What's New, What's Not, What's Next? (Jan. 6)

Here's a round-up of the first week of tennis of the 2025 season - a week which saw titles for Team USA (led by Taylor Fritz and Coco Gauff) at the United Cup, Jiří Lehečka and Aryna Sabalenka in Brisbane, Clara Tauson in Auckland, and Alexandre Muller in Hong Kong.

What's new?

Alexandre Muller is the first new champion of 2025

Hands up if you had 27 year old Frenchman Alexandre Muller down as a first-time title winner in 2025. Anyone?

Muller had some week in Hong Kong, becoming only the third player in history to win an ATP title after losing the first set in every match along the way.

si.robi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This was only Muller's second final, and he was able to outlast a resurgent Kei Nishikori (more on whom below) with some fabulous tennis to cap a stunning week.

Coco Gauff has beaten Iga Świątek twice in a row

Coco Gauff's head-to-head record against Świątek stood at 1 win and 11 losses going into the 2024 WTA Finals. Gauff beat Świątek in straight sets in Riyadh, but it can be tricky to know how much to read into matches at the end of the year. It was especially difficult to know what to make of the WTA Finals performances given that Świątek hadn't played much going into the event (for what we now know was a suspension for testing positive for a banned substance). But at the United Cup this week, Świątek looked good, and Gauff was better.

Gauff impressed in a straight sets win over Świątek in Sydney, giving Team USA a 1-0 finals lead that Taylor Fritz would convert into a second ATP Cup trophy in 3 years for the US team and a second consecutive defeat in the final for Team Poland. Świątek was not quite at her best against Gauff, having previously come through some gruelling encounters with Katie Boulter and Elena Rybakina which forced her to find some of her very best tennis. But in the big moments, Świątek looked stressed and on-edge, while Gauff projected confidence, security and self-assuredness.

If Gauff can keep performing at the level she found towards the end of 2024 and carried into this week, she may be able to turn that nasty head-to-head around, setting up a much more compelling rivalry for the years to come. For Świątek, the early signs from her partnership with coach Wim Fissette seem positive, but there's clearly some more work to be done for her to find the right balance between intensity and stress on the court.

What's not?

Kei Nishikori, Reilly Opelka and Naomi Osaka are contending for titles in 2025

This was a bit of a throwback week, with Kei Nishikori, Reilly Opelka and Naomi Osaka all making runs to their first tour-level finals in several years. If you haven't kept up with tennis for a few years their runs might sound unremarkable, but these players have just not been relevant at the top of the game in the last couple of years.

Nishikori had a strong week in Hong Kong, taking out the likes of Karen Khachanov, Cam Norrie and Jerry Shang along the way to the final. He wasn't exactly back to his best, but he showed that his ball striking remains some of the purest out there, and his backhand can still do some major damage. In truth, he ran out of steam in the final against Muller, which is understandable - Nishikori just hasn't played this much tennis for a while. But there were signs that he's on course for a strong year, and it will be interesting to see how quickly he can rise back up through the rankings.

Reilly Opelka was a real surprise this week in Brisbane, where he played some incredible tennis on the way to the final. Seeing him outplay Novak Djokovic in the quarter final, I was questioning whether this isn't in fact a new and improved Reilly Opelka. My memory of his game was much more limited to his huge serve and wingspan, but throughout this week he was showing movement, defensive skills, and shot-making that few could live with. In the end, he retired after just five games of the final with a back injury that he had carried into the match. If the injury isn't too serious and he can keep his fitness, his performance level this week suggests that he will be a player every seed will be hoping not to draw this season.

江戸村のとくぞう, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Unfortunately, Opelka wasn't the only player to retire from their first final since 2022 with an injury. In Auckland, Naomi Osaka looked set to win her first title since the 2021 Australian Open when she took the first set of the final 6-4 against Clara Tauson. Osaka was playing some of the best tennis since her comeback from a maternity break, overpowering Tauson for a quick 5-1 lead in the final. However, when she sat down after serving out the first set with tears in her eyes, it didn't look good. Osaka has since said that she's optimistic that the abdominal injury won't keep her from competing at the Australian Open, but this was the last thing she needed as she continues to search for the tennis that previously took her to the top of the world rankings.

Aryna Sabalenka remains the player to beat on a hard court

Sabalenka looked formidable this week on the way to winning the title in Brisbane, showing why she is the world number one and holder of both hard court Slams.

Sabalenka was by no means perfect in Brisbane, dropping the first set of the final and saving countless break points against Mirra Andreeva in the semi final. But her ability to power through and get the wins shows that since elevating herself to Grand Slam champion-level, this Sabalenka is a lot more steely and mentally strong than the more combustible earlier version.

Gauff and Świątek both looked good this week in the United Cup, but Sabalenka will be a strong favourite to win a third Australian Open later this month.

What's next?

The final warm-up tournaments ahead of the Australian Open get going this week in Auckland (ATP250), Adelaide (WTA500 and ATP250) and Hobart (WTA250). The field in Adelaide includes Tommy Paul, Seb Korda, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sasha Bublik on the men's side, and a strong women's field includes Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro, Danielle Collins and Daria Kasatkina. Among the top players in Hobart are Dayana Yastremska, Amanda Anisimova and Sofia Kenin, while Auckland features Ben Shelton, Cam Norrie and Alejandro Tabilo.