Aussie Bites: Flowers, but no cigar

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Here's what you need to know from Day 1 at the Australian Open, where lots of brackets took an immediate hit – read: mine.

Nuts and Bolts: Day 1 Results | Day 2 Order of Play

• Day 1 MVP: World No. 112 Zeynap Sonmez
  • The Turkish qualifier had herself quite the day, scoring the biggest upset of the day in dramatic fashion, beating No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova like this:

• Not only that, but she also was quick to see that a ballgirl was struggling and immediately helped her off the court. Her quick-thinking prevented what could have been an awful scene, as the young girl seemed to nearly faint just a few seconds later. That could have been bad if no one was there to catch her. (BBC)

• Tough loss for Alexandrova, but she'll be back as Venus Williams' doubles partner in the doubles tournament.
• Bracket Buster: No. 186 Arthur Fery d. [20] Flavio Cobolli, 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-1.
• YESSSSSSnononononononYESSSSSSSSSnononno:
  • Venus Williams, you are amazing. At 45 years old, the legend became the oldest woman to compete at the Australian Open, surpassing Kimiko Date's mark set in 2015. That's a lovely passing of the torch between two women who played one of my favorite matches at Wimbledon:

• And let's be clear: Venus played pretty darn great in her three-match swing through January. She took Magda Linette to three sets in Auckland, l0st 4 and 3 to Tatjana Maria in Hobart, and then on Sunday night, she was sparkling until Olga Danilovic leveled up. That doesn't completely mitigate the heartbreak of leading 4-0 and losing six straight games to lose 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, but it's also not nothing!

“I’m really proud of my effort today because I’m playing better with each match, getting to the places that I want to get to,” Williams said. “Right now, I’m just going to have to keep going forward and working on myself and working to control my errors.

“Those are things, too, that come with playing extra matches ... all of those things that I’m still learning. It’s kind of weird, but it’s super exciting to have played that well and to get myself in that position and come very close.”

• Worst moment: Marta Kostyuk rolls her ankle in a history-making loss.
  • Marta Kostyuk couldn't close out Elsa Jaquemot in straights – she had a match point – and then, as the two veered towards a historic third tiebreak, this happened:

• After getting evaluated and taped up, Kostyuk held to force the breaker but it was France's Jaquemot who came through with a 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6 [10-7] win. Tough luck for Kostyuk, who notched three Top 10 wins just a week ago to make the final in Brisbane. Turns out, Marta popped a ligament. (AP)

• Best celebration: Yulia Putintseva was barely two games into her match with Beatriz Haddad Maia out on Court 6, aka "The Party Court", when she already started chirping about the noise. It bothered her all match, and the loud Brazilian fans let her have. So when she completed her gritty comeback to win in three sets, you can't say she didn't deserve to dance her feelings:

• Hailey Baptiste survived a tricky rug-pull moment. She was set to play No. 32 seed Marketa Vondrousova, but the Czech withdrew ahead of their match due to her ongoing shoulder issues. Who got the lucky loser spot? Taylor Townsend. That could have be a rough swap for Hailey, but she get past Taylor 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3.
• AZN Excellence: Daaaaaaamn, Michael Zheng! The 21-year-old NCAA champion from Columbia was a revelation in his five-set dispatch of Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(0), 6-3. Zheng came through qualifying to make his tour-level debut and win. He's been doing a lot of winning since August:

• Shot of the Day: HOLY SHIT MARIA SAKKARI.

• Moutet of the Day: Holy shit, Corentin.

• Stat I wished I knew at the start of the day: Elena Gabriela Ruse was 3-0 against Dayana Yastremska. Now she is 4-0.
• Match of the Day: I mean, Kostyuk-Jaquemot was a banger, but that ankle turn was bad vibes. So I'm giving to Tomas Etcheverry's five-set win over Miomir Kecmanovic. The crowd was rollicking and the shotmaking down the stretch was outstanding:

• On the Argentinian front, Francisco Cerundolo won his opener over Zhang Zhizhen and then signed the camera "GRACIAS SALATA", a fitting tribute for Argentinian tennis journalist Guillermo Salatino, who passed away on Saturday. You can read Sebastian Fest's tribute to the legendary man here. (CLAY Tenis)

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The Daily Read

• I am a big supporter of tennis on the radio. I think the sport just SOUNDS good. You can listen to AO Radio via the web here or through the AO app. You'll hear a lot of familiar voices.
• Oooooh boy, details of Tennis Australia's settlement with the PTPA are coming out and there goes "The Happy Slam". (The Guardian)

The court documents say Tennis Australia has agreed to cooperate with the PTPA against the other grand slam tournaments, including providing confidential financial information, in return for being removed from the claim and avoiding liability for potential damages that could reach tens of millions of pounds.

“Tennis Australia will begin providing valuable discovery that [the plaintiffs] may or may not have been ultimately able to obtain from Tennis Australia, which damages class plaintiffs can use in litigating their claims well in advance of court-ordered discovery against ATP and WTA,” the PTPA’s lawyers claim in a court filing.

“In exchange for a release of liability for monetary damages, Tennis Australia agrees to provide damages class plaintiffs with materials, facts, and other information known to Tennis Australia relevant to plaintiffs’ claims against the Tour defendants and grand slam defendants, including information regarding: financial books and records; tournament prize money; player name, image and likeness (“NIL”) rights and uses; player sponsorship and endorsement opportunities; tour scheduling requirements; player ranking points; player participation in non-Tour events; player claim enforcement mechanisms; and communications or agreements.”

