The so-called Happy Slam is the first major of the year and—though there have already been a few warm-up tournaments Down Under—marks the real start of the season for most tennis-watchers. Yesterday featured, for the first time, a kind of opening ceremony for the tournament, with six-time winner Roger Federer playing doubles with Andre Agassi against local heroes Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt.
But today, play begins in earnest, with the same question on everyone’s lips: How will Carlos Alcaraz respond after cutting ties with his longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who’s been with him for essentially his entire climb to the top of tennis? If Carlitos wins here, he’ll be the youngest player in the open era to complete a rare career slam (winning all of the majors). And while, of course, anything goes in a two-week-long major, the draw seems to favor him; his major obstacles would seem to be perennial dark horse Alexander Bublik and perennially-on-the-rise Alex De Minaur.
The defending champion, Jannik Sinner, however, may have something to say about that—and has his own straightforward draw, with potential obstacles including everyone’s favorite phenom, Brazilian Joao Fonseca, in the round of 32 and American Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals.
As ever, Novak Djokovic enters the tournament as the elusive and unpredictable spoiler: capable of beating anyone on a good day; capable of being upset by a wily upstart on a bad day.
First-round matches to keep an eye on: Gregor Dmitrov vs. Tomas Machac, who’s been on a roll lately; Matteo Berretini vs. De Minaur; and Alexander Zverev, who needs to watch out for an upset at the hands of Canadian Gabriel Diallo.
On the women’s side, this tourney is—as so many recent majors seem to have been—world number-one Aryna Sabalenka’s to lose. She narrowly missed grabbing the title last year in a heart-stopper against Madison Keys, but again: the draw here favors her, provided she can get past the likes of Jasmine Paolini and Marta Kostyuk, who’s been on a bit of a roll of her own lately.
Coco Gauff’s section of the draw features a potential quarterfinal that tennis-watchers are crossing their fingers for: Coco vs. Mirra Andreeva. Both would seem to have a smooth route to get there, and while it’s a bit much to say that the outcome of this potential quarterfinal points to not only the final here, but the future of women’s tennis, it’s also kind of true. (The rest of the top-10 Americans—Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys, and Jessie Pegula—are crowded into the same quarter of the draw, so let’s just see who emerges from this with the least road wear.)
The last section of the draw features two grand slam champions—Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina. Neither has been on a particular roll, with Swiatek in particular looking for a major reset. But she, like Alcaraz, is gunning for a career slam here, so perhaps the extra motivation will add fuel to the fire. Naomi Osaka, meanwhile, has been dealing with a respiratory virus, so her performance here likely depends on just how far she’s been able to put that behind her.
Venus Williams is also worth keeping an eye on: If she and Coco get by their first-round matches, they play each other in round two, in what could be Venus’s swan song here. Other players to watch: Iva Jovic and Victoria Mboko on the women’s side, and Learner Tien on the men’s. Any one of these players (along with, of course, Fonseca) could be heading into a career-making kind of season. Enjoy the tennis!
