Australian Open 2025: Maya headlines manic Monday as the real Australian Open begins
You cannot tell whether someone is the next Ash Barty, or the next Danny Bonaduce, until you’ve seen them in action in adulthood. American-born Australian is ready for her Australian Open debut.
Evonne Goolagong Cawley was cutting the ribbon to launch the Australian Open when a ballkid fainted in the shadows of Rod Laver Arena. The poor girl must have seen the schedule.
From teenager Maya Joint to Jannik Sinner to Iga Swiatek to Novak Djokovic to Carlos Alcaraz – blow the trumpets, sound the horns, wipe the sleep from thy eyes after a slow, water-soaked first day, the real Open begins on Monday.
Joint is the shy 18-year-old redhead standing alongside 16-year-old Emerson Jones as the hottest prospects in Australian women’s tennis since Ipswich’s Ash Barty bewitched and beguiled her way to the world No. 1 ranking, a Venus Rosewater Dish, a Daphne Ackhurst Memorial Cup and a million hearts around the world.
Joint had a hit on John Cain Arena on Sunday, loving the look of the joint, when you could hear the mice squeak and pins drop and every ball ping from her strings.
Born in America before switching allegiances to her father’s country of birth, ours, she’ll be back inside the Open’s rowdiest arena at 5pm on Monday against US Open finalist, America’s Jessica Pegula. By then, Joint will discover, the joint will be packed.
She’s the curtain-raiser to Nick Kyrgios versus Jacob Fearnley in Melbourne Park’s biggest moshpit, the equivalent to supporting Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.
Joint beat ex-Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin on a giant-killing run through last week’s Hobart International, and her clash with the grimly determined Pegula is filled with intrigue.
Top Joint? You’d reckon a fair-skinned redhead would get a run inside the main joint, Rod Laver Arena, but not yet.
“It’s my first main draw here, so nothing to lose,” Joint says. “Just go out and have fun. I haven’t really felt overwhelmed … I’m just really excited.
“I switched over to Australia in 2023 and it’s been amazing. I mean, when I played here for the first time (in qualifying last year), they really made me feel like I was always representing Australia.
“Playing in Brisbane and in Hobart this year has been the same. They’ve really supported me very well. I’m excited for this one.”
On John Cain Arena’s welcome-to-the-jungle reputation, Joint grins: “Well, I hit on John Cain this morning and there wasn’t anyone in there”. “I got a feel for the court and hopefully it’ll be full of Aussie fans,” she said.
“ I think I’m getting used to that sort of atmosphere. I like being the underdog. You just go out, have no pressure. See what I can do.”
Blow the trumpets, sound the horns, manic Monday has such a packed schedule that Alcaraz has to catch a taxi out to the boondocks of Margaret Court Arena because Sinner and Djokovic will be in the big house of Rod Laver Arena.
Sinner, another fair-skinned redhead, faces towering Chilean Nicolas Jarry while grappling with the doping case that will be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in April.
I thoroughly believe Sinner’s excuse for twice testing positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol, blaming a physiotherapist for having the substance on his hands while delivering treatment, having been found with an amount too small to provide performance-enhancing benefits to the World No.1. Sinner looks as harmless as a young Jodie Foster and I reckon he’s 100 per cent innocent of intentional wrongdoing. And yet he needs to be banned to maintain the integrity of the doping program. Perhaps for a month or two. Because the onus is on every athlete to be responsible for everything enters their body.
For young Jodie Fosters or otherwise, it has to be that black-and-white.
“I will now put this challenging and deeply unfortunate period behind me,” Sinner said in August. Good luck with that. The cumulonimbus that dumped torrential rain on Melbourne Park on Sunday was nothing compared to the size of the cloud following Sinner around the Open.
Nick Kyrgios’s tweets on the issue are relentless.
In Sinner’s heart of hearts, he must know he’ll be free for a skiing holiday come April.
John Newcombe joined Goolagong Cawley for the opening ceremony on Sunday. He was halfway through his recollection of his four-set triumph over Jimmy Connors in 1975 when the ballgirl fainted.
Later, he said of Sinner: “I think unless you know all the facts, you should keep quiet about it”.
“You get massaged with stuff and it only needs traces to show up – they find a trace and say you’re a cheat,” he said.
“It’s very difficult for him. I think he’s doing the right thing by not responding to Nick. I don’t know why Nick is attacking him all the time. There are bodies that care of it. Leave things alone. I feel sorry for Sinner.”
Alcaraz begins against Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko. With apologies to Djokovic and Alex de Minaur, who’s doing a wonderful impression of the invisible man, unsighted until his first match on Tuesday night and rarely spoken of, Sinner versus Alcaraz in the final would have a bit going for it.
“Probably if I have a bad day against Jannik, it’s 99 per cent that you are going to lose,” Alcaraz said. “That’s what is in my mind every time I’m going to play against him.
“The good thing for me is when I am seeing him win titles, when I’m seeing him at the top of the rankings, it forces me to practise even harder every day.
“I’m just thinking about the things that I have to improve to play against him. It’s great for me, having him, having such a great rivalry so far and a reason to give the best of me every day.”
Of the Australians being wheeled out, the unsponsored, unfiltered qualifier Destanee Aiava, 24, is guaranteed raucous support on Court 3, a miniature version of John Cain Arena for encouraging patrons to let it all hang out.
Watched on by her mother, Rosie, a former Wallaroo union player, Aiava will chase victory over Belgium’s World No.94 Greet Minnen and a much-needed $200,000 in prizemoney while wearing a second-hand vintage dress that probably cost about $35 on eBay.
Sponsors will queue up if she gets up.
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