Welcome to the Monday tennis briefing, where Athletics will explain the stories behind last week’s stories on the ground.
This week, the first tournaments of 2025 reached their conclusion across Australia and New Zealand. Aryna Sabalenka continued a remarkable record and too many matches ended in retirements.
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How to beat Aryna Sabalenka in Australia?
At first glance, there isn’t much to give the rest of the field hope. World number one Sabalenka comes into the Australian Open as the two-time defending champion, riding a streak of 27 victories in 28 hard-court Grand Slam matches that earned her her first US Open title in September alongside the two major tournaments in Melbourne.
She has also won 27 of her last 28 matches in Australia after winning the Brisbane international title on Sunday, remaining strong in an event in which 10 of the 16 seeds exited at the first opportunity.
It hasn’t been as simple as his journey to Australia suggests. Sabalenka had to fight back against Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals in a tougher match than the 6-3, 6-2 scoreline suggested, before overcoming a shaky first set to beat the qualifier. Polina Kudermetova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Sabalenka made 36 unforced errors in what was a pretty tough performance, but she got the job done.
At this point, she knows that against almost any opponent, the match will be decided on her racket. If Sabalenka is playing close to her best, she looks virtually unbeatable on this surface, with the rest of the field hoping for either a flawless performance or one of Sabalenka’s increasingly rare days off.
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Why so many withdrawals due to injury just one week after the start of the season?
The first week of the 2025 tennis season – part of which took place in 2024 – had a very 2021 vibe, as Reilly Opelka And Naomi Osaka qualified for the finals in Australia and New Zealand respectively. At the time, Osaka was the dominant woman in the world and Opelka was in the top 20.
But by the time it came to an end, their debut through 2025 ended up looking like that of 2024. Opelka, who has been dealing with hip and wrist injuries and numerous associated complications for much of the past two years, withdrawn from his final in Brisbane against Jiri Lehecka due to a back injury trailing 4-1 in the first set.
Osaka, who faced numerous problems through 2024 and ended the season early with a back injury, won the first set of her final against Clara Tauson before dropping out due to a back injury. ‘abdomen.
This isn’t how any of the players wanted to end some of their best weeks in a long time, but with six days until the first Grand Slam of the season, stopping short of the finish line seemed like the only safe choice . One word they both used in their post-match comments: “Sorry.”
Both players have seemingly been around forever, but are also still relatively young. Osaka, 27, said last year that she was focused on trying to play for at least another five to seven years; in Auckland, she suggested her longevity would have more to do with her ranking than her body.
“I’d rather spend time with my daughter if I’m not where I think I should be and where I feel I can be,” she said at a news conference.
Opelka did not have the luxury of such long-term thinking. A nearly seven-foot-tall frame comes with its own drawbacks when it comes to injury prevention.
Reilly Opelka beat Novak Djokovic on his run to the final in Brisbane (William West/AFP via Getty Images)
“I’m really going to take advantage of these next few weeks to train and get a lot stronger physically,” Opelka said after his first-round loss at the US Open in August, which was the first days of his comeback.
“The goal is to be able to have a very big offseason in December.”
There was another high-profile withdrawal, with Tomas Machac suddenly withdrawing from his match against Taylor Fritz in the United Cup semi-final. Machac, who was up a set and 5-2, had two match points on Fritz’s serve and served for the match, but the American broke it to make the set 4-5.
At the change, Machac imploded, throwing his racket and yelling at his coach. In the next one, trailing 6-5 with Fritz serving to bring the match to a third set, he did it again. A point into the match, Machac walked to the net and told Fritz he was suffering from cramps, after he pointed and gestured at the top of his legs during part of the second set.
Machac then withdrew from the Adelaide International due to a knee injury, also hoping to be fit for the Australian Open. Having spent 2024 sometimes looking like a world champion, sometimes mentally and physically undercooked, he remains an enigma.
Matt Futterman
A final flourish for Kei Nishikori?
On the subject of injuries, given the bad luck he had, surely no one would blame him Kei Nishikori a final flourish in his career. Now aged 35, the former world number 4 knows his best days are behind him, but continues to give everything in search of another great moment.
Staying fit for a while would probably seem enough, but Nishikori suggests he might just be able to win a first title in six years. He made it all the way to the final of the 250-level Hong Kong Open last week, coming within a set of victory only to run out of steam in the final against Alexandre Muller, who won all five of his matches in one set. Nishikori succumbed 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
His resurgence follows his opponent in the 2014 US Open final Marin Cilic coming back from his own devastating injury problems to win the Hangzhou Open in September, and a month earlier Nishikori had declared Athletics in a Zoom interview, 2025 was the year he wanted to push for better results.
