The Star Teens Shaking Up Tennis, Novak Djokovic’s Latest Record and More from Down Under

We’re three-fourths of the way through this year’s Australian Open, which is the first Grand Slam of the professional tennis season (“season” is a generous term here: the circuit is almost a year long, running from January to November).

If 2025’s tournament has been an indication of what’s to come, signs are pointing to a youthquake: There’s a rising class in men’s tennis that’s born even later than the sport’s current megastars, Carlos Alcaraz (21) and Jannik Sinner (23).

And they’re making a racket.

Three in this cohort are teenagers: Croatia’s Jakub Menšík (19), Brazil’s Joao Fonseca (18), and the United States’s Learner Tien (19). At the AO, each beat a top 10-ranked player: Menšík dispatched sixth-seed Casper Ruud, Fonseca handily defeated ninth-seed Andrey Rublev (it was the Brazilian’s first ever match at a Slam), and Tien pulled off the biggest upset of the group: He bested fifth-seed Daniil Medvedev, a former Slam winner himself, in five tough sets. It put Tien on a path to become the youngest player to reach the AO’s Round of 16 since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

“New blood is coming,” warned Menšík.

Though he, Fonseca and Tien have now all been eliminated, their names—and potential for elite status—garnered worldwide buzz (to tennis fans that pay attention beyond the majors, this wouldn’t be surprising; all of these players had stellar junior careers).

The other to note is Alex Michelsen (20), also from the U.S. In his first round, he sent Stefanos Tsitsipas, the eleventh seed, to the exit. And the Californian played phenomenally well through the next few rounds; in the second and third rounds, he didn’t drop a set. (Michelsen would eventually lose to Alex de Minaur in the Round of 16.)

“I’ve put in so much work in the last three, four years. I’ve been grinding every single day,” Michelsen said in a press conference over the weekend. He surprised reporters by adding that his professional aspirations only surfaced somewhat recently: “I didn’t think I would be a pro until maybe, age 17.”

While the youth have grabbed plenty of headlines, so too has the old guard.

Many have belonged to Novak Djokovic (37), the men’s tennis all time great and ten time Australian Open winner. For one, the tournament has marked the world stage debut of his coaching partnership with none other than Andy Murray—his one-time rival (Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are oft referred to as “The Big 3,” but many consider Murray to have been as close a competitor as any to these guys, and some call them “The Big 4.”)

More remarkably: Djokovic has now advanced to his fiftieth major semifinal, after beating Alcaraz in a grueling four-set match that went to about 1:00 am local time in Melbourne. That number sets yet another Djokovic record in men’s tennis, further cementing the athlete’s legendary status.

He paid his respects to Alcaraz, who had been vocal about wanting to win the whole thing in Melbourne in order to complete his Grand Slam scorecard (he has championed 2 Wimbledons, 1 U.S. Open and 1 Roland-Garros).

When the battle was done, Djokovic told Jim Courier: “What a great guy [Carlos] is… it was one of the most epic matches I’ve played on this court… on any court.”

There had been some question as to whether Djokovic would do anymore interviews: at his prior match, he boycotted questioning on account of an Australian TV reporter’s on-air comments last Friday. Channel 9’s Tony Jones taunted, “Novak, he’s overrated. Novak’s a has-been. Novak, kick him out.” Djokovic demanded a public apology, which Jones has (sort of) done.

Meanwhile, Gael Monfils (38) had a strong tournament, including beating world number four and last year’s U.S. Open finalist Taylor Fritz in the third round.

In that contest’s press conference, Monfils was asked if he could see himself winning the tournament—if it was within his dreams.

“Win?” he asked, eyes widening. “No,” he continued, rolling his head and letting his voice dip just slightly. “You know, to be honest with you, it’s not even a dream to win the tournament … I keep playing for those matches. A big player, a big stadium, good crowd, good energy.”

Unfortunately, Monfils was forced to retire against Ben Shelton in the Round of 16. It was a great run.

On the women’s side, 4-time Slam winner Naomi Osaka looked to be in good form, but unfortunately had to withdraw due to an abdomen injury. American Danielle Collins went semi-viral for sparring with the rowdy Aussie crowd—she went so far as to say all of their taunting didn’t matter, because her paycheck, funded in part by the audience’s ticket purchases, paid for her “yachts” on vacation. And, a special shoutout has to go to Eva Lys, the 23-year-old German who played through the qualifiers but did not, at first, make the main draw. She then became a “lucky loser” when the 13th seed, Anna Kalinskaya, withdrew at the last minute with a virus. Lys would go on to the Round of 16—the first time a lucky loser had ever gotten that far at the AO—where she lost to world number 2 Iga Świątek.

Back to the gents: Only Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Sonego and Ben Shelton remain. de Minaur is an at-home hero in Australia (he was born in Sydney) and Sinner, while looking a bit shaken up during his quarter-final against Holger Rune, also seems to be in good shape. And, to note: Shelton is the last standing American.