Australian Open 2025: Djokovic hopes to scale ‘Mount 25’; Sabalenka eyes three-peat at Melbourne Park

shina1 day ago

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Standing in Djokovic’s path to what seems to be his best shot at Slam No. 25 are Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz, the two players who have made a genuine case for being ‘The New Big Two.’

Published : Jan 11, 2025 10:44 IST , Chennai – 6 MINS READ

Nihit Sachdeva

Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka addressing media ahead of the 2025 Australian Open. | Photo Credit: AP

Novak Djokovic will chase a record-breaking 25th Slam title at this year’s Australian Open, starting Sunday, with Andy Murray as his coach in the first Major of the post-Rafael Nadal era.

The 37-year-old Djokovic, widely regarded as the perfect tennis player, is just one short of a 100 career titles. Lifting the trophy at the Rod Laver Arena on January 26 would mean one out of every four titles of his would be a Major.

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The 2024 season wasn’t the best by the Serbian’s own lofty standards. He ended a successful partnership with coach Goran Ivanisevic. He endured a serious knee injury at the French Open. He could make the final of only one Major but suffered a straight-sets defeat against Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon title decider.

As he has done throughout his career, he did manage to flip the script when it mattered the most to him. A little over a fortnight after that defeat to the young Spaniard at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Djokovic brought the best version of himself to find the one missing accomplishment from an already impressive resume – winning the Olympic final to complete the Career Golden Slam.

It almost felt poetic that his opponent happened to be Alcaraz and the venue – Roland Garros.

Winning the Olympic gold for Serbia took the weight off Djokovic’s shoulders and he enters 2025 with a fresh mind. He spent 10 days in the pre-season with Murray, a three-time Major champion who lost four Australian Open finals to the Serbian, and said, “He has a unique perspective on my game as one of the greatest rivals I’ve had. He knows the pros and cons of my game.”

READ | Australian Open, men’s draw: Djokovic projected to meet Alcaraz in quarterfinals, Sinner opens title defence against Jarry

Losing to Reilly Opelka, a big-serving American, in Brisbane won’t bother Djokovic much or Murray, who was not in the player’s box. Melbourne will be the first big test for the rivals-turned-allies.

Standing in Djokovic’s path to what seems to be his best shot at Slam No. 25 are Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz, the two players who have made a genuine case for being ‘The New Big Two.’

Sinner dismantled Djokovic, a 10-time champion in Melbourne, on the way to his maiden Major last year. The 23-year-old Italian, who appears to be a younger version of the Serbian with his nimble footwork and solid groundstrokes, also clinched the US Open as well as the ATP Finals. Despite a doping scandal which shocked the tennis world and is yet to meet its conclusion, Sinner finished the season as the World No. 1 with an incredible win-loss record of 73-6.

Three of those six defeats for Sinner came against Alcaraz, the next big Spanish hope after Nadal. The 21-year-old Alcaraz took the Italian down at Indian Wells, French Open and Beijing. The maverick from Murcia took his tally of Slams to four after the triumphs in Paris and Wimbledon but he also experienced a stunning dip in form on multiple occasions.

Starting from this year, Alcaraz has three shots in Melbourne to break Nadal’s record of being the youngest man to complete the Career Slam (winning all four Majors at least once). Will he strive for more consistency with less high-risk decision-making on the court or continue to back his mercurial instincts to win in Melbourne?

A potential quarterfinal against seventh-seeded Djokovic lurks for Alcaraz while Sinner is in the other half of the draw.

Sabalenka and the three-peat

Three years ago, Aryna Sabalenka could not count on one of the most basic elements of the sport to win matches – the serve. She averaged a worrying 7.78 double faults per match in 2022. However, she has been a major force at every Slam ever since she got that element of her game sorted with the help of a biomechanics coach in 2023.

A supremely athletic player with powerful shots capable of taking the racquet out of the opponent’s hands, Sabalenka is the clear favourite in Melbourne as she tries to become the first woman since Martina Hingis (1997-99) to clinch three titles at the “Happy Slam.”

Coco Gauff is the main threat to Sabalenka’s attempt at a three-peat. The American beat Sabalenka to claim the US Open in 2023.

Still only 20 years old, Gauff understands what she needs to further improve her game. She demonstrated that as she took down Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 to help USA in winning the United Cup. With the help of new coach Matt Daly and Jean-Christophe Faurel, Gauff adjusted the grips for her serve and forehand in the off-season and that reflected in her impressive win over the Pole.

Gauff and Sabalenka are in the same half of the draw and could face each other in the semifinals.

For Swiatek, nothing went according to plan post her third straight French Open title in 2024. She could only win a bronze when she was a heavy favourite for the top spot on the podium at the Paris Olympics. She split with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, lost her No.1 ranking to Sabalenka and also faced a one-month suspension for a positive dope test.

ALSO READ | Australian Open, women’s draw: Sabalenka projected to face Gauff in semifinals, Swiatek opens campaign against Siniakova

Her partnership with new coach Wim Fissette is a work in progress and for the first time, the Pole, despite being the second seed, might not be a title contender. Swiatek’s half of the draw has Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, who had her breakout season in 2024 with runner-up finishes at the French Open and Wimbledon, and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

Rybakina, the runner-up in Melbourne in 2023, enters this year’s edition with an off-court controversy around her. She hired Ivanisevic as her new coach after ending partnership with Stefano Vukov. But she recently announced that she has rehired Vukov to her team. Vukov is provisionally suspended by the Women’s Tennis Association pending an investigation into a potential breach of its code of conduct.

The investigation against Vukov was initiated last year as WTA received complaints about his intense and harsh conduct. Under suspension, Vukov can neither coach Rybakina nor can he enter practice courts or the player’s box.

Whether this issue affects Rybakina’s on-court performance could decide the finalist from the bottom half of the women’s section.

shina

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