The A-Z of a record-breaking 2025 Australian Open; Jannik Sinner; Madison Keys; Carlos Alcaraz; Novak Djokovic; Aryna Sabalenka; Alex de Minaur; Alexander Zverev

H: There is an obsession with Cruz Hewitt as the talented son of dual grand slam champion and former world No.1 Lleyton, and he continues to make strides. He lost his Australian Open qualifying debut, but won his first boys’ singles match and was competitive against top seed Jan Kumstat. Lleyton shields him from the media, but we will hear more from him soon enough.

I: Iga Swiatek arrived with a relatively underwhelming record at Melbourne Park, but looked poised to change that as she raced through rounds two to the quarter-finals for the loss of only seven games. Swiatek had a match point against eventual champion Madison Keys in the semi-finals before losing a match tie-breaker.

J: Journalists and media in general are not supposed to be the story, but Channel Nine’s Tony Jones did not get the memo. Jones labelled Danielle Collins a “brat”, then tried some “banter” during a news segment, where he mocked Serbian fans on-air with his own chant: “Novak, he’s overrated, Novak’s a has-been, Novak, kick him out.” The last one, in particular, infuriated Djokovic and fellow Serbians, and he dodged a post-match interview with Nine in protest until Jones publicly apologised, which happened the next day.

K: Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis both have cases, but the only true option was first-time grand slam singles champion Madison Keys. Keys endured a long wait with various ups and downs before breaking through on Saturday night. She did it the hard way, beating the top two players in the world in three-setters in the semi-finals then final.

L: The Australian Open followed other slams in removing the let-calling machine and leaving it to the chair umpire instead, which Alex Zverev called “ridiculous”, given how much technology is in operation elsewhere. The AO stood by its decision: “Chair umpires calling lets has worked well at major events around the world, including Roland-Garros, Davis Cup and the Olympics, and we have confidence in the process,” tournament referee Wayne McKewen said. Lucky loser Eva Lys was another option.

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M: Andy Murray’s new union with Novak Djokovic was a source of constant fascination, from the training court to match day, where he was parked in the new coaching pod and his every action was reported upon. Whether the partnership continues beyond Melbourne is still to be determined. Gael Monfils’ dancing feet were another option.

N: Semi-finalist Ben Shelton used one of his post-match press conferences to take aim at the “negativity” in on-court interviews, saying it needed to stop. Shelton was embroiled in an awkward interview himself with Roger Rasheed after beating Monfils, but felt there were a series of examples where the interviewer missed the mark.

O: Destanee Aiava was one of the great storylines this year, emerging from qualifying to win her maiden grand slam main draw match. If her resurgence was not enough, her throwback outfits in honour of the likes of Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova also captured international attention. Coco Gauff’s New Balance kit was also popular.

P: Coaching pods became a new feature on select courts at the Open, with players given the choice to have up to four high performance staff courtside. Most players took up the opportunity, although Aryna Sabalenka preferred to have her team together in the stands.

Q: China’s Zheng Qinwen is hugely popular at home, has a huge number of sponsorships and stormed into her maiden major final in Australia last year. As a result, she was rolled out alongside Craig Tiley to promote the event on the weekend before, but bombed out in the second round.

R: Another year, more record crowds. After a record 1,020,763 fans went through the gates in the main fortnight last year, the Open had already trumped that with a day to go in 2025. That figure was 1,055,777 entering the final day of what has become a colossal event that gets bigger by the year.

S: Who else but world No.1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka? These two have a mortgage on the letter ‘s’ after reaching their respective singles finals as defending champions. Sinner had a challenging path there with illness and the distraction of his upcoming doping appeal, while Sabalenka was shattered not to join Martina Hingis and co. as a champion three years running.

T: It takes some beating for Craig Tiley not to be automatically slotted into this spot, but Bernard Tomic gave him a run for his money. Tomic made his return to grand slam qualifying – which ended quickly – but it was this masthead’s exclusive news of the match-fixing investigation into him from 2022, including at the AO, that earned him his spot.

U: U is for upsets. Eight men’s seeds, including Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas, departed in the opening round, while Jelena Ostapenko exited at the first stage on the women’s side. By round two, the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Zheng Qinwen, Casper Ruud, Frances Tiafoe, Hubert Hurkacz and Seb Korda joined them on the scrapheap.

V: Elena Rybakina has welcomed her former coach Stefano Vukov back into her team despite the WTA placing him on a provisional suspension, which prevents him from coaching on site. Rybakina publicly insists that Vukov has never mistreated her, and it is unclear how this situation will play out.

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