alcaraz sinner

It’s around this time of the year where, especially in Canada, our TV sets become an escape.

PGA Tour events in Hawaii. The Super Bowl in a warm-weather locale. And, of course, the Australian Open, otherwise known as ‘The Happy Slam,’ which sounds about right.

Last year, it was Italy’s Jannik Sinner and American Madison Keys who left Melbourne Park the happiest, with the former collecting his first of two 2025 major titles while the latter earned the first and still only Grand Slam championship of her career.

Plenty of the same characters — and some new ones, including an upstart Canadian — are back for this year’s edition of the hard-court major.

Here are the storylines you should know as the tennis season well and truly gets underway:

Sinner vs. Alcaraz, Part IV?

Let’s just pick up right where we left off.

The undisputed two best players in men’s tennis split the four Grand Slams last year, with Sinner taking the Australian Open and Wimbledon while Alcaraz snagged the French and US Opens. Three of those finals were direct matchups, and Sinner earned the tiebreaker when he toppled the Spaniard in the ATP Tour Finals.

As we speed into a new year, and new season, there’s little reason to believe this full-fledged rivalry — we can leave the “burgeoning” modifier back in 2025 — will slow down any time soon.

If we want to pick nits, then sure, Alcaraz split with his coach for reasons unknown this off-season, and Sinner was the shakier of the two at the last hard-court major even before losing the final.

Really, though, it would be a shock if either player fell before the championship match. Sinner’s won this tournament two years running while Alcaraz answered any and all remaining hard-court questions in Flushing Meadows.

Alcaraz, the current world No. 1, will avoid Novak Djokovic on his side of the bracket. And he may have a tinge more motivation as he vies to become the youngest man ever to complete the career Grand Slam.

Djokovic’s last dance?

One last record remains within the great Serbian’s grasp: he is currently tied with Margaret Court for the most Grand Slam titles of all-time at 24.

To take Court’s record as his own in her home country would be poetic.

But Djokovic’s fitness is a constant question. Now 38, Djokovic made the semifinals in all four majors last year, but failed to win a single set while there, losing twice to Sinner, once to Alcaraz and retiring mid-match in Melbourne against Alexander Zverev.

It seems the end for the last of the Big Three is near.

Yet Djokovic can clearly still compete at the highest levels. He qualified for the ATP Tour Finals last year, and currently sits fourth on the ATP rankings behind the only three men to make a Grand Slam final last season.

Given his career, it remains incredibly hard to count out Djokovic, who beat Alcaraz in a marquee match as recently as the 2024 Olympic final.

Here’s the Djokovic dichotomy these days: he won his 101st career title in November in Athens. He hasn’t played competitively since.

Mboko’s follow-up, and other Canadians

The WTA newcomer of the year in 2025, Victoria Mboko rose all the way from No. 333 to her current ranking of 17th in a season that was highlighted by a home victory at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers while also including six other titles and a 22-match winning streak.

Mboko, of Burlington, Ont., is off to a rollicking start this year, too, having knocked Keys in the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International (which Keys won last year before taking the Australian major) en route to a second-place finish.

Over the past decade or so, we’ve seen Canadian stars like Bianca Andreescu and Eugenie Bouchard burn bright but fast. Mboko battled her share of injuries last season, too, causing some concern she might be headed down a similar road.

The 19-year-old will face an immediate test of her staying power in a tough draw at Melbourne, where her path could include 14th-ranked Clara Tauson in the third round and No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth.

Mboko will be joined in the women’s draw by fellow Canadians Leylah Fernandez and qualifier Marina Stakusic, who is making her Australian Open debut at 21 years old. Fernandez, ranked 22nd, is looking to pick up from a strong finish to the year that saw her win the DC and Japan Opens while falling to Sabalenka at the US Open.

On the men’s side, Felix Auger-Aliassime will aim to build on a successful US Open that saw him reach the semifinals, only to fall to Sinner.

Ranked seventh, the Montreal native propelled himself to one of the best stretches of his career in the aftermath of that major, winning a tournament in Brussels while dropping the Paris Masters final to Sinner and ATP Tour Finals semi to Alcaraz.

Indeed, getting over that hump and beating those top dogs is — and has been — the next step in the Canadian’s career.

Denis Shapovalov, ranked 21st, faces a tall task with Casper Ruud (No. 12) and Ben Shelton (No. 8) lurking early in his draw. Another Canadian breakout last season, Gabriel Diallo, drew the short straw with a first-round matchup against reigning finalist Zverev.

Qualifier Liam Draxl, 24, will make his Grand Slam debut in a first-round match against Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sabalenka back on top

Vying for her third straight Aussie Open title, the Belarusian was stunned in a three-set final by Keys last year.

But Sabalenka didn’t let it get to her — she rebounded to reach the French Open final and Wimbledon semi before winning the US Open for her fourth career major, all on hard courts.

Now, she’ll head back to Melbourne Park as the prohibitive favourite, especially as No. 2 Iga Swiatek’s struggles appear to be continuing into the new year after the Pole dropped a pair of United Cup matches.

Sabalenka, who spent part of her off-season bringing back the “Battle of the Sexes” with Nick Kyrgios, could have to beat both Emma Raducanu and Mboko to go deep in the tournament.

Are Coco Gauff’s serving woes fixed?

Not only did the third-ranked American lead the WTA in double-faults last season — her 431 were 131 more than second place (Shapovalov led the ATP at 302).

Gauff’s struggles were illuminated in Montreal last year, where she had 43 double-faults over Rounds 2, 3 and 4, ultimately falling to Mboko.

In August, she hired a biomechanics coach to overhaul her serve, which appeared to lead to immediate dividends when she reached the semis of the China Open and won the Wuhan Open.

But in a loss at the United Cup earlier this month, Gauff committed 14 double faults. Rik Macci, a longtime coach, called the errors “all mental,” and Gauff rebounded with a 6-1, 6-1 win in her next match.

The real test will come in the Australian Open, where Gauff has nearly as good a shot as anyone at taking home the title — what would be her third major — if she can keep her serve between the lines.