Coach Murray, Sabalenka bid, Raducanu revival? – Australian Open talking points

The new tennis season kicks into top gear with the Australian Open beginning on January 12.

Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner defend their titles, while Katie Boulter and Jack Draper lead the British hopefuls and Andy Murray cuts his coaching teeth alongside Novak Djokovic.

Here, the PA news agency picks out five talking points.

Coach Murray

The 2024 tennis season had a late plot twist in store when Djokovic announced he had hired one of his biggest rivals to guide him in Melbourne. The pair spent more than a week together during pre-season and one of the biggest intrigues of the tournament will be how the partnership fares. Djokovic failed to win a grand slam title last year and dropped out of the top five, so can Murray help him overhaul his young rivals once again? And how will the Scot respond if Djokovic directs on-court frustrations towards him?

Raducanu revival?

A year on from her return following triple surgery, Raducanu is close to climbing back into the top 50 and showed on multiple occasions in 2024 that she certainly belongs there. She has stability in her coaching set-up with Nick Cavaday and has hired physical trainer Yutaka Nakamura but fitness remains an issue, with Raducanu pulling out of the WTA tournament in Auckland last week because of a back niggle. She will therefore be short of matches going into the Australian Open, a situation she must hope will not continue to be a recurring theme.

Winner Sinner?

Jannik Sinner was almost unbeatable during the last part of the 2024 season, winning his last 14 matches and losing only once since early August. He has a big lead in the rankings over Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz and won both the hard-court grand slams last year. The Italian is therefore a clear favourite to win a third major title but he lost all three meetings against Alcaraz in 2024, while the doping case that could yet result in a ban continues to hang over him. Elsewhere in the men’s draw, a lot of home attention will focus on Nick Kyrgios, providing his body allows him to play at Melbourne Park for the first time in three years.

Boulter and Draper lead the Brits

Sabalenka goes for a hat-trick

Having broken her grand slam duck in Melbourne in 2023, Sabalenka won again 12 months ago and finished the year at number one after also adding the US Open. Like Sinner, hard courts have become her domain but there are plenty of likely challengers, including Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and last year’s beaten finalist Zheng Qinwen. Among other names to look out for is 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who is already in the top 20 and reached the fourth round last year as well as the semi-finals of the French Open.