Boulter outclassed in straight-set loss to Bencic
Katie Boulter exits the Australian Open after being outclassed by Belinda Bencic in a straight-set first-round loss in Melbourne.
Katie Boulter exits the Australian Open after being outclassed by Belinda Bencic in a straight-set first-round loss in Melbourne.
Jannik Sinner says he does not feel “very safe” with changes he has made to his serve, despite needing just 68 minutes to start his Australian Open title defence.
Even when you are the No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and a two-time defending Australian Open champion, there is always room for improvement. Just ask Jannik Sinner.
The 24-year-old advanced to the second round at Melbourne Park on Tuesday when Hugo Gaston retired with Sinner leading 6-2, 6-1 after 68 minutes. Following the match, Sinner offered insight into the technical tweaks he has been making to his serve toward the end of last season and throughout the offseason. It’s a stroke he believes still holds untapped potential.
“It’s not only [since] the US Open,” Sinner said when asked about the timestamp of the service-motion changes. “I felt like the serve was and still is a shot where I need to improve. It’s the only shot we have where we can do everything by ourselves. There is a lot of room to improve.
“We changed a little bit the motion, the rhythm of the serve. Before it was a bit too fast in the beginning. Now it’s a bit slower. The toss usually was a bit more in front, a bit on the right. Now it’s a bit more back and over the head.”
Those refinements come despite Sinner finishing 2025 as the Serve Leader, according to Infosys ATP Stats, which examines a player’s serving dominance through metrics such as first-serve points won, serve effectiveness and aces. It’s an area of strength that underpinned his six-title season, highlighted by his second consecutive Nitto ATP Finals crown.
Yet for the Italian, marginal gains on serve could prove decisive as he looks to sustain his dominance and pursue the longer-term objective of reclaiming the World No. 1 position from rival Carlos Alcaraz.
“At times I still lose it [the toss]. It’s not a shot where I feel very safe,” Sinner continued. “But at the same time we are working on that. It is one of if not the most important shots we have because it can give you so many great things. So let’s see how I’m going to serve this season.”
[NO 1 CLUB]Beyond the technical elements, Sinner also continues to invest in the mental side of his game, maintaining a close working relationship with renowned mental coach Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli. They have built a consistent dialogue aimed at fine-tuning Sinner’s mindset across different phases of the season.
“We are in contact trying to understand and also working on a couple of things,” Sinner said of Ceccarelli. “I have my home kit with me, so whenever I need to work on, whenever I feel like, I can work with that.
“It goes a bit by period: How I feel also and what mental statement I am in. For sure there is still some room to improve. I’ve been in contact with him consistently. It’s good to have a stable person and he understands me now also a little bit better. By time we understand each other better. I understand his work ethic. We try to work on that.”
Sinner is aiming to become just the second man in the Open Era to win three consecutive Australian Open titles, following Novak Djokovic, who achieved the feat in 2011–13 and again from 2019–21. Next up for the Italian in Melbourne is Australian wild card James Duckworth, whom Sinner leads 2-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Gael Monfils shared an emotional moment with fans Tuesday at the Australian Open after his final appearance at the hard-court major came to a close.
Home qualifier Dane Sweeny overcame the Frenchman 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-4, 7-5 inside Kia Arena, where the 39-year-old Monfils was then invited to address the crowd by tournament director Craig Tiley.
“First of all, thank you so much. For me, my journey here with you guys started in 2003, when I came here for the first time,” said Monfils, who has confirmed that he will retire at the end of the season. “Now we are in 2026 and somehow it is the finish line but thank you so much for this amazing ride. You have been unbelievable, so thank you so much.”
Australia will miss you, @Gael_Monfils 🫡@AustralianOpen | #AO26 pic.twitter.com/hbneVHxQmO
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 20, 2026
Monfils will finish his career with a 37-20 record at Melbourne Park, where his best results were quarter-final runs in 2016 and 2022.
“I’ve got a lot of great memories here. A couple of big battles. Quarters, fourth round, even today was almost four hours,” said the former No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “For Dane, you guys did an amazing job [supporting him]. I read his story. This kid got hurt, so I really wish [him] good luck for the next one, because he is playing very good. Good luck to him.
“I am very grateful. I’ve been very lucky to play here for many years, so lastly thank you very much, merci beaucoup, a bientot les amis (thank you very much, see you soon, friends).”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Jannik Sinner advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday night after Hugo Gaston retired due to illness when dropping the second set.
