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Welcome to the Australian Open briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.
On day five, Emma Raducanu set up a huge third-round clash, Taylor Fritz rolled on, and Joao Fonseca learned about a Grand Slam.
How Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray made up
It was the story that gripped Wimbledon: Emma Raducanu jilting Andy Murray at the altar.
The British pair had been slated to play mixed doubles during Murray’s final appearance at the Grand Slam with which he had become synonymous over the previous two decades. But Raducanu, nursing fitness concerns ahead of her fourth-round singles match and wary of competing the evening before, pulled out a few hours before the duo were expected on court.
Murray was gutted, his mother Judy called it “astonishing” on social media, and a nation enjoyed the soap opera of it all. A month or so later at the U.S. Open, Raducanu said that “it doesn’t feel different at all” when asked about life on tour without Murray. She added that the way tennis works, even someone like Murray moving on is “old news the next day.” This earned her a good deal of criticism, but with the theme of 2024 being tennis retirements and their evasion of a happy ending, it’s hard to argue with her assessment.
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Tears, pre-announcements, vanishing into thin air: The new rules of tennis retirement
On Thursday in Melbourne, having beaten her friend Amanda Anisimova to set up a third-round match against world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, Raducanu struck a conciliatory tone. Asked a question in a news conference that referenced the mixed doubles incident, she said: “I saw Andy today and he said ‘well done’ and congratulated me. That was really nice. He’s someone that I look up to a lot. So it’s good to have that pat on the back from him.”
After the news conference was finished, Raducanu expanded on what had happened at the All England Club and, speaking to a small group of reporters, said: “Afterwards, I sent him a long message, basically: ‘If I caused any trouble I guess at Wimbledon, that’s definitely the last thing I want.’
“He’s someone that I’ve grown up looking up to and I don’t want any bad blood or harsh feelings with him.
“I sent him a long message and he took it really well and responded saying he was disappointed but he understood. We’re fine now. We walk past each other and say ‘Hello’, ‘Well done’. It’s obviously really cool seeing him with Novak (Djokovic) here as well. Two great champions and they’re just together, it’s pretty awesome.”
A Raducanu and Murray reconciliation? Astonishing.
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Emma Raducanu knows tennis moves on quickly more than most, from Andy Murray or not
Charlie Eccleshare
Taylor Fritz joins tennis player support for LA wildfires
Taylor Fritz, the American world No. 4, has lost just eight games in his two resounding wins so far at the Australian Open, but an off-court gesture stood out on Thursday.
Fritz, born and raised in Southern California, revealed in his on-court interview after beating Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 to reach the third round that he would be donating his first-round prize money of 132,000 Australian dollars (£67,000; $82,000) to LA wildfire relief funds.
“I just want everyone to stay safe, it’s insane what happened,” Fritz said.
“It’s the least I can do. Southern California is my home and LA was my home for a very long time, so I’m just doing what I can possibly do to help.” Fritz added in his news conference that the house his brothers grew up in had burnt down.
The donation follows players such as Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Donna Vekic writing messages of support to LA on television camera lenses after their matches.
“A lot of people are affected by it,” Fritz said, “I feel like if you’re in a place to help, then you should.”
Tennis players such as Taylor Fritz have been sending messages to LA via camera lenses from Melbourne. (Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images)
Charlie Eccleshare
How Joao Fonseca got to grips with a new Grand Slam challenge
It’s a good moment to remember that Carlos Alcaraz won his first Grand Slam main-draw match in 2021, also at the Australian Open, then subsequently lost his next one — just when it looked like he was going to take over the tournament — to one Mikael Ymer.
Jannik Sinner could not get the better of Marton Fucsovics after his first Grand Slam win here five years ago.
And one day, it’s likely people will be wondering how Joao Fonseca could have lost to Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, and there is no disrespect to Sonego by writing that. Sonego can be a dangerous opponent who has had a fine career, with touch and finesse and an eye for the artful as well as some punishing groundstrokes.
Fonseca, the 18-year-old Brazilian who blasted Andrey Rublev in the first round, should remain all the rage for a while yet after losing in five sets on Thursday to Sonego, who had to summon some of his best tennis and two scorching passing shot winners in the penultimate game to take the match 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Joao Fonseca played his first five-set Grand Slam match. (Graham Denholm / Getty Images)
The win meant the Australian Open probably won’t turn into Carnivale, which for a while on Thursday it seemed like it would. Canary-yellow soccer jerseys were everywhere at the 1573 Court. There were drums. And there were so many picture-perfect backhands off Fonseca’s racket.
As Novak Djokovic said of Fonseca the other day, “he’s got the goods.” As for Sonego, who celebrated like he made the final, he has a third-round match with Fabian Marozsan and a secure spot as an answer in a future tennis trivia contest.
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Tennis stardom is a roulette wheel. Joao Fonseca is ready to bet on himself
Matt Futterman
Iva Jovic lost but won the wild-card contest
The tennis federations of the U.S., Australia and France have a deal where each country grants a wild card to a player from the other country for its Grand Slam.
Iva Jovic, 17, got the U.S. wild card this year by winning a playoff. Chloe Paquet, 30, got the French one by being from France.
Advantage Jovic, who made good on her wild card with a first-round win over Nuria Parrizas-Diaz before bowing out to Elena Rybakina, 6-0, 6-3, on Thursday. Jovic has not officially turned pro but said she is leaning that way, even if for the moment the likes of Rybakina are too big for her budget.
“A different level in the second round here, so it kind of puts into perspective how you need to train and what you need to do,” Jovic said in an interview afterwards. “Such a big difference playing in the 30 to 100 range than the top 10.”
We’ll take her word for it.
Matt Futterman
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Tell us what you noticed on the fifth day…
(Top photo of Emma Raducanu: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
