Australian Open briefing: Iga Swiatek's hard truths, Novak Djokovic's endurance and a media circus

Yahoo

28-01-2025

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.
This week, the Australian Open came to a close in Melbourne. Madison Keys claimed the women's singles title with a win over Aryna Sabalenka, while Jannik Sinner lifted the men's singles trophy after defeating Alexander Zverev.
's tennis writers, Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare, look back on the tournament, from the generational shift on the men's side to the ascension of the top WTA Tour players and a happy slam that felt more like a needly media circus.
Father Time comes for everyone. He usually brings an injury, or perhaps a series of them, for the players who want to try and spend their late 30s at the top of tennis.
He came for Roger Federer and took out his knee. He came for Rafael Nadal and basically wrecked some important machinery just below his chest to the middle of his thighs. His knees weren't very good either. And now, in real time, we're seeing him come for Novak Djokovic.
The French Open took out a knee, tearing his meniscus. He managed some other niggles through the fall so he could come to Australia fit and healthy. Then he suffered a leg muscle tear chasing a drop shot in his quarterfinal against Carlos Alcaraz. Adrenalin, painkillers and some inspired tactical changes got him over the line, but an attritional 80-minute set against Alexander Zverev was too much to handle.
In his news conference, Djokovic said that there are 'a number of factors' to his getting injured more frequently, adding that 'the statistics are against me'. The main factor is the number of years he has been doing this, to which all humans in their late 30s can relate. They simply can't do the things they used to be able to do reliably. Injuries get more frequent, recovery takes longer than it once did, and there are hidden costs to coming back.
Djokovic has won this title by playing through muscle tears twice, one of them in his leg, but the acuteness of this injury was too much to handle, along with the accumulation of 20 years of elite-level tennis and 24 Grand Slam titles.
Was there something slightly different in Djokovic's stride post-surgery that made him more prone to a hamstring tear? Did the injury from two years ago — a tear in the same muscle — ever fully heal, or was it always weak because of that original injury?
It's impossible to know the answers to those questions. A 37-year-old Djokovic is subject to the same laws of physics and biology as everyone else. The gift of mortality is that it forces you to appreciate the life that has come before it. The same is true for amazingly great sporting careers. As they end, the clarity of the greatness becomes that much more precise.
Iga Swiatek is an elite hard-court player. As of yet, she's just not been a consistently elite hard-court player at the Grand Slams.
Aside from her 2022 U.S. Open win, Swiatek's successes on the surface have come away from the majors. Before this year's Australian Open, she hadn't reached a hard-court major semifinal since winning that title in New York.
In WTA 1000s and other tournaments, she has been as imperious as she is on clay. Since her first major title at the 2020 French Open, she was won 82 percent of her tour matches on the surface, winning 12 titles. In that time, Aryna Sabalenka's win percentage is 75 percent, with 10 titles. She has heavily outperformed Swiatek at hard-court Grand Slams, but their overall records show that any characterization of their rivalry as clay-court specialist vs. hard-court specialist is wide of the mark.
Swiatek achieved her deepest Grand Slam hard-court run in 18 months by reaching the last four in Melbourne. She was one point away from reaching the final against an inspired Keys, who kept her level to beat Swiatek in a match tiebreak. Swiatek had been in imperious form until then, losing just 14 games in her five previous matches. She decisively proved that she can play close to or at her top level at a major on a hard court.
That should be her main takeaway from the tournament, rather than any lingering regret about losing such a tight semifinal. Swiatek looked more like the player who dominated the WTA Tour in 2022 and 2023, after a string of defeats in 2024 in which she became predictable and panicked when opponents — particularly hard-hitting ones like Keys — started playing well or even close to their peaks. Swiatek would force the issue, trying to blast high-quality shots back, rather than using her superb defensive skills and high-margin groundstrokes.
Over the last couple of weeks, Swiatek rediscovered more of that margin, spinning her forehand to devastating effect and giving her opponents absolutely nothing even when under pressure. After beating Emma Raducanu for the loss of just one game in the third round, Swiatek said that 'this match was kind of perfect for me'. She added: 'I felt like the ball is listening to me.'
