again spasm in coaching, but when she will be able to get a little bit of momentum, nobody will need to face her.
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Will Andreeva repeat her Melbourne success with a good friend and rival in tow?
Though the WTA Tour is synonymous with prodigies, there are solely 4 gamers within the girls’s prime 50 who’re 20 or youthful. A type of is Gauff, who feels a lot older given it’ll be six years in July since her breakout match at Wimbledon. Of the opposite three, there’s Linda Noskova (20) and a pair of very thrilling younger Russians: Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider.
Andreeva, 17, has up to now generated extra of a buzz than her 20-year-old compatriot Shnaider, after a fairytale run to the fourth spherical in Melbourne final yr. However Shnaider is at present ranked larger (13 vs. 15) and she or he gained 4 tournaments in 2024 on three completely different surfaces, the one girl to take action. Her choice to go professional was partly spurred by working Maria Sakkari shut on the 2023 match.
Mirra Andreeva (left) and Diana Shnaider have fashioned a well-recognized doubles pairing throughout their respective rises on the singles circuit. (Bradley Kanaris / Getty Photos)
She and Andreeva are the standout children on the WTA Tour proper now; they’re additionally mates and doubles companions, successful a silver medal on the 2024 Paris Olympics and the Brisbane title within the run-up to the primary Grand Slam of the yr.
Robson, who’s protecting this yr’s Australian Open for broadcaster Eurosport, has them down as her two gamers to look at at this Australian Open.
“She (Shnaider) is a very difficult lefty participant, with a bit good aptitude to a recreation and a method that barely completely different from everybody else,” she stated.
“She’s been my one to look at for 2025 for the previous few months and I’m sticking with that.”
Then there’s Andreeva. “I feel she’s going to have an ideal season,” stated Robson.
“I noticed her in apply on Rod Laver Area and she or he was completely smacking the ball. She all the time appears like she’s bought a bit extra expertise than she truly does, and I feel she’ll do properly on any floor.”
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Inform us what you’re looking for on the Australian Open this yr within the feedback.
(High picture: Anthony Wallace / AFP through Getty Photos)