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Das erste Grand Slam Wochenende der HTT Saison 2025 ist geschlagen, und hat in seiner knapp 72stündi…

Paula Badosa steht im Viertelfinale der Australian Open und erreicht damit zum zweiten Mal in Folge die Runde der letzten acht Spielerinnen bei einem Grand Slam. In Spanien ist sowas bei den Frauen nicht alltäglich.

Alexander Zverev durfte sich im Achtelfinale der Australian Open gegen Ugo Humbert über einen Viersatzerfolg freuen. Mit dem Viertelfinaleinzug erreichte Zverev auch eine besondere Marke im deutschen Tennis.

Carlos Alcaraz traf bereits sieben Mal auf Novak Djokovic: Dreimal im Halbfinale und viermal im Finale. Ihr achtes Aufeinandertreffen wird so früh wie noch nie in einem Turnier stattfinden – im Viertelfinale der Australian Open 2025.

Mit einer selbstbewussten und konsequenten Leistung besiegte Paula Badosa im Viertelfinale der Australian Open 2025 die ehemalige US-Open-Siegerin Coco Gauff in zwei Sätzen und steht damit ersmals im Halbfinale eines Major-Turniers.

Alexander Zverev und Tommy Paul treffen im ersten Viertelfinale der Australian Open 2025 aufeinander. Das Match gibt es ab 4 Uhr live im TV bei Eurosport, im Livestream bei Discovery Plus und in unserem Liveticker.

Tennisstar Novak Djokovic hat den Demonstranten in seiner Heimat Serbien seine Unterstützung zugesichert.

The American combines mental and physical toughness to turn matches in deciding sets.

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday January 20, 2025

After her third round win over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, Emma Navarro talked on court about grueling bike sessions with her father, Ben Navarro, and cited the term biking and crying. “We made up a term ‘biking and crying’ because we’d be six hours in, we’d all have tears in our eyes and just be exhausted trying to pedal up a hill,” Navarro said. “I learned a lot of toughness growing up.”

That toughness is paying dividends for the American in Melbourne. On Monday night she claimed her fourth consecutive victory in three sets defeating Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5. Navarro squandered three match points in the second set, but had the mental toughness to stick with the plan and finish off the No.9 seed in a heated decider.

The 23-year-old, who has now won seven consecutive deciding sets at the majors, and eight of nine overall, credits mental toughness for her run in Melbourne. She has earned a quarterfinal showdown with No.2-seeded Iga Swiatek (more on that down the page) the hard way.

“I feel like it’s more of a test of mental will than anything,” Navarro said. “I have worked really hard on my fitness to be able to go three sets and play over two hours, three hours, whatever it takes. I feel like my fitness has definitely paid off here in my first four matches.”

Navarro says she has yet to play her best tennis at this Australian open. Commendable, then, to have reached her first quarterfinal at the Australian open without her A game.

“I feel like it’s more mental toughness than anything,” she said. “I feel like I haven’t been playing my best. Today was definitely the best match I have played. I feel like every match I have been getting a little bit better.”

Navarro is 10-2 lifetime in three-setters at the majors, and 28-15 overall. Her fitness, and her commitment to development in that regard, is a big reason that she has now reached at least the quarterfinals in her last three Grand Slam appearances.

In the quarterfinals she’ll be tested by a phenom that has reached the quarterfinals the opposite way. Five-time Slam champion Swiatek has dropped just 11 games through four rounds. That’s a lot less than the 61 Navarro has yielded. The American knows she’ll have to summon everything and then some to deal with Swiatek’s firepower.

She lost 6-0, 6-2 to the Pole in their only previous meeting, at an 80K challenger in 2018.

“When I look back at my tennis career, I feel like there were not too many times when I was totally blown off the court, and I definitely was kind of blown off the court playing her,” Navarro admitted. “I think maybe at the time she was ranked 200 or something. We played at my home club in Charleston. I was, like, ‘Wow, this girl is pretty good.’

Riding high on confidence, in her game and in her fitness, Navarro believes it will be different this time.

“Circumstances are definitely different now. I feel like I’m pretty good, too. You know, I’m ready for a good challenge.”

Iga Swiatek reacts after WADA announces it will not appeal the case that saw Swiatek test positive for TMZ.

By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow  | Monday, January 20, 2025
Photo credit: Graham Denholm/Getty
 
Iga Swiatek won’t face any further punishment after testing positive for the banned substance TMZ.

WADA announced today it will not file an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Swiatek’s case.

More: Sinner and Cahill to Part After 2025

Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek served a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample in August.

WADA said it has „conducted a full review“ of the case and is not appealing the decision because it accepts Swiatek’s claim of contamination through melatonin 

„On 28 November, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), the independent body that delivers anti-doping programs on behalf of the International Tennis Federation, announced that Ms. Świątek had accepted a one-month period of ineligibility after the ITIA determined that her positive test for TMZ was caused by a contaminated melatonin product that is regulated as a medication in Poland and was sourced from a reputable pharmacy in that country,“ WADA said in a statement. „WADA has conducted a full review of the case file related to the ITIA decision, which it received on 29 November.

