Ashleigh Barty won the Australian Open and looked ready to dominate the women’s game for years to come. Within two months she had retired, giving way to another all-conquering No 1 in Iga Swiatek, who would go on compile a season for the ages. Not at Wimbledon, though, where Elena Rybakina, representing Kazakhstan but born in Moscow, came out of left field to lift the title and confound the All England Club’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players.

The players we expected to shine at the beginning of the year were not the same ones we were talking about by the end of it. Garbiñe Muguruza, unable to sustain the resurgent form that carried her to victory at the 2021 WTA Finals, won just a dozen matches. Anett Kontaveit, the finalist in Guadalajara, rose to second in the world but barely made a ripple at the majors. Injuries were rife among the previous year’s grand slam finalists, with Jennifer Brady, Barbora Krejcikova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Karolina Pliskova all missing large chunks of the season, while Emma Raducanu, the defending US Open champion, was afflicted by a string of physical problems. 

Others started the year promisingly only to fall away. Danielle Collins made her first major final at the Australian Open but, hampered by a lingering neck injury, was unable to build on her outstanding early form. Paula Badosa, a title winner in Sydney, reached a career-high ranking of second but suffered disappointment at the majors and finished the year at 13th.  

Exciting new players emerged. Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova won in Chennai. Diane Parry, a former junior world No 1, dethroned Krejcikova in Paris – where China’s Qinwen Zheng likewise announced herself to the wider world with a brilliant run to the last 16.

Meanwhile, Ons Jabeur and Jessica Pegula were among the more established performers who made major strides – not forgetting Alizé Cornet, whose Indian summer included a first grand slam quarter-final at Melbourne Park, and Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria – while Caroline Garcia rediscovered the exhilarating form that once moved Andy Murray to tip her as a future No 1.

With Pegula and Collins leading the way, the US also enjoyed an encouraging year. Madison Keys, a surprise semi-finalist at Melbourne Park, looked more her old self. Amanda Anisimova beat defending champion Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open and went on to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals. And, at the absurdly precocious age of 18, Coco Gauff reached the singles and doubles finals at Roland Garros. But as one American star waxed, another waned, Serena Williams bidding farewell to the game (for now, at least) in unforgettable style at the US Open. 

No consideration of the past year would be complete without special mention of Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, a finalist in Lyon only a week after fleeing Odessa with her younger sister Ivanna in the face of Russian bombing, and her wonderfully unorthodox compatriot Daria Snigur, whose first-round upset of Simona Halep was among the highlights of the US Open. 

As Yastremska, Snigur and others reminded us, there were more important things than tennis going on in the world in 2022. With that in mind, here are our picks for the year’s best moments.  

Best player: Iga Swiatek

There are many ways to quantify the brilliance of Swiatek in 2022. Most are glaringly obvious. The French and US Open triumphs that made Swiatek the first player to win two majors in a season since Angelique Kerber in 2016. The 37-match winning streak that ran from late February to early July – the longest such run since 1990 – and brought titles in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome and Paris. The manner in which, having arrived at No 1 by default following Barty’s retirement, Swiatek cemented the position through sheer dominance, winning all but nine of her 76 matches to finish the season 6,030 points ahead of her nearest rival. 

Yet Swiatek’s emergence as the world’s best player was about more than just numbers. On and off the court, the 21-year-old flourished in every way a player can flourish. After the emotional ups and downs of the previous season, when she suffered tearful defeats at the Tokyo Olympics and the WTA Finals, Swiatek made good on her stated aims of finding greater mental consistency and expanding her tactical repertoire. 

The winds of change were first felt at the Australian Open, where she twice came from a set down to make the semi-finals of a hard-court major for the first time. Asked what she would take from her run, the Pole said she had learned that she didn’t need to perform perfectly to win, even on hard courts, and spoke with enthusiasm of her more aggressive game style and ability to utilise her mental and physical strengths with the same effectiveness as her gyrating topspin forehands. 

The lessons would stick. Under the shrewd stewardship of Tomasz Wiktorowski, the fellow Pole to whom she turned during the off-season after taking the difficult decision to part ways with Piotr Sierzputowski, her coach of the previous six years, the greater mental resilience and adaptability she had craved became ever more apparent. Only at Wimbledon, where she seemed to talk herself out of contention long before falling to a third-round defeat against Cornet, did Swiatek’s self-belief falter. 

If grass remains an unsolved mystery for now, elsewhere the Pole established herself as a supreme problem solver. That point was underlined by her response to that historic Centre Court defeat and the inevitable lull that followed. Little about Swiatek’s post-Wimbledon form suggested she would go on to triumph at Flushing Meadows, yet the way she bounced back from unexpected losses to Garcia in Warsaw, Beatriz Haddad Maia in Toronto and Keys in Cincinnati said everything about her evolution as a competitor, particularly given her discontent over the lighter balls in use over the US Open series. 

Beyond the tactical and technical refinements she brought to her game (a greater willingness to dictate from the baseline and kill off points at the net, a more secure second serve), Swiatek also established herself as the voice and moral conscience of the women’s game. The blue and yellow ribbon she pinned to her cap following the outbreak of the Ukraine war remained in place to the season’s end, a symbol of the solidarity she expressed in both word and deed. The Pole used her French Open winners’ speech to urge Ukraine to “stay strong”, and later staged an exhibition event in Krakow that raised €422,000 for children affected by the war. 

Nor did her commitment to social welfare end there. Not for the first time, Swiatek marked World Mental Heath Day in munificent fashion, donating the prize money from her run to the Ostrava Open final to a Polish charity that helps children with mental issues. And when allegations of sexual and physical abuse were levelled against Miroslaw Skrzypczynski, the president of the Polish tennis federation, she was quick to speak out on social media, calling for a full investigation and declaring herself “against violence in sports, in tennis, in every discipline and in everyday life”. 

It is easy to forget, from a distance of 12 months, that Swiatek began the year ranked ninth. At that point, Barty was the runaway world No 1, Raducanu and Fernandez had recently contested an all-teenage US Open final, and there was a widely held expectation that Muguruza, the newly crowned WTA Finals champion, would feature as prominently in the season ahead as Kontaveit, the woman she beat in the final. No one was really talking about Swiatek. Now, as we ponder who will claim the big titles in 2023, she is the first name on everyone’s lips. 

Most improved player: Ons Jabeur

Like Taylor Fritz on the men’s side, Jabeur might seem a slightly left-field candidate in this category. But consider the evidence. The 28-year-old, who had never previously been beyond the last eight at a major, reached back-to-back grand slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open. She won the biggest title of her career at the Madrid Open. She qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time. And, like Swiatek, Jabeur climbed the toughest rungs of the professional ladder, rising from 10th in the world to finish the year at a career-high No 2.

