Avoiding FPL & watching sunrise – how players cope with jetlag
Tennis players might be considered super-human but they suffer with jetlag like the rest of us – particularly when they travel to the Australian Open.
Tennis players might be considered super-human but they suffer with jetlag like the rest of us – particularly when they travel to the Australian Open.
Matteo Berrettini has withdrawn from the Australian Open. The Italian announced the news on Saturday.
“I’m really sorry to have to withdraw from the tournament,” Berrettini said. “I have always enjoyed being and playing here and feeling your incredible support. Thank you to the tournament for their fantastic organisation and I hope to see all of you again very soon.”
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The former No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings was scheduled to face sixth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur in the first round but will now be replaced in the draw by Mackenzie McDonald. Berrettini reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in 2022.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Novak Djokovic says the upcoming Australian Open is not “now or never” for his hopes of winning a standalone all-time record 25th Grand Slam title.
Gabriel Diallo has not practised with or competed against World No. 3 Alexander Zverev, who has been a presence at the top of the ATP Tour since before the Canadian was in college. But the 24-year-old is flying higher than ever and excited to step on the court inside Rod Laver Arena Sunday to take on the two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion.
“I’m very grateful that I’m in this position to play in a Slam, one of the biggest courts against one of the best players in the world. So it’s all a bonus,” Diallo told ATPTour.com. “We train hard and we work hard to position ourselves to play in those kind of matches. We start playing tennis, to play those kind of matches. So I’m really excited and looking forward to playing.”
One year ago, Zverev made the final at Melbourne Park for the first time after reaching the semi-finals on two previous occasions. The German has failed to reach the fourth round just once since 2019.
“He’s very consistent. First of all, just from the back and in terms of a performance standpoint, he’s been in the Top 10 for I don’t know how many years. And then, obviously in terms of his game, he’s got a great serve, great backhand, solid forehand,” Diallo said. “So I’m going to have to get creative. I’m going to have to take it to him if I want to give myself some chances to win. At the end of the day, I think for me it’s another match, it’s another learning experience.”
Diallo is currently doing plenty of learning. He split with longtime coach Martin Laurendeau and began working with Jonas Bjorkman and Johan Ortegren.
“I’ve got the full Swedish delegation now,” Diallo said, cracking a laugh. “I’m excited to see where that’s going to take me, and very grateful for the past five years I had with Marty. We had an amazing run since I was in college, all the way to now. Someone that will always stay very close to me and that has a special place in my heart.”
[NO 1 CLUB]While Ortegren was also a professional tennis player, Bjorkman stands out for his efforts reaching No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings and No. 1 in doubles.
“It’s been very good. He just came to Adelaide, so it was the first time I saw him there. But yeah, so far it’s been very good. Learning a lot,” Diallo said. “He has a lot of expertise and as a player, he was where I aspire to be. So just a great opportunity to learn from him and work with him and excited to see where it’s going to take me.”
The World No. 1 is on a good path. A year ago he was No. 86 and competing in the Australian Open main draw for the first time. Now Diallo is one of the most dangerous unseeded players in Melbourne, fresh off a season in which he lifted the trophy in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and made his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final in Madrid.
“The goal was to finish inside the Top 50, and I managed to accomplish that. I had some very good results. Won my first title, big quarters in the Masters,” Diallo said. “So just [want to] keep building on this, carrying this momentum throughout 2026, keep improving. We flagged the things that I need to improve in order to make the next jump and the details and the margins are getting smaller and smaller, but those are the things that are going to make a big difference.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]From a #NextGenATP showdown in the opening round, to former college standouts and other rising talents, ATPTour.com highlights five ATP Challenger players to watch during the Australian Open.
[ATP APP]Rei Sakamoto
The 19-year-old lifted the 2024 boys’ singles crown in Melbourne, becoming the first Japanese player to win the junior title at the Australian Open. Since then, the 6’4” (193cm) teenager has made a splash on the ATP Challenger circuit, including a triumph last November on home soil at the Yokohama Challenger, his final tournament of 2025.
The first Japanese teenager to win three Challenger titles, Sakamoto stormed through the Melbourne qualifying draw to make his first major main-draw appearance. He began with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 win against former World No. 21 Daniel Evans and built upon that momentum, not dropping a set to earn a milestone appearance Down Under. Sakamoto will face fellow 19-year-old Rafael Jodar in the first round.
Rafael Jodar
It will be an entertaining opening-round clash between two emerging talents, Sakamoto and Jodar. Not only is the Spaniard competing in his first major main draw, this past week marked his first attempt at qualifying for Slam — mission accomplished. Jodar’s Challenger results have been a key stepping stone to where he is today.
In the second half of the 2025 season, Jodar won three Challenger titles in as many months en route to qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF. On New Year’s Eve, the 19-year-old announced that he was turning pro, forgoing his remaining eligibility at the University of Virginia, where he spent two seasons. He began this season with a run to the final at the Canberra Challenger, where he fell to 2025 Jeddah runner-up Alexander Blockx. Jodar is at a career-high No. 150 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
Liam Draxl
The Canadian was one of two players (Emilio Nava) to earn a season-leading 44 match wins at the Challenger level in 2025. Draxl, 24, won on the hard courts of Winnipeg in July and reached six additional finals to cap his career-best year. Now, the former University of Kentucky standout turns his attention to his first major main-draw appearance.
Draxl was nearly out of qualifying when he faced a 3-6, 3-5 deficit against Mackenzie McDonald in the final round. Two points from defeat at 3-5 in the second set, Draxl hammered a backhand pass to finish a thrilling exchange in which the American had an opportunity to put away an overhead. Draxl stormed back to win 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-2, securing his place in the main draw in dramatic fashion. He will start against Damir Dzumhur.
