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Australian Open 2025: The first Grand Slam of the year begins with tennis at a crossroads
Summary
As tennis grappling with doping scandals, an unending season and uncertainty, a new generation of stars are poised to take centre stage at the Australian Open
For years tennis prospered in its bubble of excellence. With Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic pushing each other and the sport to greater heights, we lived in a perpetual state of awe. But Federer retired in 2022, a broken Nadal walked away last year, and Djokovic’s challenge seems to be on its last legs. The sheen is off. Federer and Nadal are not there to dazzle us to distraction anymore; the cracks are beginning to show.
As the 2025 season dawns, the sport is still reeling under the high-profile doping cases of Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek. Moreover, the lack of transparency and consistency in dealing with the positive drug tests showed the sport and its authorities in poorer light. Even as World No.1 Sinner prepares to launch his Australian Open defence, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appeal against him is pending in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Then there’s the matter of scheduling. The 2025 tennis season began on 27 December last year, with the first of the tour events—the mixed-team United Cup, the Brisbane International, ATP Hong Kong Open and the WTA Auckland Open.
Tennis is a layered business with multiple stake-holders—men’s governing body ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) and women’s governing body WTA (Women’s Tennis Association), with the overall governing body, the ITF (International Tennis Federation), at the apex of a rather bulky pyramid. Each of their four Grand Slams have their own committees, so do team events like Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup.
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With all these power brokers vying for finite time, 52 weeks, 365 days, the tennis calendar now runs over 11 months. Masters 1000 events—which sit a rung below the Grand Slams in hierarchy of tournaments—have expanded from 10 days into two-week events. Players ranked in the top 30, the ones who usually bring the fans to the stadiums, have to play eight of the nine Masters, four 500 events and at least two 250 events. There is little space to breathe and no room to revolt.
“Probably they are going to kill us in some way," Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz said of the simmering issue during the Laver Cup in September.
“The ATP doesn’t care about our opinion—it’s a money business," World No.2 Alexander Zverev said at the same tournament. “It’s the longest season in sports. It’s unnecessarily long. We have an unnecessary amount of tournaments. We’re not allowed to boycott; we get fined if we don’t play tournaments…the tour goes on without you."
Disgruntled players, mercenary bosses, the sport’s integrity in question—this is the backdrop against which the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, will begin in Melbourne on 12 January.
A game in transition
On court too, tennis seems less predictable and more volatile.
The men’s game turned a corner in 2024 as Sinner picked up the two hard-court majors—Australian Open and US Open—while Alcaraz captured the French Open and Wimbledon. It was the first time since 2003 that neither of the Big 3 won a Grand Slam.
The lanky Italian had set the tone, by defeating 10-time champion Djokovic in the semi-final in Melbourne. Remarkably, Sinner didn’t face a single break point against the Serb, who is regarded as the best returner in tennis. Sinner already possesses easy power and quality groundstrokes of both flanks; the improved serve gave his game a lethal edge. He continued to dominate the tour in 2024, finishing with the season’s best record of 73 wins to just six losses. On hard courts, he went an astounding 53-3. The 23-year-old ended the year on a high, winning the US Open, the ATP Tour Finals in hometown Turin and was part of the winning Davis Cup team.
If Sinner destroys with his power, Alcaraz is a creator. The Spaniard is forever in pursuit of the elegant solution, the most beautiful shot, the most daring vision. He can be relentless and cheeky, warrior and poet. The versatility in his game truly came alive in the summer as Alcaraz captured the “Channel Slam"—the coveted French and Wimbledon double, by most accounts one of the toughest challenges in the sport.
At the Australian Open, 21-year-old Alcaraz is attempting to become the youngest man to win a career Grand Slam (winning all the four majors at least once). Don Budge, who was 22 when he completed his career slam at Roland Garros in 1938, currently holds the record.
Sinner and Alcaraz have established themselves as the leaders of the new generation; their rivalry is already creating a buzz. Though they have been quick to answer tennis’ existential questions in the wake of the game’s golden generation, it is unlikely they will carry the baton of consistency. Fans are quickly realising that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic were the aberration; pro sportspersons more often ride the wave of highs and lows than flatline at enduring excellence.
The whole of 2010s, the men’s game had only three first-time major winners—Andy Murray, Stan Wawrnika and Marin Cilic. Five years in, there have already been four in the 2020s— Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, Sinner and Alcaraz. Tennis is more open again. At the Australian Open, Sinner and Alcaraz will undoubtedly be the favourites, but players like Zverev, Taylor Fritz (2024 US Open finalist), Andrey Rublev and Medvedev will also go in thinking they have a fair chance.
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One of the most exciting prospects on the men’s tour is Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and we are likely to see more from this talented 21-year-old this year. The 6ft, 8 inches Frenchman, known for firing over 200 kmph second serves, zoomed from 205 to 31 in the world rankings in 2024. He has a ridiculously strong serve, a proclivity to rush into the net and a single-handed backhand—qualities that could see him make a serious dent on the game.
