Everywhere you looked, history in Melbourne

“In the Women’s Draw, look out for a resurgent Elena Rybakina to add the Australian Open to her Wimbledon title of 2022. Guileful and graceful, Rybakina has the temperament and game to master Melbourne.”

10^th December 2025

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Spoiler alert- this post will be more tennis than politics; however, given the near four month hiatus until the start of the French Open, there will be plenty of time to speculate about a host of political issues between now and then.  I suspect that it was easier to speculate about the likely Australian Open champions than it is to confidently assert what will happen in the following domestic and international political arenas:

-          Ukraine- will a peace be agreed?

-         Gaza- is there a genuine chance that peace will continue, and some sort of civil society will emerge?

-       Iran- there is an armada of US ships in the Persian Gulf- to what purpose will their presence be used?

-      Greenland- the barren land that everyone now knows about- what is its Trumpian destiny?

-          How far will the unravelling of the Epstein saga go? How many consequences will there be from one revelation after the next?  Citizen Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has little further to fall.

       Even Australia’s former Prime Minister and recently resigned Foreign Minister to Washington, Kevin Rudd, earned a mention in the latest despatches as someone whom Epstein might like to meet. The former PM who admitted to a visit to Hooters, a gentleman’s club in New York, in a previous life, has reiterated that he never actually met Epstein or attended one of his functions.

-          It’s the economy stupid-what action will the Reserve Bank of Australia take in response to Australia’s latest spike in inflation? Will there be an increase in interest rates?  In Washington, the President is muscling in on the independence of the Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, insisting that he should have cut American interest rates.

-          “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”- The Australian government continues to have no difficulty in adding to our looming trillion dollar national debt. Our Prime Minister, en route to the Men’s semi-finals of the Australian Open, met with State leaders and blithely promised another $25 billion to our ailing hospital system. Fine, but please tell me where this money is coming from and how many more ‘free’ handouts is your government willing to make? The truth is that the sum is not coming from anywhere but is to be added to the taxpayer’s eternal burden.

-          Luckily for Australia’s Prime Minister the ideological rifts in the Opposition parties are so ingrained that the scrutiny required of his government is non-existent. How can an Opposition function when its most senior leader is universally regarded as mortally wounded?

Back in the 1970s when the Australian Open was sponsored by a cigarette company – the Marlboro Australian Open- and was played on grass at Kooyong- remember that’s the last time an Australian male won the title with Mark Edmondson winning in 1976-there emerged a new kitchen device that tapped into Australia’s changing demographic. It was called a crock-pot, now known as a slow cooker. Its arrival- cometh the demand, cometh the new kitchen device- was a nod to the growing number of women entering the workforce.

For many working women, the extra chore of cooking the family’s evening meal became increasingly burdensome, despite the arrival of kitchen dishwashers. The appeal of the crock pot was clear. A piece of beef, pieces of chicken and/or lamb or pork chops, or in the case of my family a slab of silverside (corned beef,) could be placed in the cooker along with assorted root vegetables in the morning. The working mother would set the timer, so that upon her return hours later the meal was all but done. The meat slowly simmered and stewed over the day. In my house only a white parsley sauce, speckled with green, had to be made to pour over the pink silverside.

Most of this year’s Australian Open had a crock pot feel about it. Its matches simmered along with predictable results without much daily excitement. It was as if everyone was waiting for the anticipated Alcaraz-Sinner final and the rest was a mere preliminary. Similarly, in the Women’s draw, the question was who would wind up playing Sabalenka in the final?

Indeed, for much of the Open, factors outside the courts seemed to be more important. The couture of the players for example- was Sinner doomed to lose wearing such a murky shade of mustard? What was Osaka thinking? Did we like Sabalenka’s dress designed by her new designer Nike, or for Australians was it too like the uniform worn by staff on the national airline, Qantas?

Managing the extremes of temperature was another as the Open had to work around days exceeding forty degrees.

Then, suddenly, the lid came off. If the US Open had its legendary ‘Super Saturday’ in 1984, this year’s Australian Open had its ‘fantastic Friday’ on 30^th January. The two Men’s semi-finals, featuring seeds 1-4, produced two memorable matches, lasting a total of nine hours and thirty six minutes. Alcaraz, maintained his extraordinary Grand Slam record of never having been beaten after leading a match by two sets to love, but it was a close-run thing. Alex Zverev, perhaps doomed to be denied a Grand Slam title, rallied to win the third and fourth sets and served for the match at 5-4 in the final set. In his own words, “his legs stopped pushing” and Carlos eked out a 7-5 victory.