Raphael Collignon
The 23-year-old will look to relive his memories from last year’s US Open, where he reached the third round of a Slam for the first time, having defeated 12th seed Casper Ruud in a five-set, three-hour, 30-minute battle along the way. The Belgian faces a tough test in fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti in his Melbourne opener.
At a career-high No. 72 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Collignon reached his second career tour-level quarter-final in Brisbane earlier this month. He is competing in the Australian Open main draw for the first time. Collignon, whose father is a brain surgeon, lifted two Challenger trophies in 2025 (Pau, Monza).
Patrick Kypson
A seven-time Challenger champion, Kypson was among a six-way tie for the most titles (4) at that level in 2025. The 26-year-old earned a spot in the main draw by winning the USTA’s Australian Open Wild Card Challenge last November, in large part helped by his triumphs at the Sioux Falls and Helsinki Challengers.
Competing in Melbourne for the second time (2024) and seeking his first major main-draw win, Kypson begins against Argentine Francisco Comesana.
Slam debut incoming 🔜
Arthur Gea, Rafael Jodar, Rei Sakamoto, Francesco Maestrelli, Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, Michael Zheng and Liam Draxl punch their ticket to the @AustralianOpen main draw!#ATPChallenger | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/VHsR4k90H9
— ATP Challenger (@ATPChallenger) January 15, 2026
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
There is no shortage of compelling narratives at this year’s Australian Open, where Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic all arrive with history firmly in their sights.
Alcaraz, the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, is bidding for a maiden crown at the hard-court major — a triumph with which he would complete the Career Grand Slam. Two-time defending champion Sinner and record 10-time winner Djokovic stand among a deep field of contenders eager to halt the Spaniard’s charge.
ATPTour.com highlights 10 storylines to follow at the 2026 Australian Open.
[NO 1 CLUB]1) Alcaraz chases Career Grand Slam: Alcaraz has yet to progress beyond the quarter-finals in four previous appearances at the Australian Open, but he has made no secret of his ambition to lift the title in Melbourne. Should he triumph, the World No. 1 will become just the sixth man in the Open Era to win at least one major title at all four Grand Slam tournaments.
2) Can Sinner complete hat-trick? The two-time defending champion is attempting to join Djokovic as the only man in the Open Era to win three straight Australian Open titles. Sinner owns a 22-4 record at the event, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, with his most recent loss coming against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round in 2023.
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3) Djokovic returns to stomping ground:
After being forced to retire injured from his semi-final against Alexander Zverev last year, Djokovic is back at his most successful major with renewed motivation. The 38-year-old claimed his 101st tour-level title in Athens in November and is chasing a 25th Grand Slam trophy, which would move him clear of Margaret Court on the all-time list.
4) Zverev pushes on in bid for maiden Slam:
A three-time major finalist, Zverev continues to feature prominently in the latter stages of the biggest tournaments, but the elusive breakthrough remains. The German, runner-up to Sinner last year, begins his campaign against powerful Canadian Gabriel Diallo.
5) Resurgent Medvedev:
Following a strong close to the 2025 season and a title run in Brisbane to open 2026, Daniil Medvedev appears revitalised after managing just one major match win last year. A former World No. 1 and three-time Melbourne finalist, Medvedev could meet longtime rival Zverev in the quarter-finals. He leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 14-8.
6) Aussie hopes on home soil:
At a career-high No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Alex de Minaur spearheads the local charge. The 26-year-old, a competitor at the past two Nitto ATP Finals, is joined in the main draw by fellow Australians Alexei Popyrin, Adam Walton — who opens against Alcaraz — and James Duckworth, while Jason Kubler advanced through qualifying.
7) #NextGen talents take centre stage:
Recent Next Gen ATP Finals champions Learner Tien and Joao Fonseca return as the 25th and 28th seeds, respectively. Tien stunned Medvedev en route to the fourth round last year, while Fonseca claimed a notable win over Andrey Rublev. They are joined by 2025 Jeddah competitors Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, Rafael Jodar, Nishesh Basavareddy and Dino Prizmic, as well as 19-year-old Rei Sakamoto.
8) Wawrinka headlines wild cards:
Stan Wawrinka, who plans to retire at the end of the 2026 season, captured the first of his three major titles in Melbourne in 2014 and returns this year as a wild card. Australian Jordan Thompson also enters via wild card, having not played a tour-level match since October in Shanghai.
9) First-round popcorn clashes:
De Minaur faces an immediate challenge against former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini. World No. 8 Ben Shelton, a semi-finalist last year, opens against Adelaide finalist Ugo Humbert, while Grigor Dimitrov versus Tomas Machac adds to a trio of must-watch opening-round encounters.
10) Kokkinakis/Kyrgios feature in doubles:
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool arrive as the top seeds after finishing 2025 by claiming Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours. The doubles field also includes 2022 Australian Open champions Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios, adding further intrigue to the competition.
We relive the three epic Grand Slam finals contested by Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz in 2025
What are the stories to watch at the first tennis Grand Slam of the year?
The All England Club proposals include 38 new tennis courts and an 8,000‑seat stadium.
Milos Raonic’s wife Camille Raonic penned an emotional tribute to her husband after he announced his retirement from tennis on Monday.
Camille took to social media to express her gratitude and love toward the Canadian, stating his ‘career meant so much to so many’. Raonic married Camille in April 2022 and paid tribute to her during his announcement on Monday.
“Your powerful serve became your signiture, your relentless work eithic set you apart and your quiet determination propelled you to the world’s biggest stages,” she wrote on Friday. “You broke records, shattered expectations and redefined what was possible for Canadian tennis.”
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Raonic won eight tour-level titles during his career and climbed to a career-high No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]