The disclosure of the documents will increase tensions between Tennis Australia and the other grand slam tournaments, and is likely to dominate off-court conversations in Melbourne over the next fortnight. One source at the WTA Tour, which along with the ATP is also a co‑defendant, said that the timing of the release was an aggressive move that would lead to an escalation of the dispute.

• Back for her first Australian Open since Covid, Carole Bouchard has a great opening salvo from Day 1 in Melbourne. Good stuff with Sloane Stephens, Denis Shapovalov, and Gael Monfis. And a whole lotta nostalgia too. (Tennis Sweet Spot)

The point here is, I’m back in Melbourne after five years, it’s not been routine anymore, and so every day since I’ve arrived, I walk the streets thinking, “holy shit, I’m in Australia!” It seems as surreal as it was in 2012, and I didn’t expect that. I also didn’t expect to walk that bridge from the CBD (city center) to the site and find myself thinking about Mike Dickson. Mike, our esteemed colleague, passed away here in Melbourne last year, and it still regularly gets me because he was such a presence in the press room that it still doesn’t feel real not to see or hear him around. Anyway, I was on that bridge on Tuesday for the first time, waiting for that damn crossing light to turn green (if you know that road, you know that light… It’d be 2 am, and you’d still be out there waiting for crossing for eons… This light hates us lol) and it came to my mind that one of the last times I was in this position, I had been walking the bridge back to CBD with some of the British colleagues, chatting to Mike Dickson after another long day at the “tennis office”.

• Ben Rothenberg caught up with a very candid Frances Tiafoe, who had a bit of a come to Jesus moment regarding the direction of his career. Frances has brought on Mark Kovacs as his coach for the Australian Open. (Bounces, free article)
• Ben also sits down with Naomi Osaka for a long chat, and they discuss her decision to leave Evolve. Importantly, she clarifies that she never had any equity or business stake in the business. It was a standard agent-client contract. She tried to be a bit cryptic about the whole thing – which in Naomi code means GURL I HAVE SO MUCH TEA – but she did say what was promised to her was not delivered and she did not deny that recent decisions, like that exo, may have contributed to her desire to leave. (Bounces, paid article)

• Aryna Sabalenka is Emirates Airlines' first tennis-player ambassador. (Tennis.com)
• Novak Djokovic says winning No. 25 is not the end all be all. (BBC)

"There has been a lot of talk about the 25th, but I try to focus myself on what I have achieved, not what I'm possibly achieving," Djokovic, who is seeded fourth at Melbourne Park, said.

"I hope it comes to that [winning 25], but 24 is also not a bad number. I have to appreciate that and remind myself of the amazing career I had."

• Gone but not forgotten: This 30-minute mini-doc on 1 Point Slam breakout star Joanna Garland from an ITF 35K in Nairobi is worth your time:

• Alex Macpherson's always thorough breakdown of the Grand Slam debutantes is worth your time. (WTA)

Eight players will make their Grand Slam main-draw debuts at the 2026 Australian Open – three direct entrants (including one via special ranking) and five qualifiers – including the first two Thai representatives in six years.

• Don McRae has two features worth reading: Joao Fonseca and Belinda Bencic.
• Dasha Kasatkina is officially an Aussie. (The Athletic)

Kasatkina, 27, defected from her native Russia in March in a decision she said was necessary to live a full life.

“For me, being openly gay, if I want to be myself, I have to make this step, and I did it,” she said in a news conference at the Charleston Open in April.

Kasatkina has also openly criticized President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the country’s invasion of Ukraine, describing the war as a “full-blown nightmare” in a 2022 interview with Vitya Kravchenko in Barcelona, Spain, that was posted on YouTube.

For Kasatkina, who is one of the most popular players in the proverbial locker room of the WTA Tour, this switch is about far more than paperwork or gaining additional funding and support for her career, which are often key motivators in tennis switches of nationality. In recent months, Anastasia Potapova (Austria), Kamilla Rakhimova and Polina Kudermetova (both Uzbekistan) have left Russia behind.

• Stefanos Tsitsipas is all about the vibes right now, and it's paying off in his tennis. Being healthy helps, too. (Reuters)

"I just want to go out there, enjoy the competitive aspect of the game where you have players go back and forth, and fall in love with that process ... seeing what that brings out of my game. "These are the type of things that I'm focused on right now," added Tsitsipas, who has slipped to number 33 in the rankings amid his injury struggles.

• How do tennis players deal with jet lag? (BBC)
• Emma Raducanu was not pleased with how her first-round match was scheduled. (The Guardian)
• Sasha Bublik is New York Magazine? (NYmag)
• Is she the defensive line coach for the Seattle Seahawks:

• Anastasia Potapova pulled out a comeback win over Suzan Lamens and then was asked about the copy-pasta thing:

• One of my favorite things about working at the WTA was the three-times a day emails we automatically received directly from the supervisor that was nothing more than a copy/paste text-only email of all the results from that day so far and the order of play. Quickly scanning an email of results made it so easy to stay up to date. Well the closest thing I have to that now is TickTockTennis' daily dispatches, which take waaaaaaaaay more work than those internal emails, and they've been incredibly helpful. You can subscribe for free and if you find it's a value add, donate accordingly. That's what I did. (TickTockTennis)