„WADA’s scientific experts have confirmed that the specific .contaminated melatonin scenario, as presented by the athlete and accepted by the ITIA, is plausible and that there would be no scientific grounds to challenge it at CAS. Further, WADA sought advice from external legal counsel, who considered that the athlete’s contamination explanation was well evidenced, that the ITIA decision was compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, and that there was no reasonable basis to appeal it to the CAS.“

The second-seeded Swiatek, who will face American Emma Navarro in the Australian open quarterfinals, said she’s satisfied to have closure.

„I’m just satisfied that I got a closure, and I kind of want to focus on the tournament already, so it’s good that the process is over,“ Swiatek said.

Ben Shelton beat his tennis hero, Gael Monfils, then shared the top challenge facing the 38-year-old Frenchman and best advice he offered.

By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow  | Monday, January 20, 2025
Photo credit: ROLEX

Cheering for Gael Monfils gave a young Ben Shelton thrills.

Facing his tennis hero for the first time at the Australian Open prompted chills in Shelton.

More: Sinner and Cahill to Part After 2025

The 22-year-old Shelton led Monfils 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 1-0 when the 38-year-old Frenchman retired from their AO fourth-round match due to a back injury after two hours, 57 minutes of physical play.

The left-handed Shelton halted his hero’s eight-match winning streak one round after an inspired Monfils upset US Open finalist Taylor Fritz in a superb third-round win.

The experience gave Shelton “goosebumps.”

Afterward Shelton said playing the entertaining Monfils is challenging because it’s a journey of emotional extremes: from fan to fierce competitor.

“It’s always tough. The little kid in me always wants to see Gael win,” Shelton told the media in Melbourne. “I always want to see him hit the highlight shot and trick shot.

“It’s like players always get mad when the crowd is against them or not for them, but honestly, all I could do today was appreciate the fans getting behind him. It was just a cool moment for me to be a part of. Obviously they were cheering against me, pretty much the whole stadium, but it’s kind of the stuff that gives you goose bumps, the stuff that you live for.”

This was their first pro meeting, but Monfils and Shelton share a bond—and mutual admiration.

The 21st-seeded Shelton revealed that after his run to the 2023 AO quarterfinals when he struggled losing 11 first-round matches during one dismal stretch, it was an encouraging Monfils who gave him a “pep talk” and also shared a valuable piece of advice.

Monfils, who had a streak of reaching at least one ATP final for 19 consecutive years, told Shelton a main reason he’s stayed so energized and engaged by the game is he figured out which tournaments he truly loves playing and plots his schedule around those events where he’s most comfortable.

“It was that 2023 run where I lost a lot of matches in a row or lost early in a lot of tournaments in a row,” Shelton said. “He said to me, like, You know, it was important for him in his career that he found the places that he loved to play, and he focused on those weeks and doing really well in those weeks and knowing there are places that he doesn’t love to play and not stressing as much.

“That’s kind of the way that he’s been able to keep the love for the sport, and you are seeing this. He’s still entertaining crowds at 38 years old, which is remarkable.

„Obviously he’s done it in a way where he can still love it and enjoy it. It’s long seasons. It’s certainly an easy sport to get burnt out. Individual sport, it’s not like you have a team who can pick up the slack if you’re a vet and you can play less minutes. No, you’ve got to be out there for every point.“

Facing the phenomenal athleticism and pulsating theatricality of Monfils is a mental test, too, Shelton said.

The magic Monfils can exude such good vibes, Shelton said he can lull you into a false sense of relaxation. The elastic Frenchman’s body language can be deceptive. Seeing Monfils bend over at the waist and gulp deep breaths of air isn’t always a sign of fatigue—sometimes it’s a set-up, Shelton said.

“It’s something that you enjoy, but you try to suppress that while you’re playing to stay focused,” Shelton said. “He’s a guy that when you start getting into that and you’re smiling the whole match. Then, oh, wow, I’m down two sets? It’s blown by me.

“So he’s definitely a guy you’ve got to stay locked in. I think that one of the things that he also does best, which clearly he was not fully 100% today and towards the end of the match really gassed, but sometimes he looks real tired and you could be serving to him and he’s got his hands on his knees and then you serve a bomb out wide and he’s reflexed it and he’s in the corner and passing you.

“You’re like, ahh, I fell in the trap. It’s a tough kind of tricky back-and-forth. Obviously that’s his way of dealing with being tired on a court. But he plays it up sometimes, and I think that, like, he’s got more in the tank than he shows at times. “

The 2023 US Open semifinalist Shelton will face 55th-ranked Italian Lorenzo Sonego for a semifinal spot.

The lankly Sonego has been a bit of a human buzz kill in Oz. Sonego started the tournament defeating Stan Wawrinka then took down Brazilian sensation Joao Fonseca after the qualifier upset Andrey Rublev before bouncing talented 19-year-old American qualifier Learner Tien out of the fourth round.

“For me it’s, like, it’s a sense of urgency,” Shelton said of his quest to reach a maiden major final. “It’s knowing that, okay, to get here, you might have done some really good things and played some great tennis, but there is a whole new matchup in front of you, and if somebody’s in the quarterfinals or semifinals, they’re close to the best version of themselves.”