The smiling, denim jacket-wearing fox subtly printed above the heel of Jannik Sinner’s crisp white shoes is about the most outlandish celebratory insignia you would expect from the Australian Open’s low-key reigning men’s champion.
MORE: All the scores from Day 2 at AO 2025
You could well imagine the modesty with which he would have talked down any designer attempts to plaster anything too garish on his kit for his first attempt at a campaign to defend a Grand Slam title at Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
“No crazy colours, no No.1s or crowns, and nothing bigger than a 2cm patch, per favore,” could well have been the feedback.
A fox and four tiny paw prints it was then on his customised kicks for Sinner’s first outing of 2025, a triumphant 7-6(2) 7-6(5) 6-1 Melbourne return against Chilean world No.36 Nicolas Jarry.
A year ago, the Italian had only a sole major semifinal from the preceding Wimbledon to his name as the standout on his Grand Slam CV.
MORE: AO 2025 men's singles draw
Seeded fourth, he carefully played his way into contention before his career-changing breakthrough in his first major final.
What a whirlwind it had been since. He ended up blazing his way to both hard-court majors and rounded out 2024 with a second successive Davis Cup trophy and the ATP Finals.
Following a season of firsts and outside the advantage of a team environment on national duties, this was a new experience as a defending champion.
“It's slightly different, but as I always say, every match is tough to win here,” Sinner said.
“It's nice to be back here, it's a very special place for me. So many things happened on the court but also off the court, beautiful things … It was a bit different, different kind of pressure. I enjoyed it.”
The 23-year-old assured all concerned little had changed about his approach.
“I believe that success should never change us as person and how we are, so obviously I had an amazing last year and with a lot of success but, you know, it never changed me, how I am,” Sinner said.
“There are so many great, great players which continue to motivate me and … I have to say [I have] the best team in the world. I’m happy to have them and then obviously we try to improve.”
A boisterous chanting contingent of Chileans reminded the 29-year-old Jarry he was well in the hunt.
He had, after all, beaten his younger foe at the first time of asking on grass in ’s-Hertogenbosch, albeit in 2019, and pushed him to three sets in Beijing last year in their subsequent meeting.
The world No.16 only eight months ago, Jarry was unlucky to have drawn the world’s best so soon given he was only a handful of places outside the seeds, and he quickly provided a reminder why.
Athletic for his 201cm stature, he was expected to create a few headaches on serve but it was his blows off the ground that had the world No.1 just as on edge in the early exchanges.
Both players fended off multiple break point opportunities – Jarry a set point on a monster serve – before the top seed separated the pair with more consistent aggression and swept the tiebreak.
At the two-hour mark, the pair headed to another tiebreak during which a momentary hesitation on a half-volley proved particularly costly for Jarry on his way to a two-set deficit.
A couple of fans delicately used carrots as clap sticks to honour the advancing top seed, who pressed home his advantage with the first break of the match in the third and cruised home.
“I think today was a very close one because the first set they can go both ways and then the third set, when I broke him the first time, it gave me a little bit of room to breathe,” Sinner said.
“He’s an incredible player, a huge potential, so I’m happy how I handled the very tough situation in the first couple of sets … Every year is different, every day is different. Happy to be again in the next round. I have a couple of things that I can surely do better, but first official match of the year so very, very happy.”
Unbeaten since the Beijing final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in early October, the Fox and his subtle customised shoes move on.
The winning streak will reach 16 should he deny Tristan Schoolkate next, the Australian wildcard defeating Japan’s Taro Daniel in four sets on Monday.