The men's World Number 1 is still under investigation for a failed drugs test with some wanting Jannik Sinner to serve a proper suspension rather than what was offered up in 2024.
To make matters worse for the sport as a whole, it was announced that Iga Swiatek, the women's World Number 1, was also suspended for a month after failing a test of her own. However, that has not appeased anybody with many feeling that the Tour has not given the same type of suspension that so many lower Ranked players have had to suffer, while the fact the suspension had little actual impact of missing tournaments really has not helped anyone.
It is not a good look for a sport that has seen some of the biggest names move into retirement over the last couple of years and no one can be surprised that both World Number 1's have faced as much criticism as they have.
For some reason those who support Sinner and Swiatek have been surprised by the outrage, but even the most ardent of fans would admit that there has been a feeling of a different set of rules being applied to the best players and those further down the World Rankings. Even former Grand Slam Winner Simona Halep has been highly critical considering she served a much longer ban for what she feels is essentially an equivalent situation to Iga Swiatek.
The hope for those who love this sport is that the headlines at the first Grand Slam of the 2025 season will be made on the court and not off it.
Melbourne does produce some big tournaments and there is plenty of excitement with a Slam kicking off the year, as has become the norm.
Last year was a terrible season for the Tennis Picks and it all began at the Australian Open where the worst performance at any Grand Slam was recorded.
It wasn't bad, it was absolutely pathetic, and 2025 needs to start much better.
The rest of the season was not so bad, but recovering from that awful Australian Open 2024 was far too much to ask and that cannot happen again.
Qinwen Zheng - 5.5 games v Anca Alexia Todoni: 2024 will be remembered very positively by Qinwen Zheng after winning the Gold Medal at the Paris Olympics and reaching the Final of the Australian Open and the WTA Finals.
Twelve months ago, Qinwen Zheng would have entered the Australian Open as an outsider with her World Number 15 Rank, but expectations are certainly much larger going into this season. She is the World Number 5 in Melbourne in 2025, and fans will be expecting this player to take the next step in her development and that is by winning a Grand Slam title.
She faces a Qualifier in her first match in Melbourne and her first professional match in 2025 and Qinwen Zheng is unsurprisingly a big favourite.
The hard court numbers produced in 2024 are certainly encouraging and Qinwen Zheng is a player that can dominate behind serve and build scoreboard pressure. There is always room for improvement though and that really needs to be on the return of serve with Zheng winning 43% of return points played on the surface, a number that can be improved by someone who is now entrenched in the top ten of the World Rankings, albeit with plenty of points to defend over the next fortnight.
Her first opponent is the 20 year old Qualifier from Romania, although Anca Alexia Todoni deserves her respect after a positive start to 2025. Winning matches breeds confidence and Todoni has won three already to earn a spot in the main draw in Melbourne, while the Romanian won three matches in Brisbane in a warm up event before being ousted by Linda Noskova.
It is fair to point out that Anca Alexia Todoni is only playing her second opponent from within the top 100 when facing last year's Australian Open Runner Up and the loss to Linda Noskova was pretty straight-forward.
The favoured domain is the clay courts, and Anca Alexia Todoni remains a touch inexperienced which may work against her here.
She does hold a 6-4 record against top 100 Ranked opponents on all surfaces in her career, but that drops to 1-2 when considering non-clay court events. The younger players can serve well enough to at least give Qinwen Zheng something to think about, but the reality is that this is a big step up and the opening selection from the Australian Open in 2025 is backing the World Number 5 to secure a relatively comfortable pathway through to the Second Round.
MY PICKS: Qinwen Zheng - 5.5 Games @ 1.72 BetFred (2 Units)
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