The two-time defending champion, Sinner, was firmly in control, leading 6-2, 6-1, when the Frenchman — who called the doctor following the opening set — could not continue inside Rod Laver Arena.
“I saw that he was not serving with a very high pace, especially in the second set, but it’s not a way you want to win the match,” said Sinner, who is now 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Gaston. “He’s such a talented player, so I knew I had to play at a very high level, try to be aggressive as possible, which I’ve done. So I’m very happy, very happy to be back here.”
An unfortunate end 😢@janniksin advances to the second round after Gaston is forced to retire while trailing 6-2, 6-1.@AustralianOpen | #AO26 pic.twitter.com/NLYwPEfl6T
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 20, 2026
Sinner is aiming to become just the second man in the Open Era to claim three consecutive Australian Open titles, following Novak Djokovic’s title runs from 2011-13 and 2019-21. He will face lucky loser Dino Prizmic or Australian wild card James Duckworth in the next round.
In the sixth game of the match, Sinner produced a sublime drop shot to earn a break point, sending Gaston sprawling in a desperate attempt to reach the ball. Sinner checked on his opponent at the net, though Gaston appeared uninjured, and the subsequent medical timeout seemed to be unrelated to the fall.
“I felt very prepared… I’m very happy with how I started off today,” Sinner added. “Of course there was a bit of tension, but now this is time to enjoy it. We practise for moments like this, so it’s great to be back here.”
[NO 1 CLUB]Sinner faced immediate pressure in the opening game, slipping to 0/40 on serve, but it proved little more than an extended warm-up. The Italian calmly erased all three break points and did not face another, according to Infosys Stats, before advancing after 68 minutes.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Joao Fonseca insisted his back is fully fit after his Australian Open first-round defeat to Eliot Spizzirri on Tuesday, but admitted a lack of match practice and “rhythm” proved decisive in his exit.
The 19-year-old Brazilian withdrew from both Brisbane and Adelaide before the season’s first major and said he simply needed more time on court. Reflecting on his physical state and the difficulty of finding rhythm, Fonseca said the stop-start nature of his comeback made it hard to feel fully in sync on court.
“I will say I needed more time,” Fonseca said after his 4-6, 6-2, 1-6, 2-6 defeat. “Since the beginning of Brisbane, I wasn’t playing, and then I came back, but slowly. Then I stopped again. So I went almost 15 days without hitting at 100 per cent, very intense.
“I tried my best today. I think [it’s] bad that I wasn’t 100 per cent playing, but at the same time, it gives me maturity to keep going, to understand my body, to understand my limits. Today wasn’t the day. But I think I’m still confident, I’m still playing good. I’m having some good practices. I just need rhythm. I think this season is going to be great for me.”
The early loss was a sharp contrast to last year’s Australian Open, where he announced himself on the big stage by defeating Andrey Rublev in straight sets in the first round. Fonseca was clear, however, he has no regrets about competing in Melbourne.
“I don’t regret it at all,” said Fonseca, the No. 32 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I think there are things in life that you need to get positive things from… My back is 100 per cent. I’m healthy again. I just needed time.
“It was good to see how to deal with a five-set match and with the physique not 100 per cent. I was getting tired earlier. I needed rhythm, but it’s good to have that experience, to see your limits, to see how it can go. I don’t regret a thing.”
[NO 1 CLUB]Looking ahead, Fonseca confirmed he will next travel to South America, where he plans to rebuild match sharpness ahead of defending his ATP 250 title in Buenos Aires and competing at his home ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro.
After his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Spizzirri, Fonseca was generous in defeat when analysing the American’s performance, crediting his serving, returning and mental strength at key moments.
“I think he served really well,” Fonseca said of Spizzirri, who hit 14 aces and won 81 per cent of first-serve points, according to Infosys Stats. “He [made] a lot of returns. That’s one thing that the top players do a lot, they put a lot of pressure on the guy’s return.
“I think he served plus one as well. I think he stayed really well mentally. The first game in the third set that I had 0/40, but he closed the doors. After this, he kept with the intensity, and I couldn’t hold it.
“Maybe if I got the game, maybe things would go seriously. But it’s a maybe. Tennis has a lot of maybes.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Madison Keys overcomes nerves to begin her Australian Open title defence with victory over Grand Slam debutant Oleksandra Oliynykova.