As ever, Jabeur did it all while carrying the hopes of a people, a country and a continent. Such has been her trailblazing influence, she could be forgiven for trading in “Ons” for “The First Arab or African Woman to…” – words that almost invariably precede any mention of her name. Speaking of which, did we mention that she became the first African woman to reach a slam final since Sandra Reynolds in 1960?

“I want to go bigger, inspire many more generations,” Jabeur said after losing out to Rybakina in the Wimbledon final.

“Tunisia is connected to the Arab world, is connected to the African continent. That area, we want to see more players, you know, it’s not like Europe. I want to see more players from my country, from the Middle East, from Africa. I think we didn’t believe enough at certain points that we can do it. Now I’m just trying to show that [we can].”

Among several other notable contenders for the title of most improved player, two deserve special mention. 

The first is Jessica Pegula, who won the biggest title of her career in Guadalajara and reached the quarter-finals of every major bar Wimbledon. Ranked just outside the top 20 before the Australian Open, the 28-year-old New Yorker was a byword for consistency in 2022, her equanimity and ability to adapt to circumstance making her a fixture at the sharp end of tournaments as she finished the year in third spot. 

The second is Haddad Maia, who rose 68 places in the rankings to finish the year at a career-high 15th. The powerful Brazilian has not had the smoothest journey in the professional game – at 26, she already has four surgeries behind her – but, over the course of an outstanding summer, she demonstrated what she can do when fit. A dozen straight grass-court wins earned Haddad Maia her first-tour level titles in Nottingham and Birmingham, while her superb run to the Toronto final included a three-set win over Swiatek. 

Respectful nods must also go to a trio of Russians. Veronika Kudermetova made the top 10 for the first time after a season that included final appearances in Melbourne, Dubai and Istanbul and a first grand slam quarter-final at Roland Garros, while Ekaterina Alexandrova and Liudmila Samsonova were both title winners and top-20 debutants. 

But did anyone make greater strides in 2022 than Jabeur? It is only 18 months since her maiden title win in Birmingham made her the first Arab woman to win a WTA Tour event; now, she is consistently challenging for the game’s biggest prizes. Jabeur is improvement personified.

Most heart-warming moment: Tatjana Maria

After beating her compatriot Jule Niemeier at Wimbledon to make her first grand slam semi-final at the age of 34, Tatjana Maria was asked if she ever longed to be recognised not simply as a mother of two, but also as a tennis player and an individual. No, came the German’s refreshingly down-to-earth response – motherhood was the most important thing in her life. 

“I try to keep normal as much as possible, because what makes me proudest is to be a mom,” said Maria after booking a last-four showdown with close friend Jabeur.

There is nothing normal about reaching the last four at Wimbledon, particularly for a player who had only once previously reached the third round of a slam. Yet somehow the unseeded Maria, with all her talk of creches and Pampers and family life, made the extraordinary feel relatable. On the court, she earned universal admiration with emotional victories against a trio of seeded players: Sorana Cirstea, Maria Sakkari and – from match points down, and to the Latvian’s evident displeasure – Jelena Ostapenko. Off the court, she cemented her place in the affections of the English public with her insistence that she was just an ordinary working parent, juggling professional commitments with the more serious business of childcare. 

It was an irresistible combination, and there was barely a dry eye in the house when, after a bewitching contest crammed with all manner of flicks, spins and mind-bending geometry from both women, the victorious Jabeur grabbed Maria by the arm and led her back on court, forgoing any display of triumphalism after reaching the biggest final of her life to orchestrate one final ovation for her “barbecue buddy”. 

After a fortnight overshadowed by talk of player bans and points deductions and legal threats, it was the kind of gracious and joyous moment that a beleaguered tournament needed.

Best newcomer: Qinwen Zheng

In the first three rounds of the French Open, Iga Swiatek lost just a dozen games – the same number she conceded from the quarter-finals onwards. Sandwiched between those all-conquering sequences came an intriguing three-set tussle with China’s Qinwen Zheng, a 19-year-old (now 20) with a future that promises to be as big as her thunderous game. 

As Zheng showed that day, she has the talent and the temperament to live with the very best. It wasn’t just the way she traded blows with Swiatek, or the resilience she demonstrated in saving five set points to overturn a 5-2 first-set deficit. It was also the self-belief she showed against the world’s best player. Her refusal to throw in the towel even after sustaining a debilitating thigh injury. The candour and confidence she showed afterwards, as she calmly explained to the world’s press the role menstrual cramps had played in her loss. They were qualities that marked Zheng out as a player of genuine substance – an impression she confirmed when she again went the distance with Swiatek five months later in San Diego.

But there was more to Zheng’s season than a couple of eye-catching performances against the world No 1. She also racked up a string of impressive, high-profile victories over former grand slam champions. At Roland Garros, in only the second major of her fledgling career, she felled former champion Simona Halep, avenging a semi-final defeat to the Romanian in a 250 event in Melbourne at the start of the year. Zheng dumped out Sloane Stephens en route to round three of Wimbledon, and reached the same stage at the US Open after accounting for Ostapenko. In between came a three-set victory over Bianca Andreescu in Toronto, where Zheng reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final. 

About the only thing she did not do in 2022 was win a title – unlike the 17-year-old Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova, arguably her closest rival for best newcomer, who claimed a maiden tournament victory in Chennai. Zheng did, however, make the final in Tokyo, toppling Badosa and Kudermetova along the way, and her superior record at the slams – and giddying rise from 126 to a career-high 25 in the rankings – make her a worthy winner in this category.

Best match: Caroline Garcia v Iga Swiatek, Poland Open

Swiatek aside, did any woman play better tennis in 2022 than Garcia? The Frenchwoman’s renaissance, after three years pockmarked by injury and dwindling confidence, was among the season’s most uplifting stories. And the catalyst came in Warsaw, where a rampant Garcia rewrote the clay-court playbook with a barnstorming attacking display that at times left Swiatek looking utterly bewildered. 

It was a rare indignity for the Pole and one of the finest performances of the season from Garcia, whose blistering returns and unflinching commitment to attack made for the kind of match from which you simply can’t avert your gaze. A humble 250 event in a country where tennis has yet to form deep roots might seem an unlikely setting for such a contest, yet the context and broader ramifications of the match were fraught with significance. 

All eyes were on Swiatek as she attempted to bounce back from the shock Wimbledon defeat to Cornet that ended her 135-day winning run. Playing in her hometown, and on her beloved red clay – where she had won 18 straight matches – the world No 1 could hardly have wished for more auspicious circumstances. And when she recovered from a ludicrously strong start by Garcia to level the match at a set all, making just one unforced error in the process, it felt almost inevitable she would prevail. Having produced superhuman tennis in the opener, surely Garcia would be hard pushed to reproduce that level down the stretch against the world’s best player, and before a fiercely partisan crowd?