Much later that evening and early on Saturday morning, Novak Djokovic, halted a run of five consecutive losses to Jannik Sinner. Djokovic’s run to the semi-finals seemed to be counter-intuitive to his upset victory, or maybe it was he needed. In the fourth round, his opponent withdrew. In his quarter final, his opponent Lorenzo Musetti, defaulted at 1-3 in the third set, after leading two sets to love.  In his semi-final Djokovic defied the defending champion, who could only convert 2/18 break points in the match, with a telling failure of 0/8 in the final set.  Overall, Sinner won 152 points to Djokovic’s 140, but not the critical ones at the critical times. Djokovic, no doubt inspired by the courtside presence of Margaret Court , likened his upset win to his marathon victory over Nadal in their 2012 Australian Open final.

The temperature cooled on Women’s final day with showers requiring the final to be played between Sabalenka and Rybakina under a closed roof. Neither player had dropped a set before the final. They ended the final with 92 points each. It was an absorbing, rather than memorable match. 30 games were played in just over two hours; however, at critical times Rybakina served more powerfully and outhit Sabalenka.  Doubts must remain about Sabalenka’s mental resolve. She broke to lead 3-0 in the final set only to lose the next four. For Rybakina, a second Grand Slam title. For Sabalenka, a third loss in her last four Grand Slam finals.

Not too long ago, players could be fined for looking to their coaches in the stands and seeking guidance during matches. Now players’ entourages sit courtside as if they were having their morning coffee. Conversations between players and their ‘teams’ are endless throughout the matches.  As if to recognise their presence this year the Open presented a trophy to the victorious coach of each Singles’ champion. The award of the trophy to Rybakina’s coach, Stefano Vukov, was shrouded in controversy. Fined  and banned last year by the WTA for a “toxic” and “dependent” relationship with Rybakina, including allegations of phone harassment and stalking, Vukov won an appeal against his ban before last year’s US Open. Now it appears that Rybakina and Vukov have a physical relationship.  Concerning at best, downright repugnant at worst. Once coerced, always coerced.

Australia had some hometown success with the wildcard Mixed Doubles pairing of Olivia Gadecki and John Peers successfully defending their title.

Another Australian wildcard pairing of Marc Polmans and Jason Kubler made it to the Men’s Doubles final before losing to sixth seeds, Neal Skupski and Christian Harrison.

Belgian journeywoman, Elise Mertens teamed with China’s  Shuai Zhang to win the Women’s Doubles title- for Mertens, a sixth Grand Slam doubles title. A win in Paris will complete a full Grand Slam quartet. For Zhang her second Australian and third Grand Slam Doubles title.

Alcaraz entered the Men’s final seeking to be the youngest player to achieve a career Grand Slam. If successful, Alcaraz, aged 22, would eclipse his countryman Nadal who achieved the feat at 24.  Of course, the last thing Djokovic wanted to be reminded of was 24 as he sought his 25^th Grand Slam singles title which would leave him sui generis in tennis’ pantheon, one ahead of Margaret Court. Victory would see them both having won the Australian Open eleven times.

For Djokovic, age and experience could not overcome youth and enthusiasm. Beginning where he finished in his semi-final, Djokovic swept through the first set 6-2. Then incipient fatigue began. Djokovic’s physical waning did not, however,  prevent him from making Alcaraz play at his outrageous best. The match was in the balance until the last.

In the fourth set Djokovic saved six break points at 0-1 and had a break point on Alcaraz’s serve at 4-4. Unlike Sinner, Alcaraz was able to exert sufficient pressure to have the opportunity to take the chances he needed.

Alcaraz has become the youngest male player to complete a career Grand Slam by inflicting Djokovic’s only loss in an Australian Open final.  Carlos has now won seven Grand Slam titles compared to Sinner’s four.

Between them Alcaraz and Sinner have won the last nine Grand Slam titles and stand a fair chance of equalling the Roger/ Rafa run of eleven in a row come Wimbledon.  The tennis Gods clearly abhorred the demise of Federer/Nadal and Murray and have quickly filled the vacuum. So impressive are the new titans that people are already asking whether Federer & co. could have conquered them!

If not now, when? Djokovic gave a broad hint in his presentation address that this may have been his final appearance in Melbourne.

Never say never, but the man is 39 this year. Djokovic’s legacy of extraordinary achievements guarantees him an eternal place at the high table of the game’s pantheon. More than anyone could have predicted Alcaraz is staking a claim to reorganise the name cards on the table and take a seat reserved for the truly great.