{"id":432708,"date":"2026-02-18T18:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/432708\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T18:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:18:11","slug":"aussie-tennis-champ-alicia-moliks-surprise-new-role-in-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/432708\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie tennis champ Alicia Molik\u2019s surprise new role in television"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aussie tennis great Alicia Molik is launching a new career as a TV news host. <\/p>\n<p>The former world No. 8 is transitioning from her role as tennis commentator to be Channel 9\u2019s weekend sport presenter in Perth during the prime time 6pm bulletin. <\/p>\n<p>She is replacing Fremantle legend Matthew Pavlich, who was Nine\u2019s premier sport presenter in the west before he finished up in October. <\/p>\n<p>Pavlich was last year appointed chief executive of the Sydney Swans.<\/p>\n<p>It was reported earlier this month Nine\u2019s primary target for the role was Fremantle cult hero Nat Fyfe, who retired at the end of the 2025 AFL season. <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldsun.com.au\/entertainment\/former-fremantle-star-nat-fyfe-is-the-high-profile-target-for-channel-9-perth-to-replace-matthew-pavlich\/news-story\/b54591a629a23f5484b72a18ca7c4c96\" title=\"www.heraldsun.com.au\" data-tgev=\"event119\" data-tgev-container=\"bodylink\" data-tgev-order=\"b54591a629a23f5484b72a18ca7c4c96\" data-tgev-label=\"entertainment\" data-tgev-metric=\"ev\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Herald Sun <\/a>first reported Paddy Sweeney and Erin Harwood were also in line as possible replacements.<\/p>\n<p>Fyfe has recently featured in some roles with Channel 7 and it appears Nine missed out on its dream replacement for Pavlich. <\/p>\n<p>It makes Molik a surprise option to fill the role, despite her popularity as a media performer. <\/p>\n<p>The former Australian Open quarter-finalist is particularly popular in Perth because of her role as an ambassador of the Hopman Cup \u2014 and bringing the world\u2019s best players to begin their season\u2019s in Perth. <\/p>\n<p>The 2004 Olympics bronze medalist is also a two-time doubles grand slam champion. <\/p>\n<p>She has emerged as a classy performer during her recent appearances as part of Nine\u2019s tennis coverage. <\/p>\n<p>Molik has told The Sydney Morning Herald: \u201cSport is woven into the DNA of this city, and I look forward to connecting with our viewers every weekend to share the triumphs and the biggest stories in the sporting world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoining the 9News sport team is a natural fit. I\u2019m thrilled that I\u2019ll still be courtside covering the Australian Open and Wimbledon for the Nine Network \u2013 it\u2019s truly the best of both worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pavlich was the sport presenter for seven years after he joined the network following his retirement as a Dockers legend in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie tennis great Alicia Molik is launching a new career as a TV news host. The former world&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-432708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}