There are other major matches on Monday, but none will surpass the 7pm Rod Laver Arena encounter between nine-time champion Novak Djokovic and Australia’s great hope Alex de Minaur.
Should expectations match reality, it will be the match of the fortnight.
But, as ever with Djokovic, the build up is rarely straightforward. Is he injured? Without question but how much?
It will aggrieve the 23-year-old De Minaur that the match will almost certainly turn on the Serb’s physical fitness, but it is the reality.
Djokovic has been in Australia for 27 days straight and arrived with the consummate PR strategy to win hearts and minds as well as matches.
An ATP title and new fans – on court and off – were won in Adelaide, but it is the injury to his left hamstring that he picked up there which confounds.
How badly hurt is he? If at all? We never know with Novak and there is a well-documented touch of the boy who cried wolf.
Remember the final here against Andy Murray in 2015? Early in the third set Djokovic could do little other than hobble about but recovered in time to take the title. Of course he did.
Two years ago an abdominal tear appeared fatal to his chances of playing on for several rounds but again it didn’t stop him raising the trophy.
Djokovic was deeply worried after his second-round win a few days ago he said but his opponent on Saturday, Grigor Dmitrov, may think otherwise after the Serb took him apart in three sets.
De Minaur will focus on himself only.
This is his chance to finally make the quarter-final of a major tournament and really for his credibility and mindset it needs to be on Monday night.
He has high-level backing, with John McEnroe suggesting he will cause Djokovic problems if the Serb not fully fit.
Novak though has not come to Australia to go home without the Australian Open title. He is on a mission – evident from his very first, nervy but steely press conference in Adelaide, and will summon Andy Murray depths of resolve if called for.
The atmosphere on RLA should be tempestuous. Curiously the players have not met before and while you should never bet against Djokovic over five sets, he has to lose some time. The odds favour the big man, but a De Minaur win is not impossible. Hold tight.
A reality check – before the main event, RLA hosts the last-16 clash between fifth seed Andrey Rublev and ninth seed Holger Rune, a bout that could very easily produce next Sunday’s champion.
It may well seem it, but this tournament is not all about Djokovic.
Rybakina flies under radar
Elena Rybakina is the reigning Wimbledon women’s champion.
She is 23 years old, athletic and attractive but could probably walk unrecognised into many a cafe or restaurant in downtown Melbourne.
She is not easily definable – Russian by birth, she represents Kazakhstan and is seeded just 22 (ditto de Minaur in the men’s) this Australian Open.
She is also playing doubles with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who won the AO junior singles title twice, the first time when she was just 14.
“She is very young still. She can still learn but I can also learn a lot from her,” says Pavlyuchenkova of her work partner.
“She has great groundstrokes, an unbelievable serve and is a great athlete. I enjoy playing with her. She makes it much easier for me when I am at the net.”
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Behind me, just outside the press box on RLA about 2pm on Sunday, a female spectator was grumbling to herself as Iga Swiatek faced a third match point against Rybakina.
“This is madness,” she grunted as the Pole and No.1 seed exited the tournament seconds later. “Madness.”
It was anything but. Rybakina deserved her victory – Swiatek admitted as much – and it is a strength of the women’s game that such a talent can loiter outside public recognition or awareness.
She is the real deal.
Aryna Sabalenka and Belinda Bencic, who meet on RLA at 11am will grab the headlines, but Rybakina is more likely to grab the women’s title.
Ostapenko delivers charm class
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, seeded 17, is up next for Rybakina after she put out crowd favourite Coco Gauff in straight sets on Sunday before following it up with the best post-match conference of this fortnight.
Ostapenko comes with a smile, wit and intelligence that is not automatic to many other players.
French Open champion at just 19, there have been lean years since and thus a deep perspective.
She talked about fame, emotions, losing it and finding a balance and did it with a zest and a charm that might be a studied by some former players masquerading as broadcast media this fortnight.
Go Stef!
The juniors tournament at the AO understandably takes second place to the senior exploits but occasionally a belter of a story unearths itself. Step forward Stefani Webb from Melbourne’s northern suburbs shortly after midday on Sunday.
Webb is 17 years old and didn’t play much at all in the past year – just 10 tournaments – as she focused on finishing Year 12.
Mum and Dad’s orders, she said. Get the fundamentals right first, you’ll have heaps of time to play tennis later.
There were injuries too, a tear in her abdomen and worryingly a back injury sustained in Canberra that led to a scan which revealed a series of stress fractures. Fortunately she’s fine now.
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Sadly, she came into her first-round clash with top seed Sara Saito (Japan) on court 16 with the worst of all experiences, a family bereavement.
“I lost my grandmother a few days ago. I had no expectations coming into the match,” she said.
“My grandmother’s name is Elenora and it is my middle name. I am just so proud of my performance.”
And so she should be.
Saito did not play badly at all but Webb took the honours 6-3 1-6 6-2 in 93 minutes before a crowd that grew louder, more fidgety and more supportive with every point.
Webb was fortunate in that she played on court 16, an oddity of a venue with just one main stand and tree sides hemmed in by the adjoining John Cain and Kia arenas and the jumble of rail tracks that divide the tennis from the MCG.
“It was unreal. The court was unreal, the crowd, the atmosphere,” she said. “The three sides, I kind of liked it. There were so many people there. I’m an Aussie. I have played all over Melbourne Park but never there.
“It’s the biggest crowd I have played before. Insane.”
Her fitness coach Betty was in her box courtside along with her brother. But her parents, nervous as anything, watched elsewhere, Dad perched away from the action high up on a walkway outside Kia Arena looking down upon his daughter.
“It’s my parents dream and my dream, a match to remember,” said Webb, a diminutive, doughty player with the heart and fight of a lioness and a delight to chat to post match.
The juniors is no guarantor of senior achievement or stardom, but it remains an indicator and Webb has a chance. But first the Australian Open Junior Championships 2023.
It is very early days, of course, but it is impossible to conceive of a more popular winner. Go Stef!
Tsitsipas survives comeback in ‘ripper’ match
Stefanos Tsitsipas survived a huge comeback from Jannik Sinner to advance to the Australian Open quarter-finals.
The Greek ace, who is seeded No.3, claimed the first two sets on Sunday night but was relieved to overcome the Italian 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 in a four-hour encounter on RLA on Sunday night.
“It was a long match. I felt like I spent an entire century on this court playing tennis,” Tsitsipas said.
“It felt so long. I mean, what a great night. That was superb, a ‘ripper’ as they say here.”
The 24-year-old next meets unseeded Czech Jiri Lehecka, who has never been past the first round at a grand slam but has already toppled three seeds on his path to the last eight.