About 2024, he said: “I always want to take it slow. And I hope I can stay healthy and play many matches. He then added: “I hope I can start playing well from next year.”
Most of the tennis world hopes so too.
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To defend or not to defend a title?
A strange thing happened during this summer of Australian tennis: the reigning 2024 WTA champions decided they didn’t really want to protect their titles.
Coco Gauff won Auckland last year; she played in the United Cup this year. Elena Rybakina won Brisbane; she too decided to play the United Cup.
Emma Navarro won Hobart, back when she played tournaments the week before a Grand Slam because everything was new and she needed ranking points wherever she could find them. She’s no longer who she thought she was, given that she’s number 8 in the world. She entered in Brisbane, but then became one of several top seeds to exit early, falling to Australian Kimberly Birrell.
The loss made Navarro a player who plays the week before a Grand Slam, with the American traveling to Adelaide for more matches than points. Things went better for Gauff: she played five United Cup matches and won all five, the last against Poland’s Iga Swiatek, her long-time enemy. That’s pretty much the definition of “game ready.”
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How does Coco Gauff solve a problem like Iga Swiatek?
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The shot of the week
Coco Gauff encourages tennis fans to take out their protractor with this one.
Recommended reading:
🏆 Winners of the week
🎾 Plain cut:
🏆 USA def. Poland 2-0 to win the Plain cut in Sidney. This is the country’s second United Cup title.
🎾 ATP:
🏆 Jiri Lehecka def. Reilly Opelka 4-1 (ret.) to win the Brisbane International (250) in Brisbane, Australia. This is his second ATP Tour title, both contested in Australia.
🏆 Alexander Müller def. Kei Nishikori (CM) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 to win the Open from Hong Kong (250) in Hong Kong, China. This is his first title on the ATP circuit.
🏆 João Fonseca def. Ethan Quinn 6-4, 6-4 to win the Canberra International (Challenger 125) in Canberra, Australia. This is his second ATP Challenger title.
🎾 WTA:
🏆 Aryna Sabalenka (1) def. Polina Kudermetova (Q) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the Brisbane International (500) in Brisbane, Australia. This is her 18th title on the WTA circuit.
🏆 Laura Tauson (5) def. Naomi Osaka (7) 4-6 (ret.) to win the ASB Classic (250) in Auckland, New Zealand. This is the Dane’s third title on the WTA circuit.
🏆 Aoi Ito (7) def. Wei Sijia 6-4, 6-3 to win the Canberra International (WTA 125) in Canberra, Australia. This is her first WTA 125 title.
📈📉 Rising / Declining
📈 Mirra Andreeva moves up one place to reach a new career high of No. 15 after his run to the Brisbane international semi-finals.
📈 João Fonseca rises 32 places from No. 145 to a new career high of No. 113 after winning the Canberra International.
📈 Polina Kudermetova climbs 50 places to reach a new career high of No. 57 after her run at the Brisbane International Final.
📉 Andrei Rublev drops one spot from No. 8 to No. 9, losing a key Australian Open spot.
📉 Clara Burel loses four places from No. 99 to No. 103 to leave the top 100.
📉 Adrien Mannarino tumbles seven places from No. 66 to No. 73 to fall out of the top 70.
📅 Future
🎾 ATP
📍Adelaide, Australia: Adelaide International (250) with Tommy Paul, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Sebastian Korda, Denis Shapovalov.
📍Auckland, New Zealand: ASB Classic (250) with Ben Shelton, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Gael Monfils, Jakub Mensik.
📍Melbourne, Australia: Australian Open qualifying with Joao Fonseca, Alexander Blockx, Learner Tien, Cruz Hewitt.
📺 United Kingdom: Sky Sports; United States: Tennis Channel 💻
🎾 WTA
📍Adelaide, Australia: Adelaide International (500) with Jessica Pegula, Donna Vekic, Ons Jabeur, Emma Navarro.
📍Hobart, Australia: Hobart International (250) with Dayana Yastremska, Rebecca Sramkova, Maya Joint, Sofia Kenin.
📍Melbourne, Australia: Australian Open qualifying with Alycia Parks, Aoi Ito, Polina Kudermetova, Eva Lys.
📺 United Kingdom: Sky Sports; WE:
Let us know what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men’s and women’s tours continue.
(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)