History beckons
Djokovic, at 37, may have lost some of his aura last year, but he cannot be counted out. Even in a “bad" 2024, when the Serb went Slam-less for the first time since 2017, he also completed a career Golden Slam by winning the men’s singles event at the Paris Olympics.
But the 10-time Australian Open champion knows his time on the tour is now limited. To make the most of it, he has forged the most high-profile partnership on the men’s tour by hiring former rival Andy Murray as his coach. 2025 will prove whether bringing on one your closest rivals as coach is a masterstroke or whether Djokovic has taken his penchant for star coaches—he has worked with the likes of Andre Agassi, Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic previously—too far.
Murray’s first assignment will be to help the Serb reclaim the Australian Open. That, of course, comes with its own history-making baggage. Djokovic owns 24 majors and 99 titles. He stands on the cusp of becoming the most successful singles Grand Slam player ever—he is currently tied with Margaret Court for the most number singles titles at the majors. Winning the Australian Open will also make him only the third male player, after Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103), to achieve a century of titles.
For a player who has relentlessly chased down history for the past two decades, it doesn’t seem a challenge too far.
The age of Aryna?
While anarchy has long-ruled the women’s game, some patterns have emerged in the last couple of years. Aryna Sabalenka is the queen of the hard courts, Swiatek rules the red dirt and none of them has quite figured out the fickle grass of Wimbledon yet.
Sabalenka, the 26-year-old with a big smile and thunderous game, will head into the Australian Open as the two-time defending champion. The Belarusian’s shot-making was never in doubt, but earlier in her career she was constantly let down by a bout of nerves and glut of double faults at crucial moments. But once she won the 2023 Australian Open, with a nervy come-from-behind win over Elena Rybakina, Sabalenka has steadied into a serial winner on hard courts.
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Last year, she won the Aussie Open without dropping a set, picked up her first US Open title and finished the year at World No.1. Picking up where she left off, Sabalenka began 2025 by winning the Brisbane International on 4 January. It might be just the shot of confidence she needed as she bids to become the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1999 to win three straight Australian Open titles.
But it won’t come easy—there are a bunch of players vying for Sabalenka’s throne. Former US Open champion Coco Gauff is on a hot-streak coming into the Australian Open as she claimed the season-ending WTA Finals and didn’t drop a single set in her five singles matches as she guided USA to United Cup title.
2025 may also see the re-emergence of former major champion Rybakina. In November, the Kazakh added some star power to her team as she hired Ivanisevic, the former Wimbledon champion who has guided Cilic and Djokovic to Grand Slams, as her coach.
Naomi Osaka, who took a sabbatical and embraced motherhood in 2023, made a strong start to the year as she reached the finals in Auckland. But her first final in almost three years ended in tears as she had to retire due to injury despite winning the first set 6-4. The latest injury scare cast a doubt over Osaka’s participation in the Australian Open, but the Japanese could mount a serious challenge later in the year.
Big things are also expected of Mirra Andreeva, as tennis’ latest teen prodigy continues to climb up the ranks. The 17-year-old created a stir on the tour last year as she reached the last 16 at the Australian Open, the final four at the French Open and snatched the silver at the Paris Olympics. She has regularly been compared to Martina Hingis for the variety of shots and clever point construction. Already a top-20 player, Andreeva seems well on her way to Grand Slam glory.
Trust deficit
Meanwhile, World No.2 and five-time major champion Swiatek will be hoping to move on from the doping saga.
In August 2024, when she was still No.1 in the world, Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), a banned substance that is used as heart medication and improves blood flow. She successfully appealed against the provisional suspension—Swiatek and her team argued that a contamination of melatonin, a medication she took for sleep issues, sold in Poland had led to the failed drug test—and was handed a light one-month ban.
Sinner, meanwhile, tested positive for anabolic steroid clostebol twice in March. The Italian argued that his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, had applied an ointment containing the steroid to treat a cut on his hand and the banned substance was transferred when Naldi carried out massages on the player without wearing gloves. With his lawyers appealing swiftly, Sinner received a one-day and a three-day ban, respectively, for his two offences. Since he tested positive during the Indian Wells, he was stripped off the $325,000 in prize money and 400 ranking points during the event.
The speed with which the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) heard their cases and cleared them from an intention to dope left the tennis world stunned. Sinner and Swiatek were given light sentences since the ITIA ruled there was, “No Significant Fault or Negligence". This raised concerns over a) whether the authorities were taking the doping menace seriously and b) whether bigger names were given preferential treatment.
“Two world No.1s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport. It’s a horrible look," Nick Kyrgios, who last played in June 2023, said in Brisbane last week. “Tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it but no one wants to speak about it, it’s awful."
Tennis’ deep pockets and global reach may well help it weather the storm. The biggest appeal of the sport however remains the players, their individualism, their personal journeys and ever-changing narratives. 2025 promises another season of high drama.
Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.
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