The first round of the Australian Open continues on Tuesday with Jannik Sinner getting his “three-peat” bid under way against Hugo Gaston, while Madison Keys takes on Oleksandra Oliynykova as she begins the defence of her first Grand Slam title.
Sinner’s last official match was more than two months ago when he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the ATP Finals title decider, but the Italian hopes having a longer off-season will continue to be a recipe for success in Melbourne.
After a rollercoaster 2025 season, during which he served a three-month suspension for doping, Sinner warmed up for the year’s first major with an exhibition match against Alcaraz in South Korea, which he lost 7-5 7-6(8).
“In the past few years I haven’t played any official match before here because I wanted to have a good off-season, a longer off-season to get ready for this season again,” said Sinner, who is seeded second in Melbourne.
“Even if sometimes you play a tournament before, it can help you. But it also cannot help you because every situation and the general feeling, especially in a Grand Slam, is different.”
Frenchman Gaston lost in the qualifiers in Brisbane and the first round in Auckland in his build-up to the Australian Open.
You look back and it’s kind of easy to be like, ‘Wow, everything was amazing, I can’t believe it’
— Madison Keys
Keys did not have an easy path to the title last year, beating the top two seeds Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka along the way, and she hopes she does not have to go through as many three-setters this time.
The American was involved in four matches that went the distance last year, even saving a match point against Swiatek in the semifinal.
“You look back and it’s kind of easy to be like, ‘Wow, everything was amazing, I can’t believe it’,” she said. “But also you think about, like, ‘Wow, I almost lost. I was match point down’. So many three-set matches. There were some ugly matches.”
Keys withdrew during the season-ending WTA Finals due to a viral illness and spent the off-season getting healthy and working on her game.
Oliynykova is making her Australian Open main draw debut.
Taylor Fritz will find out how his knee is shaping up after weeks of rehabilitation work as the ninth seed prepares to face Frenchman Valentin Royer. The American did not have the best preparation for the Grand Slam, losing three of his four United Cup matches, while he lost a practice set 6-1 to Sinner in Melbourne despite showing flashes of brilliance.
Though the knee is “definitely improving”, Fritz said it is the type of injury that takes two to four months of solid rehab to see improvements.
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