The Ashes brought so much drama and intrigue. Can tennis live up to it?

There have been questions and controversy surrounding Djokovic’s declaration on the immigration form and subsequent apology for a “mistake” on said form, as he had in fact traveled in the previous 14 days and breached quarantine rules to carry out Team taking photos while knowingly infected with a virus.

The world number one would feel worse than Harry Brook on the Wellington bender. Meanwhile, Tiley was on fire, making the proverbial hot seat of the Tennis Australia chief executive hot after allegations he was looking for a loophole to cater to an unvaccinated player chasing a record 21st Grand Slam title.

Rafael Nadal was among the players who felt “a bit tired of the situation because I just believe it’s important to talk about our sport, about tennis”. Nadal remained tired until his broken body defeated Djokovic for a record 21st singles crown. His five-set comeback from the men’s final against Daniil Medvedev came a day after Ash Barty became Australia’s first singles tournament winner in 44 years.

A few hours earlier, Kyrgios live-streamed his entrance into Rod Laver Arena, where he and Thanasi Kokkinakis won the men’s doubles. The Special Ks were wild cards in every sense, lawn club brats telling punters to “drink and come here”. Who hijacked the morals and tradition of this sport and a bastard who sounds suspiciously like Bazball. Except that the pair won, while Bazball’s way of being anti-establishment was also a way of anti-success.

It was a tournament where “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts were banned, then not banned (banners were still banned). Its soundtrack was “siuuu” (“incredibly irritating… painful thing”, according to Andy Murray). And it was a tournament that heralded the 2021-22 Ashes series that immediately preceded it.

Loading

Four years later, today’s big guns square off in a “happy slam”. Djokovic will return once more, albeit under the eternal fitness cloud that has plagued the Serbian great since his 10th AO singles title in 2023. Jannik Sinner will try to lift a third trophy in a row, although he already has his prizemoney from a recent exhibition match against Carlos Alcaraz in Korea.

Kyrgios has ruled himself out of a possible wild card, saying his rehabilitated body is not ready for five-set tennis. The call helped Tiley get out of the awkward position of allowing old favorite Stan Wawrinka to return to the scene for his first major trophy in his final season at the age of 40.

But Kyrgios and Kokkinakis will team up again to try to replicate their doubles success in 2022. Aryna Sabalenka will be fighting for a third title after losing last year’s final to Madison Keys.