Jonathan Jurejko

BBC Sport tennis news reporter

The star players have landed in Melbourne for a season-opening Grand Slam which has already thrown up some intriguing storylines.

The Australian Open begins on Sunday, culminating with the finals weekend on 25-26 January.

Here are five key talking points as Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka prepare to defend their singles titles.

How do you follow the greatest season of your career and one of the best in recent memory? That is the challenge for Sinner in 2025.

The 23-year-old returns to Melbourne Park – the scene of his maiden major win last year – as the men’s world number one, having lost just six of his 79 matches in 2024.

Sinner’s dominance also brought the US Open trophy, the season-ending ATP Finals and five other tour titles. He rounded off the year by leading Italy to the Davis Cup title.

However, the defence of his Australian Open crown comes during a period of great uncertainty for Sinner.

The Italian was cleared of wrongdoing after twice failing a doping test in March 2024, but the World Anti Doping Agency is challenging the decision.

It is seeking a ban of between one to two years, with the case to be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport between 16-17 April.

Novak Djokovic’s ability to do the unexpected never ceases to amaze.

So should we have been surprised when the 37-year-old announced his new coach for the start of the 2025 season would be… Andy Murray?

The tennis world was stunned when the closely-guarded secret was revealed in November.

Anything less than Djokovic landing a record-extending 11th title would be unsatisfactory for both men.

For the Serb, regaining his grip on the trophy would result in a 25th major – moving him clear of Australia’s Margaret Court as the sole leader of all-time Grand Slam singles titles.

Djokovic is seeded seventh but outlasting his younger rivals to become the oldest Grand Slam men’s champion in the Open era cannot be ruled out.

Since her ‘fairytale of New York’, Emma Raducanu has needed to show a great deal of patience.

Coping with the intense scrutiny that followed her stunning 2021 US Open triumph was tough, as was the physicality of going full-time on the WTA Tour.

There were signs of progress last year as she made her comeback from wrist and ankle surgeries in 2023.

Signing up a full-time fitness trainer has signalled Raducanu’s intention to become the athlete she “knows she can be” – but there was familiar blow when she pulled out of the season-opening WTA event in Auckland with a back injury.

The 22-year-old has been practising in Melbourne but will go into the major having not played competitively since November’s Billie Jean King Cup.

Raducanu has drawn criticism for the way she has approached her career, either for not being robust enough, chopping and changing coaches or her lucrative sponsorship deals.

It does feel, however, that 2025 is the year where Raducanu needs to kick on. A strong run in Melbourne would be a fantastic platform to build from.

Consistency at all four majors has been a hallmark of Sabalenka’s career, but it is the hard courts where she is particularly dangerous.

The 26-year Belarusian has claimed back-to-back Australian Open titles and, having won the US Open in September, finished as the year-end world number one for the first time.

Now she has the opportunity to become only the seventh player – and first this century since Martina Hingis (1997-99) – to claim a third straight women’s singles title in Melbourne.

The fast courts in Australia suit Sabalenka’s powerful, aggressive game.

Since the start of 2023, she has won 27 of her 28 matches down under and tuned up this year with another title in Brisbane. She will take some stopping.

Often polarising but always difficult to ignore, Nick Kyrgios is back.

The firebrand Australian has barely played over the past two years after a range of injuries – most notably a debilitating wrist issue that left him fearing he would never play again at the highest level.

The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up made his comeback in Brisbane alongside his one-time nemesis Djokovic in the doubles, before pushing France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard – a souped-up version of the Kyrgios serving machine – in his first singles match in 18 months.

However, an admission afterwards that his wrist was “throbbing” meant Kyrgios was unsure if he could physically withstand the rigours of a five-set Grand Slam match.

Whatever shape the 29-year-old is in, the return of a player, whose colourful authenticity appeals to a Melbourne crowd that always boisterously demonstrate their support, will be a must-watch event.

Related topics