No, as it turned out. A restorative victory on the grass courts of Bad Homburg, her first title in three years, had reignited something in Garcia – reminding her, perhaps, that she was once ranked fourth in the world for a reason. Infused with renewed belief by her compatriot Bertrand Perret, who took up the coaching reins from her father Louis Paul in the off-season, she stuck to her guns, kept attacking and was rewarded with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 triumph that set the stage not only for her title win in Poland but for much of what followed. 

And what followed was considerable: victory in Cincinnati, where Garcia completed a perfect set of tournament wins on grass, clay and hard courts and became the first qualifier to win a WTA 1000 event; a first grand slam semi-final at the US Open; the biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals; and a year-end ranking of fourth, only six months after she had fallen to 79th, her lowest position in eight years. Was it all purely down to one result? Of course not. But Garcia went into the second half of the season with the air of a woman who knew that, if she could beat Swiatek, she could beat anyone. 

Biggest shock: Ashleigh Barty’s retirement

In a year full of surprises (Garcia’s renaissance, Swiatek’s dominance, the rise of Pegula, Rybakina’s Wimbledon win, Halep’s suspension, to name but a few), none was greater than Barty’s abrupt retirement from the sport. 

The Australian has always been something of an outlier – it’s not every player that takes a year off to play professional cricket – but no one beyond her immediate circle expected the reigning world No 1 to walk away from the game at the age of 25. 

Every player is wired differently, though, and while it looked from the outside as though the Queenslander was set for a period of era-defining preeminence, especially after ending her country’s 44-year wait for a homegrown Australian Open champion, the reality was very different. As we now know, Barty had already realised her greatest ambition by winning Wimbledon the previous summer. Victory at Melbourne Park was the icing on a cake for which the three-time slam champion no longer had the appetite.  

As the watching world grasped for words, the task of explaining the seemingly inexplicable fell to Barty’s coach, Craig Tyyzer. “It was never about the successes,” said Tyyzer. “It was about fulfilling Ash’s dreams, and she basically did that.”

Best occasion: Serena Williams’s farewell

Every great champion must bow out eventually, and enough legends have exited stage left over the years to prove that no player is bigger than the game. But what if the departee is Serena Williams – global icon, winner of 23 grand slam titles, and quite possibly the greatest female athlete of all time? And what if the scene of her departure is the US Open, the rowdiest, most febrile stop on the grand slam merry-go-round? 

Why then, all bets are off. Then, we reach the juncture where perspective gives way to pandemonium; where a New York crowd not noted for its reticence at the best of times becomes a clamorous wall of deafening, unashamedly partisan noise; where Queen Latifah hails Williams as “the queen of Queens” in a glitzy big-screen video; where the woman of the hour emerges in the kind of outfit more befitting a black-tie gala than a tennis match, all shimmers and sparkles and swirls, and is followed on to court by Billie Jean King, who delivers a typically eloquent panegyric, one legend to another; where Oprah Winfrey narrates video montages, Spike Lee conducts coin tosses, and Bill Clinton and Hugh Jackman look on from the stands. Welcome to prime time, baby. 

And that was just the opening round. A couple of nights later, after Williams had come through her opener against Danka Kovinic to set up a meeting with second seed Kontaveit, we did it all over again. Literally. The video clips, the voiceovers, the dress, the commotion. And you know what? Williams prevailed once more, although only she knew how. “I’m just Serena, you know,” she smiled. 

It all came crashing to a halt against Ajla Tomljanovic in round three – although not before another helping of the now-familiar razzmatazz – but it was the wildest of rides, a farewell like no other. 

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In 1983, her annus mirabilis, the Czech was beaten just once in 87 matches. That solitary setback, a fourth-round defeat to Kathy Horvath at the French Open, cost Navratilova the grand slam – and her coach, Renee Richards, her job. It came midway through a three-year period in which Navratilova won eight majors and suffered just six defeats. It was dominance on a scale unprecedented in the open era. 

As the victories mounted, the focus shifted from the outcome of Navratilova’s matches to their length. Keeping the world No 1 on court for more than an hour became a badge of honour, tantamount to victory. By that standard of evaluation, the Wimbledon runner-up in 1983 was not Andrea Jaeger, whose 6-3, 6-0 mauling in the final lasted a mercifully swift 54 minutes, but rather Sherry Acker, the American who pushed Navratilova to a second-set tiebreak – and, crucially, beyond the magic 60-minute mark – in round two.   

As her unexpectedly early departure from the sport suggests, wholesale pre-eminence was never the goal of Ashleigh Barty. You could no more envisage Barty preparing to celebrate her 50th birthday by winning the US Open mixed doubles, as Navratilova did in 2006, than you could have imagined the teenage Martina trading her racket for a cricket bat, as Barty did when she took a sabbatical from the game at the age of 17. 

Yet that is not to say that the Queenslander, who held the No 1 ranking for a total of 120 weeks, never approached Navratilovian levels of dominance. The aura of invincibility that enveloped Barty two months ago at Melbourne Park, where she shrugged off 44 years of national mortification to bring home the Australian Open title for the first time since Chris O’Neil in 1978, was a throwback to the days when Navratilova’s pre-eminence was measured by the stopwatch rather than the scoreline. 

In the opening round, the Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko was dispatched in just 54 minutes. That was two more than Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, another qualifier, managed in round two. By the time Barty reached the final, she had spent an average of 61 minutes on court across six matches. A typically spirited performance from Danielle Collins, who kept alive her dream of lifting the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup for almost an hour and a half, added almost four minutes to that time. Yet it is a measure of Barty’s breakneck progress through the tournament that Collins’ second-set resistance felt positively Acker-like in scale. 

Barty won at Melbourne Park without dropping a set, losing a mere 30 games. Beyond mere numbers, however, she had the ineffable air of serenity and assurance that only the greatest champions possess. The kind of presence that sees mental battles won in the locker room, opponents beaten before they set foot on court. The Australian is a humble soul, but even she was not oblivious to the effect. 

“Sometimes it’s really nice to be able to focus internally and just focus on what you need to do,” Barty reflected after her quarter-final victory over Madison Keys. “Other times, it’s nice to look up the other end of the court and see how your opponent is reacting.”

Few reacted well. With each successive victory, Barty acquired greater stature. By the end of it all, she looked poised to assert era-defining dominance over the women’s game. At 25, and with three major titles on three different surfaces under her belt, the question was not whether she could add to her grand slam tally, but how many more she would win. 

When Chris Evert tipped Barty to complete a career grand slam at Flushing Meadows, that felt like the least of it. Having won at Roland Garros three years ago, why not again? Having spoken warmly of Wimbledon as a birthplace of “hopes and dreams”, surely she would relish returning to Centre Court as the defending champion?  

