Glancing at different draws at Australian Open 2025, familiar names found themselves in the final stages.
Of the eight semifinalists in singles, for example, seven had already been in the last four, at least, of a major. The outlier happened to be a former world No.2.
Were there upsets along the way? Yes, as ever, which helped to make for another compelling Australian Open.
Here are five things we learned from an action-packed AO 2025.
Persistence pays
Tennis players have to be a persistent bunch to overcome tough losses, injuries, criticism, off-court setbacks – and more.
But in the ‘persistence pays off’ category, quite a few at AO 2025 fit the bill. Here are a few, starting with women’s champion Madison Keys.

Injuries, doubts and the weight of heavy expectations all took a toll on the American during her career.
Tipped as a Grand Slam winner after being a teen phenom, few would have predicted that Keys would go all the way at Melbourne Park one month shy of turning 30.
In a few other examples, Paula Badosa overcame a stress fracture in her back that almost forced the Spaniard to retire. She persevered to earn that semifinal berth.
Lower down the ranks but also noticeable, the likes of Tristan Schoolkate and Hady Habib made headlines.
Schoolkate, 23, took to GoFundMe as a junior to help finance his career. He graced the Rod Laver Arena stage and then took a set off world No.1 Jannik Sinner.
Habib, 26, became the first player from Lebanon to compete in a Grand Slam main draw in the Open Era – and win a match.
The next wave is coming
It didn’t take long for the recent brigade at the Next Gen Finals to make a splash.
Let’s see … making his Grand Slam debut, 18-year-old Joao Fonseca upset Andrey Rublev. In the process, the Brazilian authored one of the finest purple patches you might ever see, early in the second set of their match.
Lefty Learner Tien, 19, won his first Grand Slam match, then proceeded to outlast Daniil Medvedev in five sets. Medvedev, the AO 2024 finalist, had won six of his previous seven fifth sets.
Nishesh Basavareddy, like Fonseca making his Slam debut, snared a set off Novak Djokovic. The 19-year-old plays in a similar way to the Serb.
Two more experienced Next Genners, Alex Michelsen and Jakub Mensik, also flourished. Michelsen – Tien and Basavareddy’s fellow Californian – made the second week at a major for the first time.
Meanwhile, Mensik, 19, narrowly missed out on a maiden fourth round. The big-serving Czech held two match points against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a third set before the Spaniard came back.
Even though Mirra Andreeva is already a Grand Slam semifinalist, she’s still only 17.
Andreeva lived up to her seeding of No.14 by making the fourth round, losing to the women’s finalist Aryna Sabalenka.
It’s promising on the home front
Sinner extended his record to 10-0 against Alex de Minaur with a straight-sets win, but it shouldn’t lessen the significance of the Sydney native’s AO 2025.
He not only reached a maiden quarterfinal at the Australian Open, but he joined limited home company in achieving a fourth consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal.

He wasn’t the lone Australian to shine. Marathon man Aleksandar Vukic broke new ground by reaching the third round at a major.
Destanee Aiava – whose powerful hitting was compared to Serena Williams all those years ago by Simona Halep – notched her first Grand Slam win after career struggles and dead-ends.
Schoolkate, Kimberly Birrell, Emerson Jones (just 16) and Talia Gibson all enjoyed memorable Australian summers, too.
Birrell – at a career high No.95 in the live rankings – featured in the all-Australian mixed doubles final.
It pays to win the first set
Statistically, if you win the first set in tennis, chances are that you will go on to win the match.
In the best of five-set format for the men – not surprisingly given the extended format – there does seem to be slightly more chance of a rally.
But players that won the first set in the men’s draw at AO 2025 ended up winning 72 per cent of the time (91 of 127 matches), compared to roughly 74 per cent last year.
In the women’s draw, the number stood at 79 per cent this fortnight.
Who was the only women’s competitor to win more than one match from a set down? Keys, who did it in back-to-back rounds against Elina Svitolina and Iga Swiatek.
Monfils still has it
Noteworthy stats accompanied Gael Monfils, Svitolina’s husband, during his three weeks of action in January. Some will have pleased the flamboyant Frenchman, others not so much.
He fell for the 20th straight time against Novak Djokovic at the Brisbane International, but the 38-year-old then became the oldest man to win a title since 1977 by claiming Auckland’s ASB Classic.
He wasn’t done there, though.
When he upset US Open finalist Taylor Fritz in the third round at Melbourne Park, it marked his first top 10 scalp at a major since 2014.