Her partnership with new coach Wim Fissette appears to be working well, and Swiatek should go into the next few months confident that she can have another good run in the hard-court swing ahead of the tour moving to her beloved clay in April. Sabalenka failing to defend her Australian Open title also means that Swiatek is fewer than 200 points away reclaiming her No. 1 ranking.
She has plenty to build on once the disappointment of the Keys defeat wears off.
There were so many matches that went on for so long at this Australian Open that the best-of-five sets format seemed increasingly absurd. For all the epic fifth sets, it was the dramatic three-set matches over just two or three hours that were the more gripping.
The main concern is player viability. At an event that has multiple night matches, like the Australian Open, the chances that one or more will last until the small hours of the morning are high. American qualifier Learner Tien, 19, took four hours and 49 minutes to beat last year's finalist, Daniil Medvedev, in five sets in the second round. His post-match interview took place after 3 a.m. and he didn't get to sleep until close to 7 a.m. He somehow won his next match, against Corentin Moutet, but walked onto the court for the fourth round against Lorenzo Sonego with nothing left in the tank.
The other is the speed at which tennis becomes dramatic or meaningful. As soon as a three-setter goes 1-1, the tension sets in, as it did in Keys' epic win over Swiatek in the semifinals. Had it been a men's match, the real inflection point would have come later, after over 30 minutes, and perhaps an hour, of high-quality but largely inconsequential tennis. After Keys outlasted Swiatek in the deciding 10-point tiebreak, she was able to have her body in reasonable shape for the final against Sabalenka 43 hours later.
Grand Slam tournaments do need differentiation from the rest of the tours, but tennis is incredibly physical and is only getting more so. Three sets is enough.
Just when the WTA Tour is settling into some kind of rhythm, something unexpected happens. It's pretty much been that way since Serena Williams went on hiatus to give birth to her first child in 2017, with no one player able to dominate in terms of major wins for an extended period.
It looked as though Sabalenka was going to stamp her authority with a third-straight title here and a second major in a row, but then came Keys to pull off a stunning upset, beating the world No. 2 and world No. 1 in consecutive matches to win her first Grand Slam title.
She beat world No. 7 Elena Rybakina, a former Grand Slam champion, on the way, too, with a remarkable run to the final that demonstrates how players on the WTA Tour can still run hot for a couple of weeks to win the game's biggest prizes. Winning the WTA 500 in Adelaide before the Australian Open (which means Keys is on a 12-match winning streak heading into her next tournament) no doubt helped, but her run to the title is one of the most remarkable in recent history.
Like Barbora Krejcikova at Wimbledon last year, or Marketa Vondrousova at the same tournament in 2023, the challenge for Keys is kicking on from such an electric fortnight. That's not easy but, aside from the French Open where Swiatek has been so dominant, this result is another indication of how open majors can be.
Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik and Tien probably won't win Grand Slam finals anytime soon. But they all showed that being under 20 doesn't mean you can't win matches at Slams. All of them knocked off seeded opponents and announced themselves as players to watch in the next few years.
The proclamations that were popular not so long ago that teenagers could not compete with men did not account for those teenagers having the power of Mensik and Fonseca. They also did not account for Tien's foot speed and technique, which is wise beyond his years, and his ability to pull out his howitzer and unleash on the ball when the opportunity arises.
Mensik and Fonseca have big serves. Tien does not, but he's a lefty, which causes all sorts of confusion and the need for opponents to adjust. Most importantly, they all grew up watching Alcaraz and Sinner come through with serious power and the ability to play first-strike tennis from the front of the court as much as the back. Tien exited when he ran out of gas, but Fonseca and Mensik both lost to canny, crafty opponents in the shape of Lorenzo Sonego and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina respectively. They won't have faced much of that sort of play in their careers to date, and they will have to figure out how to adapt.
They've known what it was going to take to compete with the best. They've been tailoring their games for it. All young players are. Mix that effort with their power and competing as a teenager becomes possible.
Eschewing its reputation as the 'Happy Slam,' this year's Australian Open was all about the aggro.
Things really kicked off on the first Thursday, when world No. 12 Danielle Collins took on the home fans like a WWE heel. A raucous crowd had been vocally supporting her opponent, Destanee Aiava, so after winning in three sets Collins cupped her hand to her ear, saying 'how about that' and blowing kisses towards supporters.