Marin Cilic made a resounding start to his 2026 Australian Open Monday when he ousted Daniel Altmaier 6-0, 6-0, 7-6(3). Now 37 years old and No. 70 in the PIF ATP Rankings, the Croatian showed he is still plenty capable of producing lights-out tennis at an event where he reached the final in 2018.
When conducting his post-match media, Cilic shook hands with Denis Shapovalov, who even joked that 2019 or 2016 Marin Cilic was back. The former World No. 3 quipped it was 2014 Marin, the year he won the US Open.
ATPTour.com caught up with Cilic about his game, traveling with family, the evolution of the sport and more.
Today you won the first two sets without losing a game. When you’re playing well, it’s very clear that your tennis is still right up there, so when you feel yourself playing like that, what goes through your mind?
For me, that level comes from the sensation in training. I see where I’m at, I see physically how well I was training in the whole 2025, especially in the offseason. I’m also obviously looking at what the other guys are doing, what their routines are, how I compare to them physically.
Obviously, my body is not the same as when I was 26 or 27. But still, I feel that I’m on a great level and it gives me great satisfaction that I’m still able to produce great tennis. That gives us and my team that feeling of excitement.
Your family is here in Melbourne, including your two sons, so now they’ve been to all four Grand Slam tournaments. To what extent are you still pushing so they get to experience all of this with you?
I am pushing myself first of all, because I have big support from the family. On the other side, they’re able to travel, so that balance makes it easier. If they were at home, not traveling, and I am on the road, it doesn’t work because it would break apart really, really quickly. I would miss home, they would miss me; it just doesn’t work because the boys are already now six and four, it would be too much.
On the other side, they enjoy traveling, and I also feel that I have a really good position with my body, with my game. I think I can challenge myself in this season to see how far I can go. I added another team member to my team, Mate Delic, who was working with Borna Coric for a few years and also with Borna Gojo, so he’s very knowledgeable. He was also a great player, we are really good friends. I’m also seeing that as another motivation to do better and to do well in this season.
Guys like Roger Federer, who you competed against, have been around Melbourne Park and you’re still out there competing at such a high level. How rewarding is that for you?
It’s beautiful because I still enjoy what I do. And then, obviously it’s a reward because when I started young — when I was 15, 16 — I started with a really great work ethic, discipline, being professional, always having a full team with me, taking care of my body. I was planning the scheduling, planning the rest, peaking with the training. And when you add all these things for five, 10, 15 years, the body has rewarded me for another couple great seasons. I’m enjoying the fruits of that, so it’s just fantastic.
How interesting is it for you to see how the game has changed from when you started with Roger and Rafa and how guys like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are playing?
It’s interesting how the game changed and I think it came out of nowhere, without sort of any influence from anybody. I think it came as well because of the Covid time…. If you would go and speak to Top 100 or Top 200 players on the Tour, the average racquet weight is, let’s say, 305, 310 grams. And that was just impossible to see during the 2000s or 2010s in the past 10 or 20 years. Most of the guys were playing with the racquets which were 330, 340, 345 grams.
My own racquet, I would say is one of the heaviest on the Tour. And so this changed and the game then changed into power and speed. Everyone is athletically incredible. Everyone can hit the ball big, but it shifted a little bit of the game into this direction of ‘Who’s going to hit bigger and harder? Who’s going to be athletically incredible?’ And then it took away a little bit of the intricacies of the game, playing cat and mouse, just different styles of the game, which we had in these past 15 to 20 years.
Do you just focus on what you do, or do you craft your game again to evolve a little bit, to face these opponents?
You try to adapt, because obviously, the times have changed, and if you are waiting for the change to go back, you are in the wrong position. You have to adapt to what’s going on, and adapt to what your needs are. It definitely has changed and so you have to really follow what is going on and try to do the best you can.
Some people might say they would love to play Roger or someone else in a match. You have played all of these guys from your time on Tour… If you could play one match, which opponent would be most intriguing to you?
There are a few incredible champions that shaped tennis when you look at back [at] the start of tennis [like] Rod Laver, how much he has achieved and how many Grand Slams he won at that time. He wasn’t playing for six years [in them] because he was considered as a professional, and he definitely shaped the game.
