This Week in Tennis – 27th January 2025

Written by: Bren Gray | January 27, 2025
jannik sinner

It’s been a big week in tennis, with the Australian Open concluding and champions crowned for the men’s and women’s events. We go over all the action from the past seven days in Melbourne, plus a look at what to do with yourself now that tennis has finished down under for the year.

Australian Open Aftermath

The women’s Australian Open final was played on Saturday and it was a stunner. Madison Keys finally won her maiden Grand Slam trophy, eight years after making her first final at the US Open.

She bested defending champion Aryna Sabalenka with a marvelous display, leaving the Belarusian rather perplexed as to what to do. It was a majestic fortnight for the American who has now finally written her name in tennis history. The final score was 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

On the men’s side, there weren’t any stunning or shocking outcomes. Jannik Sinner advanced to yet another Australian Open final where he met Alexander Zverev, who was playing in his third Grand Slam final as well. 

Despite Zverev showing a high level leading up to that match, he didn’t really play all too well in the final. In fairness, Sinner didn’t allow him to as the Italian was amazing. He didn’t drop a single set in the final, beating Zverev 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3.

Sinner Makes History

Perhaps the defining factor of the men’s Australian Open final was the fact that Sinner won the championship match without facing a single breakpoint. This was only the third time in recent history that a player has been able to win a Grand Slam final without facing break point.

Sinner joined Roger Federer who did it in 2003 at Wimbledon and Rafael Nadal in 2017. If you ever wondered whether his title was deserved or how good the Italian truly is, then this is the stat that answers both of these questions.

If you’re still not convinced, then how about this: with his win over Zverev, he also won the most consecutive sets against top 10 players since 1990, ahead of players like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal. That’s 10 top-10 players in a row that he’s beaten without dropping a set.

Zverev Hears It from a Spectator

Zverev experienced a somewhat interesting situation at the Australian Open press ceremony, where he was berated by a woman in the stands who yelled at him, reminding him of his troublesome past.

The German has had accusations of abuse against him by two former partners, which the woman in question reminded him of rather vigorously. Zverev didn’t have a reaction outside of glancing towards the direction where the noise was coming from. He did have a minor smile with some in the crowd booing after it was said.

The quote from the woman was: “Australia believes Olya and Brenda”. Those are the names of the victims of his alleged abuse.

Zverev was asked about the situation after the match during his press conference, and he simply joked about it, noting: “Good for her. I think she was the only one believing anything in that moment.”

He also noted that there are no more allegations which is an expected reaction from Zverev who has put the whole matter behind him. Plenty have not and the trophy ceremony highlighted that with reactions on social media being split. 

Coming Up This Week

If you’re looking for tennis to follow this week, then you’re in luck. On the men’s side, we have the Montpellier event which will feature some decent players such as Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and last year’s champion Alexander Bublik.

We also have the Davis Cup qualifiers, which should feature several top names as well. Some big names that will be in action in the Davis Cup include Casper Ruud, Nick Kyrgios, Alex de Minaur, Jiri Lehecka, Holger Rune, Arthur Fils, and Joao Fonseca. Djokovic was supposed to feature as well, but he withdrew after the injury sustained at the Australian Open.

On the women’s side, there will be plenty of action as well. There are a couple of events going on including the WTA 500 event in Linz which will feature players like Karolina Muchova and Elina Svitolina.

There is also a WTA 250 event in Singapore which will feature Anna Kalinskaya, Amanda Anisimova, and Emma Raducanu. Overall, a pretty interesting week of tennis with some big names in action, though players like Alcaraz and Sinner won’t be playing due to the Australian Open.

Expect both of them to return in the coming weeks, Sinner likely during the North American stretch in March, while Alcaraz might return on clay in South America where he’s been playing for a couple of years now.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bren Gray

Bren has a lot of experience writing on various tennis related topics and will give us interesting news surrounding matches on the ATP and WTA tour as well as predictions and reviews.