In her on-court interview, Collins thanked the fans who had been against her for providing her with a 'big fat pay check'. She doubled down after her next match, adding: 'I think that six different sponsorship opportunities came up this tournament alone. That's a great signal for me.
'Obviously, like I said, every fan contributes to that. It's been a real blessing.
'I don't care what some guy living in his basement is writing on the internet.'
The night before Collins' performance, the British No. 15 seed Jack Draper enjoyed putting his finger to his ear after dealing with 'quite a lot of abuse' in his win over home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis. Whether the Aussie crowd overstepped the mark became a recurring talking point in the tournament, so much so that the tournament director, Craig Tiley, had to leap to their defence. 'You're always going to have one or two,' he argued.
The drama peaked when Djokovic refused to do his on-court interview after beating Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round. Djokovic later explained that he was boycotting interviews with Australian broadcaster Channel 9 after presenter Tony Jones called Djokovic a 'has-been' and said 'kick him out' on air, in apparent reference to 2022 when Djokovic was deported from Australia over Covid-19 protocols. Jones was also involved in a public contretemps with Collins after calling her 'a brat' during a major that often felt more soap opera than Grand Slam.
Djokovic eventually made peace with Channel 9 after Jones apologized, but he still enjoyed getting in arguments with fans during his win over Alcaraz. Oh, and earlier in the tournament he suggested that tennis should have dancers and music at changeovers, just to liven things up.
It was a weird couple of weeks.
In a major with 256 entrants, it's rare that one player's highlight reel so completely steals the show. Step forward Lorenzo Sonego:
Madison Keys fulfils her tennis destiny in Melbourne
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz's tennis rivalry of the mind
The cartoon stars of the Australian Open went viral. Can they change sports media?
Goran Ivanisevic quits as Elena Rybakina's coach after suspended Stefano Vukov returns to team
🎾 ATP:
🏆 Jannik Sinner (1) def. Alexander Zverev (2) 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 to win the Australian Open in Melbourne for the second consecutive time. It is the Italian's third Grand Slam title.🏆 Harri Heliovaara / Henry Patten (6) def. Andrea Vavassori / Simone Bolelli (3) 6-7(16), 7-6(5), 6-3 to win the Australian Open in Melbourne. It is the duo's second men's doubles title together.
🎾 WTA:
🏆 Madison Keys (19) def. Aryna Sabalenka (1) 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 to win the Australian Open in Melbourne. It is the American's first Grand Slam title.🏆 Katerina Siniakova / Taylor Townsend (1) def. Hsieh Su-wei / Jelena Ostapenko (3) 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3 to win the Australian Open in Melbourne. It is the duo's second women's doubles title together.
📈 Madison Keys moves up seven places from No. 14 to No. 7 after her title in Melbourne.📈 Tommy Paul ascends two spots from No. 11 to No. 9. It is a new career high for the American.📈 Eva Lys rises 37 spots from No. 128 to No. 91, after reaching the Australian Open fourth round as a lucky loser.📈 Learner Tien and Joao Fonseca make their top-100 debuts after success in Melbourne. Tien moves up 41 places to No. 80, while Fonseca climbs 13 places to No. 99.
📉 Daniil Medvedev falls two places from No. 5 to No. 7 after his second-round exit in Melbourne. Last year's finalist loses 1,250 ranking points.📉 Zheng Qinwen drops three places from No. 5 to No. 8, after losing at the same stage having also been a finalist last year.📉 Hubert Hurkacz leaves the top 20, falling from No. 17 to No. 21.
🎾 ATP
📍Montpellier, France: Open Occitanie (250) featuring Andrey Rublev, Flavio Cobolli, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Stan Wawrinka.📍Various locations: Davis Cup qualifiers featuring Joao Fonseca, Alex Michelsen, Holger Rune, Arthur Fils.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV
🎾 WTA
📍Linz, Austria: Upper Austria Ladies Linz (500) featuring Karolina Muchova, Elina Svitolina, Belinda Bencic, Clara Tauson.📍Singapore: Singapore Open (250) featuring Elise Mertens, Emma Raducanu, Wang Xinyu.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel
Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men's and women's tours continue.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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