Table of Contents
Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, true The Athletics will explain the stories behind the stories of the past week on the track.
This week the first tournaments of 2025 reached their sharp conclusion across Australia and New Zealand. Aryna Sabalenka continued a remarkable record and too many matches were ended by retirement.
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How do you beat Aryna Sabalenka in Australia?
At first glance, there is little to give the rest of the field hope. World No. 1 Sabalenka comes to the Australian Open as a two-time defending champion, with a run of 27 victories in 28 Grand Slam matches on hard courts that saw her take her first US Open title in addition to Melbourne’s two majors in September .
She has also won 27 of her last 28 matches in Australia after winning the Brisbane International title on Sunday, staying strong in an event that saw 10 of the 16 seeded players leave at the first opportunity.
It wasn’t as easy as her track record in Australia suggests. Sabalenka had to beat Mirra Andreeva in the semi-finals in a tougher match than the 6-3, 6-2 scoreline suggests, 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 a pretty poor performance, but she got the job done.
At this stage she knows that against almost any opponent the match will be on her racket. When Sabalenka plays close to her best, she looks virtually unbeatable on this surface, while the rest of the field is hoping for a luminous performance of their own, or one of Sabalenka’s increasingly rare days off.
GO DEEPER
‘I can be the best player in the world’: Aryna Sabalenka crowns the season of her life
Charlie Eccleshare
Why so many injury retirements just a week into the season?
The first week of the 2025 tennis season – part of which took place in 2024 – had a very 2021 feel, as Reilly Opelka and Naomi Osaka reached the finals in Australia and New Zealand, respectively. At the time, Osaka was the dominant woman in the world and Opelka was a top-20 player.
But when the clinch came, their start to 2025 ultimately felt like their 2024. Opelka, who has struggled with hip and wrist injuries and a host of related complications over the past two years, pulled out of his Brisbane final against Jiri Lehecka with a back injury and was left trailing 4-1 in the first set.
Osaka, who struggled in 2024 and ended the season prematurely with a back injury, won the first set of her final against Clara Tauson before retiring with an abdominal injury.
It’s not the way either player wanted to end some of their best weeks in a long time, but with the first Grand Slam of the season just six days away, quitting before the finish seemed the only safe move. One word they both used during their post-match comments: “Sorry.”
Both players seem to have always been there, but are also relatively young. The 27-year-old Osaka said last year she was focused on playing for at least another five to seven years; in Auckland she suggested her longevity might be more related to her ranking than her body.
“I’d rather spend time with my daughter when I’m not where I think I should be and where I think I can be,” she said at a news conference.
Opelka hasn’t had the luxury of thinking long term that way. An almost seven-foot frame has its own drawbacks when it comes to injury prevention.
Reilly Opelka defeated Novak Djokovic during his run to the final in Brisbane (William West/AFP via Getty Images)
“I’m really going to embrace the next few weeks of training and getting a lot stronger physically,” Opelka said after his first-round loss at the US Open in August, which was early days for his comeback.
“The goal is to be able to have a very big offseason in December.”
There was another high-profile retirement, with Tomas Machac suddenly withdrawing from his match against Taylor Fritz in the United Cup semi-finals. Machac, who was one set ahead and 5-2, had two match points on Fritz’s serve and served for the match, but the American broke it to take the set to 4-5.
During the changeover, Machac imploded, threw his racket and shouted at his coach. On the next, trailing 6-5 and Fritz serving to take the match to a third set, he did it again. One point into the match, Machac walked to the net and told Fritz that he was suffering from cramps after pointing and gesticulating at his thighs for part of the second set.
Machac subsequently withdrew from the Adelaide International with a knee injury, also hoping to be fit for the Australian Open. Having looked like a world-beater at times, mentally and physically undercooked at times in 2024, he remains an enigma.
Matt Futterman
A final flourish for Kei Nishikori?
As for injuries, given how extremely lucky he has been, no one would begrudge Kei Nishikori one final flourish in his career. The former world number four, now 35, knows his best days are behind him but continues to give it his all in search of another big moment.
