Madison Keys won the 2025 Australian Open, her first, and now she is 30 years old and back in the limelight.

The 2026 tournament starts on Monday. To be effective again, she will have to hit it right on the lines.

While she isn’t that fast but her huge forehand, backhand and return can crush it. She can get very frustrated when she is missing. Then she won’t back down, and will continue to flail at it. On the hot Aussie courts, she can be patient and trust her legs. OK, she can be mediocre at the net, but she can be terrific when moving forward and attacking the ball. 

Last year, she beat Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka with huge forehands.

“I don’t really focus on other people’s expectations of me. I only care what my own expectations are,” she said.

To repeat in Melbourne she will have to face a bevy of Americans who are playing top 6 tennis: Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. Gauff has won two majors. Anisimova reached two finals and Pegula rose to one.

Gauff said, “Always dream big, and don’t let anyone limit your dreams because the possibilities are endless.”

Anisimova sits as top American woman

The current No. 3, Anisimova was in the ’25 Wimbledon and US Open finals, but she failed. In fact, in London, she lost 6-0, 6-0 to Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon on the grass. Ugh.

“Pain can burn you up or redeem you,” she said.

But then she rose up quickly to advance to the final in Flushing Meadows in September. It was tight in the second set, but the No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka outhit her.

“It’s been a great summer,” Anisimova said. “[Making two Grand Slam finals in a row] is great, but it’s also super hard. I think I didn’t fight hard enough for my dreams today.”

The odd thing is that she knocked out Swiatek in the quarters in New York. Strange.

5. Felix Auger-Aliassime

A few years ago, he was ripping the ball, to the right, and to the left. He was quite quick. However, he stared to slip, as he was occasionally hurt, but he lost himself. Yet during the summer, he became more consistent on hardcourts when he reached into the semis at the US Open, and he tried to chop down Jannik Sinner. While it was close, he didn’t have more depth. Yes, he can try to hit deep shots, but his return and at the new serve isn’t yet phenomenal. Next year the Canadian will try to win a Slam for the first time. A lot of people want to, but he knows that the opportunity is right there. He has to prove it. 

4. Novak Djokovic 

Fans really believe that he is the best player,ever. Maybe he is, given that the Serbian has won 24 Grand Slams, which is remarkable. His heavy serve, his much improved forehand, his amazing backhand, crosscourt, returning deep, and improved touch at the net. He has won 101 titles — way up there — and 1,161 wins. Is that enough? No, as next year, assuming he is healthy, he will continue to win more tournaments. Not so much when you get older, and he is 38-years-old, so he is a little bit slower, and there is nothing you can do about it. At the US Open, he looked good, but however, in the semis, Carlos Alcaraz was faster and more lethal. In January, he will go to the Australian Open, where he won it 11 times. Can he do it again? Maybe, 50-50. “In terms of playing ability there is nothing to choose between No. 1 and 100,” Djokovic said. “Instead, it’s a question of who believes and who wants it more? Which player is mentally stronger? Which player is going to fight the hardest in the big points? These are the things that determine who is the champion.”

3. Alexander Zverev 

Will he win a Slam next year? The German has been close at hardcourts and the clay. He has played so many long matches. He tries variety and can crush the ball. However, there are times in the matches when he isn’t rational much, because he is thinking about his life. Yes, he is really into it, and others, he wants to go home. Regardless, when he can bash the ball, both sides, then he looks terrific. But this year, all the top players beat Zverev, like Sinner did in the final of the Aussie Open. It was somewhat close, but Zverev couldn’t win it. Next year, the 28-year-old has to boom up again.

2. Jannik Sinner

In 2023, the Italian was perpendicular up and down. Same. Thing. But by 2024, he became totally on fire, winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and, in the fall, Beijing, Austria, the ATP Masters 1000 Paris, and the ATP Finals in Turin beating Carlos Alcaraz. He is very tall and he can bend down and tag it, down the line and crosscourt. He can hit it quite flat, and spin it, too. His first serve is huge and he has astronomical athleticism. However, he can overthink it, and he can also be predictable. He has won four Slams. The 24-year-old can win again in 2025, but if he has to solve Alcaraz, somehow. If so, he will be No. 1 again. But he may not, unless he can enhance his slice, his return and net game. Yet he will do anything you have to do in order to get something great.

