Jones left in tears as players battle injuries & cramp in Melbourne
Injury wrecks Francesca Jones’ hopes of earning a first Australian Open main-draw win, while Marina Stakusic is taken off court on a wheelchair on day two.
Injury wrecks Francesca Jones’ hopes of earning a first Australian Open main-draw win, while Marina Stakusic is taken off court on a wheelchair on day two.
Two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner begins his quest for a three-peat at the Australian Open on Tuesday. The second-seeded Italian faces French lefty Hugo Gaston during the Rod Laver Arena evening session, not before 7 p.m. AEDT / 3 a.m. EST.
View Tuesday’s schedule here.
Sinner, No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, leads Gaston 2-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with their two previous encounters both coming in 2021. Sinner owns a 22-4 record at the season’s first major, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. He has not lost in Melbourne since his 2023 fourth-round defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Last year’s semi-finalist Ben Shelton, who fell to Sinner in the last four, is also on Tuesday’s schedule. The American meets Ugo Humbert for the first time. Fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti and 2023 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas are slated to play on Margaret Court Arena.
During the Australian Open, ATPTour.com will bring fans insight into the leaders of key statistical categories, showing how performances throughout 2025 all added up to successful seasons and the promise of more good times ahead in 2026.
Nuno Borges turned net approaches into a winning formula in 2025.
When the Portuguese stepped inside the baseline and closed in on the net, points often ended on his terms. Borges won an eye-catching 72.3 per cent of points when at the net in 2025, the highest success rate on the ATP Tour across the season.
Although Borges produced many moments of magic, the effectiveness at net was about efficiency. Crisp volleys, solid positioning and calm decision-making allowed him to shorten points and take time away from opponents.
“When a guy comes to the net, he still has more than a 50 per cent chance of winning the point, and I guess I just chose really wisely when to come in,” Borges explained. “It is something I’ve been working on: those approaches, when to come in and choosing the right shot.”
So what explains Borges’ standout efficiency at the net? For the Portuguese, it comes down to smart selection and reading the moment.
“A few times I was maybe pushed to the net when I didn’t want to be, but maybe I played a great approach shot really deep and made the guy try to lob me,” Borges said. “On the quicker surfaces, I would tend to come in more as it’s harder to pass and you have less time to put an angle on the shot.”
That attacking clarity translated into the most productive season of his career. In 2025, Borges recorded a personal-best 30 tour-level victories, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, underlining his growing consistency. Eighteen of those wins came on hard courts, including his run to the semi-finals of the ATP 250 in Auckland.
Points Won At Net (2025)
| Player | Points won at net |
| 1) Nuno Borges | 72.3% |
| 2) David Goffin | 72.3% |
| 3) Stefanos Tsitsipas | 71.4% |
| 4) Alex de Minaur | 71.2% |
| 5) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina | 71.1% |
Visit our Infosys ATP Stats section for more insights.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Aryna Sabalenka’s Australian Open campaign started in fittingly star-studded fashion on Sunday, when tennis royalty looked on as the World No. 1 powered through her opening-round match. Seated courtside were none other than Roger Federer and Rod Laver, adding extra sparkle to Sabalenka’s first steps at the hard-court major.
The pair smiled, clapped and soaked it all in throughout the match before unexpectedly becoming part of the post-match show. Phone in hand, Sabalenka pulled the two legends into a courtside selfie, instantly creating one of the tournament’s early viral moments.
That’s one special picture 📸
We are patiently awaiting the result of this selfie, @SabalenkaA 🤳 pic.twitter.com/CXUQi2JgJf
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2026
Asked afterward whether she’d noticed them during play, Sabalenka laughed: “Of course I did. I’m a huge fan. The whole match I was just telling myself, do not look there, please, do not look. But yeah, it’s incredible. I would never thought that Roger Federer and Rod Laver are going to be sitting first row watching my match. Yeah, that’s unbelievable.”
[NO 1 CLUB]Sabalenka is chasing a third Australian Open crown in four years, lofty company befitting the champions who watched her on Sunday. Federer lifted the trophy in Melbourne six times, while Laver claimed it twice, once during the Open Era.
Federer has been making the most of his Melbourne visit. On Saturday, he delighted fans by rolling back the years in a doubles match alongside fellow ATP No. 1 Club Members Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter. Read more here.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Carlos Alcaraz beats Australia’s Adam Walton 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 in his Australian Open first-round match as he begins his quest for a career Grand Slam.
Emma Raducanu finishes her Australian Open first-round match with a dominant 6-4 6-1 performance against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew.
Venus Williams makes history at the Australian Open but the 45-year-old falls to a narrow defeat by Olga Danilovic in the first round.
Britain’s Francesca Jones was “very serious” about retiring in 2025. Instead, she enjoyed a career-best season and is now set for an Australian Open main-draw debut.
Carlos Alcaraz made a winning start in his quest to complete the Career Grand Slam at this year’s Australian Open, where he overcame a resilient performance from Australian Adam Walton to reach the second round in Melbourne.
Competing for the first time in the post-Juan Carlos Ferrero era, the World No. 1 moved past Walton 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-2 in the night session on Rod Laver Arena.
Alcaraz, who ended his seven-year relationship with former coach Ferrero in December, is aiming to become just the sixth man – and youngest – in the Open Era to win all four major titles at least once. The Spaniard was not at his free-flowing best against Walton but found enough consistency when needed to shake off the World No. 79 in the pair’s second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting (2-0 Alcaraz).
“I am really happy to step onto the court once again for the first time this season. It could not have been better, playing here on the Rod Laver Arena,” Alcaraz said. “It was a good match. I felt great and Adam pulled off some great shots, a great level in the match, so I had to stay there at this kind of level.”
[NO 1 CLUB]Alcaraz struck 38 winners and showed his fighting qualities in the second set, rallying from 1-3 to stamp further authority on the clash. Walton was trying to advance to the second round of his home Slam for the first time and gave a good account of himself throughout the two-hour, 13-minute clash, troubling Alcaraz at times with his deep groundstrokes. However, he could not match the Spaniard in the key moments.
“It was really, really difficult to find the good spots,” Alcaraz added. “It felt he was always in a good position. Long rallies. He was solid from the baseline and his flat ball was sometimes really difficult for me. Getting used to the conditions and the court, but it was a really solid match.”
Alcaraz, led by coach Samuel Lopez, is chasing his seventh major this fortnight. The Spaniard is a two-time champion at Roland Garros (2024, ’25), Wimbledon (2023, ’24) and the US Open (2022, ’25). The 22-year-old will next meet Yannick Hanfmann after the German beat American qualifier Zachary Svajda 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).
[ATP APP]In other action, the No. 10 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Alexander Bublik earned his first win at the Australian Open since 2022. Competing as a Top 10 player for the first time, the 28-year-old overcame Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to set a second-round clash with Marton Fucsovics.
American qualifier Michael Zheng earned a dream win on his tour-level debut, upsetting Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(0), 6-3. The 21-year-old Zheng, who will next play Corentin Moutet, is currently studying at Columbia University in New York, where he is a senior. Learn more about the reigning NCAA men’s singles champion here.
There were also wins for seeds Cameron Norrie, Francisco Cerundolo and Frances Tiafoe on Day 1. British lefty Norrie defeated Benjamin Bonzi 6-0, 6-7(2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and has now won his past three matches that have gone to five sets, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The 18th seed Cerundolo downed Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 7-6(0), 6-3, while Tiafoe defeated Australian Jason Kubler 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Aryna Sabalenka overcomes the “pressure” of being watched by tennis legends Roger Federer and Rod Laver to start her Australian Open campaign with a straight-set victory.