Simply staying fit for a while would probably be enough, but Nishikori suggests he may be able to win a first title in six years’ time. He went all the way to the final of the 250-level Hong Kong Open last week and came within a winning streak, but ran out of steam in the final against Alexandre Muller, who won all five of his matches from a set down. Nishikori succumbed 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
His resurgence follows 2014 US Open final opponent Marin Cilic, who returned from devastating injury problems to win the Hangzhou Open in September, and a month earlier told Nishikori The Athletics in a Zoom interview that 2025 was the year he wanted to push for better results.
About 2024 he said: “I still want to go slow. And hopefully I can stay healthy and play a lot of games.” He then added: “I hope I can start playing well from next year.”
Most of the tennis world hopes so too.
GO DEEPER
How Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori stunned tennis at the 2014 US Open
Charlie Eccleshare
Defending a title or not?
A strange thing happened this Australian summer of tennis: the defending 2024 WTA champions decided they didn’t feel like protecting their titles.
Coco Gauff won Auckland last year; she played United Cup this year. Elena Rybakina won Brisbane; She also decided to play the United Cup.
Emma Navarro won Hobart when she was still a player who played tournaments the week before a Grand Slam because everything was new and she needed ranking points wherever she could find them. That’s not who she thought she was anymore, as she’s ranked No. 8 in the world. She signed up for Brisbane but then became one of the seeds to leave early, falling to Australia’s Kimberly Birrell.
That loss turned Navarro back into a player who plays the week before a Slam, with the American going to Adelaide more for matches than points. Things turned out better for Gauff: she played five United Cup matches and won all five, the last against Poland’s Iga Swiatek, her old nemesis. That’s about the definition of race-ready.
GO DEEPER
How does Coco Gauff solve a problem like Iga Swiatek?
Matt Futterman
Shot of the week
Coco Gauff has tennis fans digging out their protractor with this one.
Recommended reading:
🏆 The winners of the week
🎾 United Cup:
🏆 USA Certainly. Poland 2-0 to win United Cup in Sydney. It is the country’s second United Cup title.
🎾 ATP:
🏆 Jiri Lehecka Certainly. Reilly Opelka 4-1 (ret.) to get the win Brisbane International (250) in Brisbane, Australia. It is his second ATP Tour title, both in Australia.
🏆 Alexandre Müller Certainly. Kei Nishikori (WC) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 to win Hong Kong opened (250) in Hong Kong, China. It is his first ATP Tour title.
🏆 Joao Fonseca Certainly. Ethan Quinn 6-4, 6-4 to win Canberra International (Challenger 125) in Canberra, Australia. It is his second ATP Challenger title.
🎾 WTA:
🏆 Ariana Sabalenka (1) Certainly. Polina Kudermetova (Q) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win Brisbane International (500) in Brisbane, Australia. It is her 18th WTA Tour title.
🏆 Laura Tauson (5) Certainly. Naomi Osaka (7) 4-6 (retd.) at the ASB classic (250) in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the Dane’s third WTA Tour title.
🏆 Aoi Ito (7) Certainly. Wei Sijia 6-4, 6-3 to win Canberra International (WTA 125) in Canberra, Australia. It is her first WTA 125 title.
📈📉 On the rise / along the line
📈 Mirra Andreeva rises one place to a new career high of number 15 after her appearance in the semi-finals of the Brisbane International.
📈 Joao Fonseca rises 32 places from number 145 to a new career high of number 113 after winning the Canberra International.
📈 Polina Kudermetova rises 50 places to a new career high of No. 57 following her run to the Brisbane International final.
📉 Andrei Rublev drops one place from number 8 to number 9, losing an important seeding slot for the Australian Open.
📉 Clara Burel drops four places from No. 99 to No. 103 and leaves the top 100.
📉 Adrian Mannarino drops seven places from No. 66 to No. 73 and drops out of the top 70.
📅 Coming soon
🎾 ATP
📍Adelaide, Australia: Adelaide International (250) with Tommy Paul, Felix 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 qualification with Joao Fonseca, Alexander Blockx, Learner Tien, Cruz Hewitt.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; USA: 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 qualification with Alycia Parks, Aoi Ito, Polina Kudermetova, Eva Lys.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; US:
Tell us 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)