1. Carlos Alcaraz 

The Spaniard will go to practice even more to improve his volleys. Just like all the great players, month after month, they will think about it a lot. His forehand and his backhand are not only sizable, but he can be patient, mix it up, touch it and slam it. The reason why he is No. 1 is because he can practice for many hours, just like with former champion Rafa Nadal. Alcaraz can return deep from way back, and as he wants to rally for a while. Or, he can just hit it as hard as he can. He was hurt in 2024, so when he returned in the Aussie Open, he wasn’t quite there. But day after day, he became gradually better, winning Monte-Carlo, Rome, and at Roland Garros, in the final, as he edged Sinner 7-6 in the fifth set, a classic match. Right after that at Wimbledon, Sinner came up to beat Alcaraz 6-4 in the fourth set. Those two are dominating, going to the Slam finals. At the US Open, Alcaraz beat 6-4 in the fourth. Now, and intense rivalry, 10-6 for the Spaniard versus the Italian. It will go on for years, just like Nadal versus Djokovic. Sinner said: “I think that we have a good friendship also off the court [with Alcaraz.]. It’s something great to see. We see that this is possible, it’s not like you have to be enemies also off the court. Of course we are enemies when we step on the court, we try to play our best tennis. But it ends there. After the handshake, everything is fine again.”

Amanda Anisimova had a slim chance to win Wimbledon. But against the former No. 1 Iga Swiatek, she needed to be patient until she had a chance to crush her groundstrokes very deep for winners. Anisimova couldn’t do anything, making so many errors, and lost 6-0, 6-0. She was so nervous and she couldn’t breathe.

Swiatek hit everything hard, with her terrific forehand, her backhand, showing wonderful variety. 

Swiatek has now won six Grand Slams, but before that, on the grass, she was up and down this season, rethinking what she should do. Also, she was darn good over the past four years, but she also needed to improve, with her strokes at the net, to breathe and think. She did that at Roland Garros and the US Open, but the grass was very different. This time she did.

Anisimova was ready to dance at the final, but she collapsed. She just beat the No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the semis. Anisimova kept battling, running fast, and mashing her with her forehand and her backhand.  

“It’s bold. I think I need to challenge it, and to be positive.” Anisimova improved a lot this season.

But in the final she was not positive, she was so gone in less than an hour against Swiatek.

For Anisiimova, the final can feel awful for weeks, but you have to forget it about it, if you can.

“I know I didn’t have enough today, but I’m going to keep putting in the work,” Anisimova said. “And I always believe in myself, so I hope to be back here one day.”

“I was really competing throughout the whole two weeks,” Swiatek said. “No matter what happened before the season, I just trusted the process and the things that my coach wanted me to do on grass. So it was all pretty simple what I wanted to do on the court. I think I was serving great and I just leaned on that. Had a lot of confidence on every match and, and this happened. So it’s all pretty surreal and crazy. I can’t explain that, but I’m super happy and I’ll enjoy the next days for sure.”

Swiatek clipped her forehand and her backhand, and close to the corners. She finally learned on the grass.

No. 1 Jannik Sinner is the favorite player against almost everyone, but the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, is on fire, once again.

Not only did he win the 2025 Roland Garros, but now, he has won five Grand Slams, also winning Wimbledon twice and the US Open. At times, he can hit some odd shots, but he stands in there, hitting where he wants to and has learned to br more patient.

Sinner has more control plus lots of power in his forehand backhand and first serve. He can mix it up, too. Three years ago, he would become very frustrated, and then he would lose control. However, most of the players can get better, gradually, but some others were never going into second week at the Slams. They just weren’t able to beat the top dogs. Sinner is past that.

 The last time with the American men won Wimbledon was when Pete Sampras won in 2000. He was a great player. Since, the only men to win at Wimbledon from 2001-2024, were Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz.

Is it possible that the US men can go very deep at Wimbledon? Maybe, as the American Andy Roddick also reached into the final it, but Federer was too good for him. 

They do have a chance, though. You can chuck in such as standouts like Taylor Fritz, who recently won a grass tournament, but not at Wimbledon yet. Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda and Brandon Nakashima are all rising. On the famous grass, you can hit some hard shots and try to nail winners, fast, but if you cannot play well, then you will have to re-set it.

Fritz did reach into the quarters at Wimbledon, but he backed off. Fortunately, in the fall at the US Open, he sprinted into the final on the hardcourt, knocking off Tiafoe in the semis, until Sinner out bashed him. That was good enough, but to actually win a Slam, he will have to improve at the net and his return. 

Shelton really likes to rally and mix it up and celebrate. Shelton has been too slow to react when he had to decide which way to go, but it will take him another year to understand where he could go. 

Tommy Paul has made it into the top 10, but it took him 12 years to get there. He is super consistent, and he can really grind it. Plus, now, not only will he rally crosscourt but he will smash it down the line. He has faded before, but on the grass, he is still working to bend down to keep it very low. Three other Americans in the top 32 can be impressive with Tiafoe, Korda and Nakashima. But they can also lose it when they are playing in the matches. They can pound it into the corners, but they can also hit it way out. Can they dominate for three out of five set. Unlikely.