Barty, as we now know, had other ideas. She read the script set down for her and didn’t much care for it. Craig Tyzzer, her long-standing coach, first sensed the direction of travel after Wimbledon, where Barty’s victory represented the realisation of a lifelong ambition. When his charge was subsequently upset by Sara Sorribes Tormo in the opening round of the Tokyo Olympics, the writing was on the wall.  

“Once we got to the Olympics, it sort of hit home to me that there wasn’t much left in her. The motivation wasn’t there,” said Tyzzer at a news conference following Barty’s bombshell announcement. “I sort of felt she’d climbed where she needed to get to, and it was going to be a hard slog to keep her involved. I felt it was coming.”  

For some, the fulfilment of a dream is an end in itself. Others seem to view it as the departure point for a new journey, one with no defined end point. Navratilova was in the latter camp. In 1994, when her last singles appearance at the All England Club ended with defeat to Conchita Martínez in the final, she wept because the adventure that had begun 16 years earlier “was all over”. Navratilova left SW19 with nine singles titles and no regrets but, she admitted, without “the ending I was hoping for”. Somewhere within, the fire still raged. 

For Barty, whose Wimbledon campaign last summer was an extended homage to her friend and mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley, one moment of perfection was enough. Having donned an outfit echoing the one worn by her compatriot half a century earlier, she marked the golden jubilee of Goolagong’s maiden Wimbledon victory by becoming the first Australian since to claim the title. In the joyful tears that followed, there was a lachrymose acknowledgement that things would never get any better. 

“It was never about the successes,” said Tyyzer. “It was about fulfilling Ash’s dreams, and she basically did that.”

The Australian Open title that followed, he added, was motivated more by love of country than any pursuit of a fairytale ending. “It was really difficult to do the pre-season, for the lead-up to the Aussie summer circuit. She just put her head down and went super hard. I feel the hardest thing was trying to motivate her, to get a spark to go, ‘Hey, you need to be out there’, because her tennis and her mindset were so relaxed, and so easygoing with it all, it was almost like she didn’t care whether she won or lost. She obviously did. But I think the Australian summer was for everyone else and not for her.”

There has been much speculation that Barty might eventually return to the sport, with precedents cited from Bjorn Borg to Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. She has not ruled it out – “never say never,” Barty teased when asked – but if her decision to retire has shown anything, it is that she follows her own muse. “Ash does her own thing,” said Tyyzer. “[She] is a tennis player, but it’s not who she is”.   

Barty’s decision to call time on her career is a reminder that tennis is not merely about the relentless accumulation of titles and accolades. It is an individual sport – and Barty, not for the first time, has asserted her individuality. Navratilova, who has always done things her own way, would approve. 

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In a move that has stunned the sport, the world No 1 said she would “put the rackets down” content in the knowledge that she was spent, having given everything she could to the game. 

“I just know at the moment, in my heart, for me as a person, this is right,” Barty told close friend Casey Dellacqua, her former doubles partner, in a video exchange posted to Instagram.   

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” added the 25-year-old, who said fulfilling her “one true dream” in tennis by winning the Wimbledon final against Karolina Pliskova last summer had altered her outlook.

“I just had that gut feeling after Wimbledon, and had spoken to my team quite a lot about it. There was just a little part of me that wasn’t quite satisfied, that wasn’t quite fulfilled.

“As a person, this is what I want. I want to chase after some other dreams that I’ve always wanted to do.

“There was a perspective shift in me in the second phase of my career that my happiness wasn’t dependent on the results, and success for me is knowing that I’ve given absolutely everything I can. I’m fulfilled, I’m happy, and I know how much work it takes to bring the best out of yourself. 

“I’ve said it to my team multiple times, it’s just I don’t have that in me any more. I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional want, and everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top of the level any more. I just know that I am spent, I just know that physically I have nothing more to give, and that for me is success.” 

The Queenslander, who also won the French Open title in 2019 and in January became the first homegrown player for 44 years to triumph at the Australian Open, has walked away from the sport before.

Eight years ago, having won junior Wimbledon and reached three grand slam doubles finals alongside Dellacqua, Barty took an 18-month break from tennis during which she underlined her all-round athletic ability with a successful spell in professional cricket.

A self-described homebody, she struggled with the travel demanded by the tour and, she said, became disillusioned by the “robotic” nature of life as a professional. A desire to remain in Brisbane with her family also underpinned Barty’s decision to step away from the game for almost a year when the pandemic began. 

“I’ve given absolutely everything I can to this beautiful sport of tennis, and I’m really happy with that. And for me, that is my success,” said Barty, who will hold a press conference in Brisbane on Thursday to elaborate on her decision. 

“I know that people may not understand it, and that’s OK, I’m OK with that. Because I know that for me, Ash Barty the person has so many dreams that she wants to chase after that don’t necessarily involve traveling the world, being away from my family, being away from my home, which is where I’ve always wanted to be.  

“I’ll never ever, ever stop loving tennis. It’ll always be a massive part of my life. But now I think it’s important that I get to enjoy the next phase of my life as Ash Barty the person, not Ash Barty the athlete.”

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To the delight of the raucously partisan home crowd, Barty fought back from 5-1 down in the second set to defeat Danielle Collins of the United States, the 27th seed, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) and become the first homegrown champion since Chris O’Neil in 1978.

In an emotional conclusion to a fortnight in which she has been a model of dead-eyed focus and composure, the 25-year-old Queenslander embraced victory with a triumphal roar that would have put even Novak Djokovic to shame. What an antidote she has been to the gloom cast over the initial stages of the tournament by the Serb’s visa saga. Having ended her season early last year to focus her efforts on the Australian summer, Barty has cut a swathe through the draw with clinical precision and relentless consistency, working her way to the title without dropping a set. 

“It was a little bit surreal,” said Barty of the moments following victory. “I think I didn’t quite know what to do or what to feel, and I think just being able to let out a little bit of emotion, which is a little bit unusual for me, and I think being able to celebrate with everyone who was there in the crowd, the energy was incredible tonight. 

“I think being able to understand how much work my team and I have done behind the scenes and over the last few years, to get to this point to be able to have this opportunity, was really special. It just kind of all came out at once, and yeah – a really, really special moment.”

The Wimbledon champion’s exultation was mirrored in the stands, both by the jubilant devotees who packed the Rod Laver Arena in their thousands, unmistakeable in their bright yellow Vegemite T-shirts, and by the great and the good of the Australian sporting and celebrity firmament. O’Neil was on hand to offer a thumbs up for the cameras. Laver looked on approvingly. Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe, the stars of the Sydney Olympics, rose to salute the greatest Australian sporting success since those heady days in the summer of 2000, while Gladiator star Russell Crowe sat transfixed at courtside as the drama unfolded.  