Then Borg, McEnroe, Connors, guys that played after to the ’90s [with] Sampras, Agassi, and all these guys. It would be just incredible to go back in time and play some with Borg or even Mats Wilander or Rod Laver.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]When opponents dared to move forward in 2025, Grigor Dimitrov made them suffer. The Bulgarian led the ATP Tour by winning 40.6 per cent of points when his opponent was at the net, a remarkable return rate that earned him a fitting label: the pass master.
That number speaks directly to Dimitrov’s artistry. Armed with one of the game’s most elegant one-handed backhands, he repeatedly carved out impossible angles, dipping the ball at an opponent’s feet or threading it past outstretched volleys.
Dimitrov believes that success is rooted in years of experience dealing with aggressive opponents from a young age, having learned early how to neutralise players who rushed the net.
“When I was a junior, I was always playing against the older guys and [those] taller than me,” Dimitrov explained. “I was not that tall when I was younger, and a lot of them were coming to the net a lot, especially some of the American players when I played as they were always playing serve and volley or attacking me.
“So I always liked to have targets. I loved when some of it was coming through because I was fairly agile to move around the court and [could] predict some of the shots in advance, knowing where I’m going to position the ball in order to get [an easier] next ball coming back at me.”
It wasn’t just about touch, either. Dimitrov stayed composed in high-pressure moments, trusting his timing and feel to find passing lanes when the court seemed closed off. In a sport where net-rushers often expect reward, he turned their aggression into opportunity. But how does he decide whether to hit an attempted winner or a shot intended to set up an easier pass on the next ball coming back?
“It’s very difficult to know what you’re going to do, because you just don’t know,” Dimitrov said. “You have a split second to make a decision… So for me, I’ve always focussed most on the ball, because the ball gives me the information, and then hopefully I can make the right decision.”
[NO 1 CLUB]Nowhere was that skill more evident than at Wimbledon, where Dimitrov’s grass-court efficiency and shot-making gave even the very best trouble. In the fourth round, he surged to a two-sets-to-love lead against eventual champion Jannik Sinner, repeatedly neutralising the Italian’s forward forays with clean passes and sharp angles. It was a performance brimming with control and creativity, cut short only by a heartbreaking pectoral injury that forced his retirement.
That blend of flair and resilience defined Dimitrov’s season. The former No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and Nitto ATP Finals winner also reached the semi-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami, another week in which his ability to absorb pressure and counterpunch with precision stood out against the Tour’s elite.
Points Won When Opponent At Net (2025)
| Player | Points won (%) |
| 1) Grigor Dimitrov | 40.6% |
| 2) Roman Safiullin | 40.1% |
| 3) Frances Tiafoe | 39.8% |
| 4) Holger Rune | 39.5% |
| 5) Christopher O’Connell | 38.9% |
See all stories in this series
Visit our Infosys ATP Stats section for more insights.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Carlos Alcaraz’s new-look serve has been the hot topic around the tennis world this past week and the Spaniard himself admitted in Melbourne that there might be a familiar influence behind it.
That influence? Novak Djokovic.
On Monday night at the Australian Open, Djokovic was finally asked about the resemblance and he didn’t miss the chance to have some fun with it.
“As soon as I saw it, I sent him a message. I said, we have to speak about the copyrights,” Djokovic said with a smile. “Then when I saw him here, I told him we have to talk about percentage of his winnings. Every ace I expect, you know, a tribute to me. Every ace that he makes here. Let’s see if he’s going to stick to the agreement.”
[NO 1 CLUB]Djokovic, who could only meet Alcaraz in the final in Melbourne, was doing plenty of damage on his own serve in his first-round win at the Australian Open on Monday.
The record 10-time champion won 93 per cent of his first-serve points and did not face a break point en route to victory against Pedro Martinez. Djokovic has now won 100 matches at the hard-court major, moving to within two wins of Roger Federer’s all-time mark of 102.
The 38-year-old Serbian was pleased with how he started.
“It felt good tonight. Let’s see how it’s going to feel in a few days’ time,” Djokovic said on how his body and mind are feeling. “Performance-wise, the feeling on the court, it was great. I couldn’t ask for more. Obviously a great serving performance. Just overall felt really good on the court that has made me feel good on it for so many times throughout my career.”
The No. 4 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Djokovic will next face Italian Francesco Maestrelli in what will be a first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the two.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]