Who Can Stop Aryna Sabalenka and “Sincaraz”?

Top world tennis players have gathered in the Southern Hemisphere since the end of 2025. In the next two weeks, it will be time for them to compete in the 2026 Australian Open Grand Slam arena.

Amid the open competition in women's singles, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Cori "Coco" Gauff have won nine of the last 12 Grand Slam titles. Only Marketa Vondrousova, Barbora Krejcikova, and Madison Keys are among them.

Swiatek added three titles between 2023-2025 to the three titles she won from the 2022 French Open and the 2022 US Open. Sabalenka secured all four titles during the same period, while Coco achieved two titles.

As the Australian Open approaches in Melbourne, from January 18 to February 1, 2026, Sabalenka emerges as the frontrunner and favorite to win the championship. She has also become the primary target for her competitors.

Sabalenka, who has held the top position in the world rankings since October 21, 2024, arrived at Melbourne Park as a two-time champion from three Australian Open finals. Her title from the WTA 500 Brisbane, held from January 4 to 11, marked a strong start for the Belarusian player to sharpen her dominance at the Grand Slam known as the "Happy Slam."

The 27-year-old tennis player has not missed the Australian Open final in the last three years, just as at the US Open. His resilience on hard courts, such as Melbourne Park and Flushing Meadows, is difficult for opponents to break.

The winning percentage in these two tournaments is also higher among the four Grand Slams. He has an 85 percent win rate at the US Open and 82 percent at the Australian Open. Meanwhile, at Wimbledon and the French Open, his winning percentages are 73 percent, respectively.

However, at the 2025 Australian Open, Sabalenka's bid for a championship hat-trick was halted by Keys. Sabalenka lost with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 5-7 when she was favored to win the final. Moreover, her strong competitors such as Swiatek, Coco, and Elena Rybakina were eliminated earlier. Swiatek and Rybakina were also defeated by Keys, in the semifinals and the fourth round, respectively.

Keys, who won her first Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park in 2025, should not be considered too dangerous this year. Since then, she has not won any tournaments at any level.

Her best results came when she reached the semifinals of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells and the quarterfinals of the French Open. At the US Open, the first Grand Slam that granted her finalist status in 2017, Keys was even eliminated in the first round.

In the Australian Open warm-up tournament, her performance was not very good. Keys lost to Sabalenka in the quarterfinals of the WTA Brisbane, and then lost in the same stage to Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko at the WTA Adelaide.

Recognizing her not-so-favorable track record, Keys stated that her priority is to be mentally prepared when competing again at Melbourne Park. According to the draw, she will face Oleksandra Olynykova in the first round, then has the opportunity to compete against Leylah Fernandez in the third round, and Jessica Pegula in the fourth round.

"I believe the most important thing is to feel comfortable while competing, not to feel pressured. I will try to find a way," said Keys.

Swiatek is experiencing the 2025 competition season with results that are not particularly good, although she is still able to win Wimbledon. The winning percentage in major events, including Grand Slam, WTA 1000, and WTA Finals, is 79 percent, down from the range of 86 to 88 percent in 2022-2024.

In five matches at the mixed team championship of the United Cup in Perth and Sydney, which she chose as a warm-up for the Australian Open, Swiatek lost twice out of five matches, although Poland ultimately emerged as the champion. Swiatek lost to Coco when Poland faced the United States and was defeated by Belinda Bencic (Switzerland).

This is tennis, this is a sport. That is why the world of tennis and sports is so beautiful because it is unpredictable. The only certainty is that I will fight and strive.

Coco is not much different from Swiatek. In four matches at the same event, she lost to the world-ranked 40th player, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Spain), with scores of 1-6, 7-6 (3), 0-6.

Serving remains a problem for Coco, although she can also hit aces. "She can serve as hard as she can, but that can also be a problem. Coco needs to find a balance between her serve and her aggressive game. I think she needs to play more conservatively sometimes," said former tennis player and ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe.

Despite being superior to others at Melbourne Park over the past three years, Sabalenka does not want to be deceived by the not-so-solid track records of her competitors. "This is tennis, this is a sport. That is why the world of tennis and sports is so beautiful because it is unpredictable. The only certainty is that I will fight and strive. My focus is on the game, continuing to develop, and keeping myself strong and healthy," she stated after winning the WTA Brisbane.