Here indeed was a victory to echo in eternity. Barty, whose win at the All England club last summer also ended a wait of more than four decades for an Australian women’s champion, has now won grand slam titles on three different surfaces, a feat matched among active players only by Serena Williams. Fittingly, the trophy was presented by four-time champion Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, her long-time friend and mentor, and a fellow indigenous Australian, who was unveiled as a surprise guest at the post-match ceremony.   

“I thought she wasn’t coming,” said Barty. “I’d spoken to her earlier in the week, and she was staying at home and not being able to travel down this year. So to have that surprise was amazing.”

Collins acquitted herself well in her first major final. After everything that she has been through she was never going to give less than her all, and the 28-year-old showed all her trademark fighting spirit to work her way back into contention after double-faulting to drop serve in the sixth game. There was no sign of her being overawed by the occasion, and although Barty went on to seal the opening set with some imperious serving – the Australian won 82% of her first-serve points, and would finish the contest with 10 aces – Collins’ second-set fightback was as inevitable as it was impressive. Moving inside the baseline and striking her hard, flat returns with venomous power, the American briefly rocked Barty with her weight of shot and unflinching intensity.

Collins’ improvement coincided with the top seed’s first dip in form and confidence of the fortnight. As anxiety kicked in, Barty began to lose feel on her sliced backhand and power on her forehand. Her footwork slowed, her timing deserted her and, for the first time, she struggled to find her first serve. But with Collins a game away from forcing a decider, Barty steadied her nerve and went determinedly about constructing the kind of measured, intelligent points that had got her to the final in the first place, rediscovering her service rhythm and controlling the baseline exchanges with her topspin forehand as she clawed back the deficit. 

“She started to push me back in the court a little bit more,” said Collins, who is set to rise into the world’s top 10 for the first time.

“I think I was having some issues really being able to fully rotate on some of my shots to be able to get my shots to where I needed them to be. It was really unfortunate, but I did everything I could, tried to push through it. Fell short. She definitely came up with some great shots in some of those big moments, especially with her serving and pushing me back in the court.”

Collins, who had been standing at the change of ends in her previous matches, revealed that she had been suffering from a lower back injury sustained during her third-round win over the Danish teenager Clara Tauson. 

“It was the reason why I wasn’t sitting down the whole tournament,” said the American. “It was actually recommended at one point by one of the physical therapists, just to keep my back from spasming. The biggest issue has just been muscle spasms in the low back, which has been challenging.”

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Barty’s sixth successive straight sets victory – ninth, if you include her romp to the Adelaide title three weeks ago – took her total time on court at Melbourne Park to a touch over six hours. In the process, she has conceded just 21 games; this century, only the Williams sisters have conceded fewer on the way to a major final. It may be 42 years since an Australian woman last reached a final at her home slam, but you would never guess it from the serene manner in which Barty has gone about her business.

There was no euphoria at the end, not on the court at least. An understated clench of the fist, a kind word for her vanquished opponent, a nod of acknowledgement to the crowd: that was as excited as Barty got. There is still one match to go, and she is not here to come second.

The 25-year-old will face Danielle Collins on Saturday with the aim of becoming the first Australian to win the title since Chris O’Neil in 1978. “Are you ready?” Jim Courier asked her on court afterwards. “Absolutely, let’s do it,” she shot back. Barty’s willingness to embrace the clamour of a public desperate to acclaim a homegrown champion leaves Collins, who later reached the first slam final of her career with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Poland’s Iga Swiatek, facing an unenviable task.

“It’s fun,” said Barty, who is spearheading a home push that has seen four Australians reach the men’s doubles final – Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis will face Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell on Saturday – and brought Dylan Alcott’s eighth consecutive appearance in the quad singles final. 

“It’s brilliant to be playing in the business end of your home slam. I’m not going to lie about that. It’s amazing. I think being able to experience it multiple times has been incredible, but Saturday is going to be a new experience for me. 

“So I go out there and embrace it, smile, try and do the best that I can. And whatever happens, happens. It’s been an incredible January, an incredible summer for us. I’m really looking forward to having one last crack here, to really go out there and enjoy it.”

The 51st-ranked Keys, who had dismantled two title contenders in the previous two rounds with her victories over Paula Badosa and Barbora Krejcikova, came in with a plan but was unable to execute it. The excellence of Barty’s sliced backhand, which the American had hoped to attack but found virtually unplayable, saw to that. By the time Keys started swinging with the freedom required to unsettle an opponent at the peak of her powers, she was a game from defeat. 

“I think the game plan was definitely trying to play a little bit heavier to her slice, so that she couldn’t pin me in that backhand corner,” said the 26-year-old. “The tough thing, though, is that you have to have so much racquet head speed when her slice is coming in, but then you also have to balance not overhitting it. 

“I felt like I started getting a better feel of it in the middle of the second set, but at that point being a set and a break down against the world No 1 is kind of a difficult position to start feeling yourself.”

Keys is hardly the first player to come up short against the multi-faceted Queenslander. You would need a microscope to locate any flaws in Barty’s game. Her forehand and first serve are immense, an irresistible combination of power and placement. Her second serve, delivered with heavy spin and relentless consistency, is impregnable, while her rhythm-disrupting sliced backhand is the stuff of nightmares for rivals more accustomed to slugging balls back and forth at escape velocity.

“Everything has just improved a little bit,” said Keys of the Wimbledon champion’s game. “I think she’s got a little bit more precise on her serve. I think her forehand she’s doing a really good job at mixing up paces and spins, as well. It feels like you can’t really get in a rhythm off of that forehand side.  Then on her backhand side, I mean, everything is coming in at your shoelaces on the baseline. So it’s not like you can really do anything.”

It will be intriguing to see what Collins can do. The combative American is unlikely to be beaten before she starts, as so many of Barty’s opponents appear to be. If Collins can reproduce the fearless shot-making, unwavering intensity and cast-iron belief that swept aside Swiatek, the top seed is unlikely to have everything her own way.   

It was a brutal exhibition of first-strike tennis from Collins, who danced like a prize fighter as Swiatek prepared to open the match on serve and immediately came out swinging. Rarely can the Pole’s second delivery have taken a more savage and sustained beating. Battering the ball off both wings, Collins raced into a 4-0 lead and never looked back, detained only by a momentary wobble as she served for the first set at 5-2. Barty will need all her guile to defuse the 27th seed’s firepower.

“It feels amazing,” said Collins. “It’s been such a journey and it doesn’t happen overnight. I had so many years of hard work and hours at an early age on court. Yesterday I was talking about the early mornings my dad would get up with me and practise with me before school. It’s just incredible to be on this stage and, especially with all the health challenges, I’m just so grateful. I couldn’t be happier.”

