Each January, when the Summer of Tennis rolls around, many casual fans reconnect with the sport and the Australian Open becomes appointment viewing.
But if it’s been longer than a year since you watched tennis, that reconnection might seem daunting.
Who are the top players now? What are the exciting rivalries? Which rising stars should you be looking out for? What are the storylines to be across? And who’s expected to do well at the AO?
They’re fair questions, and hopefully, with this overview, you’ll have the context you need to take your tennis-viewing experience to the next level.
The Alcaraz-Sinner duopoly
In the past two years, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have risen to completely dominate men’s tennis.
Between them, they’ve won all eight Grand Slam tournaments played in that time – splitting them evenly, with four each – and have clashed in the past three major finals, with their Roland Garros decider being especially epic.
Their rivalry, built on electrifying tennis and mutual respect, has grown to the point their match-ups are unmissable.
The AO is now the only Grand Slam tournament at which they’re yet to meet, and that could happen in the final at AO 2026, given they’ll be the top two seeds at Melbourne Park.
In fact, they’re so far ahead of the pack at world No.1 and No.2 that second-ranked Sinner has more than double the ranking points of world No.3 Alexander Zverev.
Should either Alcaraz or Sinner win AO 2026, ‘Sincaraz’ will have won nine consecutive Slam titles as a duo – approaching the Open-era men’s record of 11, held by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Women’s tennis is not so open anymore
For years, the narrative surrounding women’s tennis was that “anyone can win”.
And it was true – after Serena Williams won AO 2017, then announced her pregnancy and left the tour, women’s Grand Slam tennis was a comparative free-for-all. From that point, until the end of 2021, almost half the major titles were won by women ranked outside the top 10.
But not anymore.
Iga Swiatek wrested control of the tour in 2022, and since the beginning of 2023, she, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff have emerged as a stable leading trio, combining to win nine of the past 12 Grand Slam trophies.