Melbourne Mornings:
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) February 1, 2026
Elena Rybakina and the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. pic.twitter.com/6Mi5R9Qrwa
Here are my top 10 Australian Open occurrences, in ascending order:
10. Making the most of a wild card: Australian player Maddison Inglis, ranked number 168 in the world, won her first round match, and then won her second round match, a three-hour and 20-minute battle against Laura Siegemund. She then received a third round walkover from Naomi Osaka. Inglis was stopped in the round of 16 by the 2nd seed, but found joy the moment that she broke Swiatek.
9. Still a treasure: There was no viral dance this year, but Jelena Dokic continued to demonstrate why she's the best on-court interviewer around. Dokic's warmth, sense of humor, and ability to connect with any type of player make her interviews a vital part of each match she covers.
8. It was hot, but it was intrusive: The Australian Open always presents problems with excessive heat. Back when the event had Rebound Ace courts, it was common for players to turn their ankles because the court surfaces became so soft; I can recall a wheelchair match being stopped because tires were melting. It was especially hot this year, and the heat rule doesn't allow for the roof to be put on until the magic temperature number is reached, even though everyone knows that that temperature is going to go up. In addition to dealing with the heat and the roof, players continued to deal with invasive tracking shots taken as they exit the court (or do just about anything). The cameras are everywhere, so you can't cry or break a racket or curse or stomp or do any of the things that a player might do on the way out, without having it televised.
7. Turkish delight: Zeynep Sonmez, after winning three qualifying rounds, began her main draw action by making a very flashy statement: She upset 11th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round. Sonmez made it to the third round, in which she was defeated by Yulia Putintseva. Mentored by Ons Jabeur, Sonmez is the first Turkish woman to win a main draw match at the Australian Open in the Open Era.
6. Surprise!--a Czech with talent: Sonmez wasn't the only qualifier to make a big statement. Nikola Bartunkova knocked Dasha Kasatkina out in the first round, which would have been impressive enough, but then--in the next round--she upset 10th seed (and one of the hottest players of the early season) Belinda Bencic. She lost to Elise Mertens in the third round, but Bartunkova's variety-filled game won't be forgotten by anyone who saw her play.
5. Sweeping Melbourne: For the past few years, the two big names in wheelchair tennis have been Diede de Groot and her rival, Yui Kamiji. When de Groot had to take a year and a half off because of injury, exhaustion, surgery, and rehab, Kamiji took over as the boss. But there was also Li Xiaohui, the woman who broke de Groot's 145-match win streak at the 2024 World Team Cup. In Melbourne, Li defeated de Groot in the final to win the singles title, and she and partner Wang Ziying won the doubles title, defeating Kamiji and Zhu Zhenzhen in the final.
4. Melbourne breakout: Qualifier Iva Jovic made it all the way to the quarterfinals, and along the way, she upset 7th seed Jasmine Paolini. She also allowed Yulia Putintseva only one game, and who knows how much farther she could have gone had she not drawn top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals?
3. History is made: Australian wild cards Olivia Gadecki and John Peers, who won the mixed doubles title last year, won it again in 2026. This marked the first time in 37 years that a team won back-to-back mixed doubles titles in Melbourne.
2. A team to watch: Both Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai are known for their impressive doubles careers, and in Melbourne--for the first time--they won a major together. This was the sixth major doubles title for Mertens, and the third for Zhang.
1. One cool customer: Elena Rybakina is known for her low-key persona. We don't hear her yell or see her get angry. We don't often see her smile. And when she wins--even when she wins something really big--we don't see her fall to her knees or onto her back. Calm and steady--that's who she is. And in the Australian Open singles final, she was also the woman who displayed nerves of steel.
Rybakina skillfully took the first set off of top seed and two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka, just as she had done in 2023 when they played each other in the final. And she dropped the second set, just as she had back then. When she went down 0-3 in the third, the outcome may have appeared obvious to some. But the deficit seemed to bring Rybakoina back to life. She caught up, she broke, and she won championship point with an ace. The Kazakhstani star now holds two major titles--she won Wimbledon in 2022.
Rybakina's 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory was the culmination of a match in which both players were just superb, with the edge-of-your-seat second half of the third set providing the kind of drama that makes professional tennis so exciting.