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After an all-conquering 2021 season in which she ended Australia’s 41-year wait for a female Wimbledon champion, there is nothing unexpected about Barty’s presence in the last four. The world No 1 has barely put a foot wrong at her home slam so far, and it is a measure of her dominance that 21st seed Jessica Pegula, who she demolished 6-2, 6-0 in 63 minutes, is the only player other than Camila Giorgi to detain her beyond the hour mark in her five matches so far.

Keys, on the other hand, can hardly have dreamed she would get so far. The American has been ranked as high as sixth in the world but, after struggling to adapt to a new world of Covid protocols and bio-secure bubbles last season, she is currently languishing at 51. That will soon change. Having won just 11 matches last season, Keys has now racked up that many victories in less than a month, compiling a 10-match winning streak – the best of her career – to win a title in Adelaide and reach her second Australian Open semi-final, a full seven years after she made the first.

Keys, whose destructive power game carried her to the US Open final five years ago, has done it in style too. Having taken out former champion Sofia Kenin in the opening round and obliterated eighth seed Paula Badosa in the last 16, the 26-year-old claimed another high-profile scalp in the shape of Barbora Krejcikova, the French Open champion and fourth seed.

A key feature of her progress has been a more measured approach that has seen her rein in her signature power game. “I’ve been working on it a lot,” said the American after her 6-3, 6-2 win. “It’s not something that I used to necessarily do in the past.  

“I’m really just trying to be a lot more measured and just playing within myself a little bit more, not necessarily trying to hit a winner on that ball, just constantly trying to set the point up to get to the net, to try to finish off on even the next ball. If it happens to be a winner, then it happens to be a winner.”

Keys is alive to the danger posed by Barty – “great slice, can dominate with her forehand” – but will seek to draw on her experience and more relaxed mindset as she targets a second major final.

“I’m seven years older and it’s not my first semi-final of a slam,” said the American, who has reached that stage or better three times previously. “I think I’m a little bit more prepared this time around than I was all those years ago.

“I have gone into every match thinking I can absolutely win any match that I’m out on the court. I will say it’s been kind of nice to be the underdog for the first time in a long time. It’s really just not even in my head about winning and losing. 

“It’s just going out, competing, trying to do what the game plan is. If that’s not working, going to Plan B. The rest is kind of not even getting into my brain.”

It is just the kind of balanced approach in which Barty specialises, which augurs well for what should be a tightly contested match if Keys can maintain the form that has got her this far.

“Maddie is an exceptional athlete, she has a great serve, great first strike off the return and off her first ball after her serve,” said Barty. 

“A lot of the time it’s about trying to put her in an uncomfortable position, try and get her off balance, because if she controls the centre of the court the match is on her racquet.  

“I need to be able to find a balance, problem solve my way through it, try and work out a way to nullify her strengths and bring it back to my patterns if I can, and understand it’s not always in my control.”

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What followed was the perfect demonstration of why many feel she is the player most likely to raise the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup come Saturday evening, ending Australia’s 44-year wait for a homegrown champion.

First there was a sumptuous rolled forehand return that sent Anisimova scrambling fruitlessly beyond the doubles alley. Then a beautiful change of pace and trajectory, as a skidding crosscourt slice was followed by a lofted topspin forehand that drew an error from the American as she tried in vain to alter the geometry of the rally. Two further backhand errors followed, one off another fizzing slice, the other from a three-quarter length forehand loaded with topspin. In the previous round against Naomi Osaka, Anisimova had thrived on the defending champion’s pace and rhythm. Against Barty, she barely got to hit the same ball twice. She would win only two more games.

“[The break of serve] didn’t bother me too much,” said Barty after a 6-4, 6-3 victory that moves her into a quarter-final against another American, the 21st seed Jessica Pegula, who beat fifth seed Maria Sakkari 7-6 (7-0), 6-3. 

“Honestly, I’m not counting how many games I hold in a row or not. The fact I was able to reset, break straight back, was really important, just to be able to reset myself, go again and continue to do the right things. 

“In that game Amanda saw a few second serves that she was able to punish, and she also had some really good returns off first serves. You tip your hat and you say, ‘Too good’ to your opponent when they come up with returns from the baseline. You move on pretty quickly and continue to try and do the right things. It’s a part of my game that I continue to work on.”

Barty, the top seed, has yet to drop a set at Melbourne Park as she aims to become the first Australian woman to lift the title since Chris O’Neil in 1978. 

Barbora Krejcikova, the Czech fourth seed, remains on course for a projected semi-final meeting with Barty after coming through 6-2, 6-2 against two-time champion Victoria Azarenka, who was hampered by a neck injury.

Krejcikova, the French Open champion, will face Madison Keys in the last eight after the American world no 51 stunned Paula Badosa, the eighth seed, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park for the third time.

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That argument was quickly rendered redundant following Barty’s imperious return to the tour, which was closely followed by the mental health struggles that led Osaka to miss several months of the season, but a projected fourth-round meeting between the Australian Open title favourites was nonetheless eagerly anticipated.

Sometimes, however, plans change. Barty upheld her side of the deal by brushing aside Italy’s Camila Giorgi in straight sets. But Osaka, the defending champion, was dethroned 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-5) by the unseeded American Amanda Anisimova, who fought back from two match points down to deny the event’s beleaguered organisers the marquee weekend showdown they craved.

While the two-time champion’s disappointment was evident, she expressed pride about both her performance and the mental turnaround she has achieved since her tearful defeat to Leylah Fernandez at the US Open, following which she announced she would take an indefinite break from the game.

“I fought for every point and I can’t be sad about that,” said Osaka, whose appetite for the fray was as evident in her repeated fist pumps and self-exhortations as it was in her ferocious groundstrokes and serves.

“I’m not God. I can’t win every match. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s really special. I can’t think of myself trying to win the grand slam at the start of the year every time.  

“For me, I feel like I grew a lot in this match. The last match that I played in New York, I think I had a completely different attitude. So I’m really happy – of course I lost, but I’m happy with how it went.”

Osaka, who marked her return to the sport with a semi-final run at the Melbourne Summer Set, said she would probably shun social media for a while. Yet she was full of praise for her young opponent – “I’m excited to see where her game takes her” – and had sufficient perspective to see the result not simply as a personal setback but also as a signpost for the future of the game.

“To me, it’s exciting,” said Osaka. “Not the loss itself, but the person I lost to, because it’s showing the growth of tennis. I feel like now I’m in this position where if I lose to someone, it might make a headline, but I also think it kind of grows more superstars, and I feel like that’s good for the game.”