Sabalenka's reason for not underestimating any competitor is indeed reasonable. Coco has an even meeting statistic against her, which is 6-6. When winning the US Open 2023 and the French Open 2025, Coco defeated Sabalenka in the finals.

Sabalenka is trailing 5-8 against Swiatek, but she has won their last two encounters, at the 2024 WTA 1000 Cincinnati semifinals and the 2025 French Open semifinals. However, Swiatek will have additional motivation, which is to complete six titles from three Grand Slams. The Australian Open is the only one she has yet to win.

"That is a big target, but it will be difficult to achieve. There is a long way to go. In the Grand Slam arena, you have to play very well for two weeks. You must be consistent and there cannot be any bad days," said Swiatek during the United Cup championship.

Not only from Swiatek and Coco, threats to Sabalenka could also arise from the "dark horse" Amanda Anisimova and Elena Rybakina. Anisimova, who could be Sabalenka's opponent in the semifinals, reached the finals of two Grand Slams in 2025, namely Wimbledon and the US Open. Anisimova also holds a 6-5 advantage in their rivalry against Sabalenka.

Rybakina, who is part of the competition among the top three women's singles players alongside Sabalenka and Swiatek in 2022-2023, should not be underestimated in matches on hard courts. She won the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia in November 2025, including victories over Sabalenka, Swiatek, Anisimova, and Pegula.

Among the competition of elite world tennis players, Indonesian tennis player Janice Tjen will make her debut at the Australian Open. She must defeat Leylah Fernandez if she wishes to reach the same stage as her debut in the Grand Slam arena, which is the second round of the 2025 US Open. At that time, Tjen was navigating the qualifying rounds to appear in the main draw and lost to Emma Raducanu.

In the men's singles competition, it is still difficult not to mention Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz as the strongest competitors. One of them could extend the dominance of "Sincaraz"—a term for Sinner and Alcaraz—at the Grand Slam. In the last eight Grand Slams of 2024 and 2025, Sinner and Alcaraz shared four titles.

Alcaraz, the world number one tennis player aged 22, could even become the youngest player to achieve a "Career Slam," a term for winning all four Grand Slam titles. He has six Grand Slam titles, which include the French Open in 2024 and 2025, Wimbledon in 2023 and 2024, as well as the US Open in 2022 and 2025.

However, Melbourne Park has always been a challenging route for the Spanish tennis player. In four participations since 2021, he has never advanced past the quarter-finals. In the 2025 quarter-finals, he was defeated by the senior player, Novak Djokovic, after being stopped by Alexander Zverev a year earlier.

The journey was different for Sinner, who has remained undefeated at Melbourne Park since 2024. He won the Australian Open 2024 by defeating Daniil Medvedev in an epic final match. Sinner triumphed in five sets after losing the first two sets. In the following year, the Italian tennis player emerged victorious against Zverev.

However, Sinner does not want to rush into the possibility of meeting Alcaraz, which can only happen in the final. "The Australian Open is not just a competition between me and Carlos. There are many other players who can pose challenges, whoever they may be," he said.

Based on the journey over the past two years, Sinner should only meet a tough opponent in the semifinals, namely Djokovic. In the same round, Alcaraz has the opportunity to face Zverev.

Zverev could potentially replicate his victory as he did at the 2024 Australian Open, but defeating Sinner will pose a significant challenge for Djokovic. The holder of 24 Grand Slam titles is hindered by physical conditions that are not optimal, which could be detrimental for him.

Unlike ATP tournaments, Grand Slam men's singles matches are played in a best-of-five sets format. Djokovic has previously stated that he is increasingly struggling to maintain his competitiveness in Grand Slam tournaments, especially against Sinner or Alcaraz. He even withdrew from the ATP Adelaide tournament from January 12-17 due to his physical inadequacy.

Nevertheless, the only active "Big Three" tennis player—others being Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal—has not yet spoken about retirement. He is even still aiming to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Therefore, when Djokovic is already struggling against "Sincaraz" and Zverev, who are increasingly lagging behind these two younger generation players, it is hard to envision a new men's singles Grand Slam champion from Melbourne Park. (AP/AFP/REUTERS)