Anisimova, who slowly reeled in Osaka with her low, bludgeoning groundstrokes, has form for an upset that predates her straight-sets win over Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the previous round. Two and a half years ago, when she was just 17, the American stunned defending champion Simona Halep at Roland Garros to become the youngest semi-finalist in Paris for 13 years.

Just as her stock was rising, however, her world was split asunder by the sudden death of her father, Konstantin. It has been a long road back from that personal nadir but, after winning the second title of her career in Melbourne 12 days ago, she is once again posting the results of which she is capable. 

“Last year was a huge struggle for me,” said Anisimova, 20, who is now ranked 60th after reaching a career high of 21st a little over two years ago. “I really wanted to be having these moments again.

“[Osaka] has a really big game, so I knew that I had to step it up and try to be as aggressive as I could. I don’t know if I did that so well today, because in most of the moments I feel like she was more aggressive. I think my serve is what really helped me today.”

In Barty, Anisimova will face familiar opposition. It was the Queenslander who eventually ended her breakthrough run at the French Open, where she stood within three games of the final at a set and 3-0 up. For Barty, who went on to win the match and the title, it was a pivotal victory.

“I learned a lot from that moment,” Barty recalled following her 6-2, 6-3 win over Giorgi. “That was a turning point in my career, and you have to be able to take learnings from those moments, as hard as they are sometimes. 

“I was able to navigate and find a way through, which at that point in my life, in my career, was a massive turning point. It feels like it’s a lifetime ago, but some of those memories are still really vivid. Without a doubt we will take that and use that experience, use those feelings and those emotions as best we can come Sunday.”

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“Dang, you saw that?” Osaka chuckled after launching the defence of her Australian Open title with an assured 6-3, 6-3 win over Camila Osorio, the world No 50. “I deleted it like three minutes after.”

Welcome to the world of the new Naomi, a carefree refuge from the tribulations of last year, when Osaka began the summer by withdrawing from the French Open to protect her mental health and ended it with a tearful announcement that she would be taking an indefinite break from the game. The former world No 1 appears to be in a better place both on and off the court, and how tennis needs her after the unsavoury events that have dominated the headlines in recent days. 

Ironically, the Novak Djokovic saga might actually have helped Osaka, whose return to the sport would otherwise have been more fully in the spotlight ahead of the season’s first slam. Instead, she has been able to slip quietly under the radar, reaching the last four at the Melbourne Summer Set before an abdominal injury forced her withdrawal. 

That will soon change if she continues to produce the kind of form that blew away Osorio in the early stages here. The Colombian, a former junior world No 1 who, at the age of 20, is just beginning to find her feet at senior level, must have wondered what she had got herself into. Caught in a maelstrom of exquisitely-timed winners, Osorio found herself 5-0 down in the blink of an eye despite barely putting a foot wrong. Unsurprisingly, after so long away from the game, Osaka struggled to maintain her stratospheric level of play, yet she was calm when the inevitable dip came, shrugging off her mistakes with a blithe air that augurs well for the challenges ahead.

“I just want to have fun, first of all,” explained Osaka, who is seeded 13th and expected to play Ashleigh Barty, the world No 1 and home favourite, in the last 16. “I can’t expect myself to win every match, but I do expect myself to have fun and challenge myself.

“For me, I came back when I wanted to come back. I just felt like there are situations where I previously would get upset. But at this point in my life, I’m here because I want to be here, and because I find that it’s fun for me. Might as well enjoy it while I still can.  

“I think just to be playing on Rod Laver [Arena] and to have, like, such a good streak on Rod Laver is something I could be proud of and something I enjoy.”

Significantly, the politically dialled-in Osaka, whose social activism has earned her a reputation as a soft-spoken agent of change, carefully sidestepped questions about the Djokovic situation. “It didn’t really affect me,” she said. “I saw that it affected the men’s draw a little bit, so you might have to ask a men’s player.” Her media interrogators failed to take the hint – the first two questions at her press briefing concerned Djokovic, while the third was about Peng Shuai – and it is perhaps indicative of the work that remains to be done on that front that she subsequently had to shut down further questions on the subject. That she did so, however, is indicative of the positive shift in her mindset after the travails of last season.

“I would say I feel more comfortable in my skin,” said Osaka. “[It’s] human nature to feel uneasy, to want to please everyone and stuff like that. I feel like there was a time after French Open where I felt like everyone was judging me. 

“It feels a bit weird when you go into a stadium to play and you’re kind of concerned what everyone’s gaze means. I’m not sure if I explained that well. Basically, right now I’m trying to learn how to be more selfish, but in a positive way.”  

With a blockbuster showdown against Barty potentially on the horizon, such pragmatism will be needful. The top seed, who is seeking to end Australia’s 44-year wait for a homegrown champion, opened her campaign in emphatic style with a 6-0, 6-1 rout of Lesia Tsurenko. It was the perfect start for the world No 1, who was beaten by the Ukrainian qualifier at the Brisbane International four years ago and extended to a decider by the 32-year-old at Melbourne Park in 2020. There was never any prospect of a repeat this time. Barty dissected Tsurenko’s game with clinical precision, her power and variety proving too much for the former world No 23 as she stretched her run of consecutive service holds to 42, a streak that began during her winning start to the season in Adelaide.

“The last kind of five or six matches I felt like I found a really good rhythm on my service games,” said Barty. “I’ve been able to serve my way out of some tricky spots and play some 30-30 points while not falling too far behind in service games. That has been a massive part of my week in Adelaide, and again tonight.  

“I think I did a pretty good job of winning first and second points. And if I didn’t, I was able to call that back and not dig myself into a hole where I was fighting off two or three break points in a row. I think [my ability] to manage service games has been really good.”

Elsewhere, Madison Keys brought an early end to Sofia Kenin’s challenge for a second title at Melbourne Park with a 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 victory. In a performance that belied her current ranking of 51, Keys fired 31 winners against her fellow American to underline the resurgent form she showed last week in Adelaide, where she won the sixth title of her career. 

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Strict quarantine requirements in her native Queensland meant that, had Barty chosen to defend her title in Mexico, it would probably have been December by the time she made it home. Instead, while her rivals grappled with flying balls and failing breath in the high-altitude conditions of Guadalajara, Barty was finally able to sit back with family and friends and reflect on a stellar season. Six months on the road had brought a career-best five titles – most notably at Wimbledon, where she ended a 41-year wait for an Australian women’s champion – and a third successive year-end No 1 crown. 

Now, after a solid pre-season and a winning start to the year in Adelaide, where she won both the singles and doubles titles, Barty goes into her home slam lightly raced and ready to face the challenge of becoming the first woman since Christine O’Neil in 1978 to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. Not that she will lose any sleep if things don’t work out.

“I can’t do any more than try,” says Barty, whose best performance at Melbourne Park came two years ago, when she reached the semi-finals. 

“That’s all I can do. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I just have to hope that everyone understands I’m giving it my best crack. It doesn’t always work out exactly how you want to. But you go about it the right way, you do the right things and try and give yourself the best chance. That’s all you can do.”

If she is to improve on last year’s unexpected quarter-final defeat to Karolina Muchova, Barty – who will play the Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko in her opener – will first need to get past Naomi Osaka, the defending champion, whom she is scheduled to meet in the fourth round.

After taking a four-month break following September’s shock defeat to Leylah Fernandez at the US Open, Osaka marked her return with an impressive run in Melbourne last week before an abdominal injury forced her to withdraw from her semi-final against Veronika Kudermetova. Happy and excited, she says, to be back at the scene of two of her four grand slam victories, the 24-year-old remains the player to beat on hard courts.

“Playing in the Australian Open means a lot to me,” says the 13th-seeded Osaka, who will open her title defence against Colombia’s Camila Osorio Serrano.

“It’s not the first slam that I won, but I feel like starting the year off here really kind of builds momentum throughout the year. I also think there’s like a different feeling I get when I come to Australia. Everyone is really warm and welcoming. I just remember all the tough battles that I’ve had here.  It’s definitely a very positive feeling.”

Another player with a revitalised outlook is Garbiñe Muguruza. The Spanish third seed comes into the tournament buoyed by last season’s brilliant run to the WTA Finals title, and with a renewed sense of clarity about her game and goals. Her decision to pull out of Adelaide suggests she has learned from the experience of two years ago, when she played tournaments on two different continents in the build-up to the Australian Open, falling ill in the process, before running out of steam in the final against Sofia Kenin. This time around she is rested and ready.

“I really focused on getting the needed rest [in the off-season], because you’re not losing your tennis,” says Muguruza, who was beaten by Daria Kasatkina in the quarter-finals of this week’s Sydney Tennis Classic. “I think you prioritise getting back the energy, refreshing the mindset and everything. 

“I skipped Adelaide. I normally like to play the first tournament of the year, but I felt like in these circumstances why not go to Sydney. I’m adapting really, every week, to what I feel.”

Muguruza’s willingness to trust to instinct offers a further indication of her renewed belief. Drawn in the same quarter as sixth seed Anett Kontaveit, the Estonian whom she beat twice at the WTA Finals – and who will no doubt be nursing a few psychological scars after missing seven match points against Barbora Krejcikova in Sydney – the 28-year-old has the air of a player who feels her best years lie ahead. 

After her WTA Finals win, her most significant title in four years, Muguruza spoke of how she had never stopped believing she could still produce the tennis that earned her the French Open and Wimbledon titles. Contemplating her opener against Clara Burel of France, the world No 77, she returned to the theme. 

“I feel a lot of emotions when I step on to the Rod Laver court, because I was very close to having this grand slam in my pocket, if that makes sense. I guess I’ll have to try and try as many times as I can. But I’m excited. It gives me the certainty that I can do it. Also, the year when I reached the final was a very tough physical year for me because I got so sick. But I made it. 

“Yeah, why not do it again? Of course, it’s complicated. You have to put so many things together. You know how it is, it’s hard.  But I’ve done it and I believe more than ever that I can do it again.

“I think I’ve always had that belief. I think always believing so strongly in myself whether I was playing good or less good, is what make me just be at the highest level for so many years … Sometimes it gives you a certainty and a character, it builds you different, if you have those grand slams.”

That outlook could prove decisive should Muguruza make her projected last-four appointment with Aryna Sabalenka. The Belarusian second seed, who has never been beyond the fourth round at Melbourne Park, has endured a torrid start to the season, losing in Adelaide to Rebecca Peterson and Kaja Juvan – respectively ranked 82nd and 89th – and serving a total of 39 double faults in the process. 

Reduced to serving underarm at times against Peterson, the distraught Sabalenka was asked by chair umpire Julie Kjendlie if she was OK. “Nothing is wrong, it’s a technical problem,” Sabalenka replied. “I cannot serve better.”

She can, of course, as last year’s barnstorming progress to the last four at Wimbledon and the US Open attests. But with an Aussie awaiting in the first round in the shape of wildcard Storm Sanders, and a potential quarter-final against seventh seed Iga Swiatek, she will need to make the required adjustments to her game and mindset quickly.

Arguably the most intriguing question is who will come through the second quarter of the draw, where Krejcikova and Paula Badosa, two players who made giant strides last season, are projected to face off in the last eight. Krejcikova has been a model of consistency since her breakthrough victory at Roland Garros last summer, and her run to the final in Sydney would suggest she is not about to rest on her laurels after finishing 2021 with three titles. The bad news for the Czech is that it was Badosa, a player tipped by many as a potential world No 1, who came between her and the title, the battling Spaniard prevailing in a third-set tiebreak to record her third win over Krejcikova in three matches.   

The great unknowable is how Emma Raducanu will fare. It is barely four months since the British teenager came through qualifying to win the US Open without dropping a set, but she seems to have packed in a lifetime of experience since, with a veritable blizzard of sponsorship deals and high-profile engagements attracting criticism that she has taken her eye off the ball. 

While it is true that Raducanu has struggled to reproduce the level she showed at Flushing Meadows, such brickbats are patently unfair. She is hardly the first young champion to experience a dip in form after life-changing success, and it is perhaps revealing that she chose to take aim at her critics in a new Nike commercial that shows her hitting strokes against a changing backdrop of short quotations including: “distracted”, “fluke” and “one-hit wonder”. The advert ends with the slogan: “World off. Game on.” 

“The video speaks for itself,” says Raducanu. “That’s how I feel.”

Contracting Covid in Abu Dhabi last month has hardly helped Raducanu’s progress, undermining her hopes of using the off-season to improve her strength and conditioning. The 17th seed wears her elevated status lightly, however, and while others may have lofty expectations, she is just grateful to be making her main draw debut at Melbourne Park.

“I think it’s going to be a very cool experience to play here in the main draw for the first time,” says the 19-year-old, who faces former US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the opening round. 

“I played a few years ago in the juniors. Coming back here playing in the main draw so soon, I feel quite proud of this achievement. It is a bit of a different feel because, back then, we weren’t allowed in the main area. It’s quite fun to see and look around.”

It is too easy to overlook the reality that this is her first full season on the tour, such has been the meteoric nature of her rise. For the time being, however, Raducanu – who now has an experienced, respected coach in her corner in Torben Beltz – is focusing on small steps rather than more giant strides. 

“As long as the trend is trending upwards, just a matter of small fluctuations, I think I can be proud,” she says when asked about the hurdles she has encountered since the US Open. “Whatever challenge that is, I feel kind of ready to face it now.”

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