Key posts
Cancelled no more?
By Stephen Brook
Open Season happened upon Oscar winning actor Geoffrey Rush striding past the Chemist Warehouse outlet next to Rod Laver Arena two hours before the men’s final. His destination was the marquee of major sponsor Emirates.
It was a rare sighting. Rush has largely shunned the limelight since 2017 when Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reported that the actor had behaved inappropriately to a young actress during a theatre production of King Lear. Rush denied the allegations and sued the paper in the Federal Court for defamation and won, the paper was ordered to pay a record $2.87 million in damages.
Geoffrey Rush arrives at Melbourne Park.Credit: Eddie Jim
During the court case, actor Yael Stone, made several allegations on the ABC’s 7.30 about Rush when they had performed together in a play, including that Rush had exposed himself to her backstage and sent her sexually suggestive text messages. Rush denied the allegations but did not sue for defamation.
Since then Rush has largely retreated from the public glare and given up acting. His only film appearance has been in the film Storm Boy in 2019.
Rush did not break his stride when acknowledging Open Season’s photographer. Other guests hosted by Emirates included cricketer Ricky Ponting and wife Rianna and St Kilda AFL star Jack Steele.
K-pop stars bring hundreds of fans to Ralph Lauren suite
By Gabriela Sumampow
Are these two world-renowned K-pop idols responsible for the biggest public crowd at the Australian Open? It appears so.
After hours of standing around both the Ralph Lauren store and suite, fans finally got a glimpse of Mark Lee from NCT and Minatozaki Sana from TWICE as they entered the suite.
Mark Lee arrives ahead of the men’s Australian Open final.Credit: Gabriela Sumampow
Crowds of fans, or NCTzens and ONCEs, were initially scattered across the Ralph Lauren store across Rod Laver Arena, but Mark – who arrived before Sana – solidified the ideal waiting spot for fans.
Minatozaki Sana.Credit: Gabriela Sumampow
Some brought albums and Australian Open merchandise to sign, others made their fandom known with K-pop merchandise.
“She looks like a fairy!” screamed a group of fans behind me.
Ahead of their arrival, Saanvi, Maya, Riya and Aashmi were brainstorming their game plan for photos and videos – which involved a group chat to exchange footage with each other.
As they told me, Saanvi and Maya flew from Sydney to attend the Australian Open, and the wait for Mark was when they met Melbourne-based uni friends Riya and Aashmi.
“The pick-up line was, ‘Do you know Mark?’,” said Saanvi.
While Mark’s group NCT has never performed in Australia before, this is Sana’s third time in Melbourne – the first two times for TWICE concerts in Marvel Stadium and, coincidentally, Rod Laver Arena.
‘Amazing he was even able to play’: Sports doctor on Djokovic’s injury
By Ian Chadband and Gemma Grant
Novak Djokovic has posted a scan on social media of his left hamstring that forced him to retire from his Australian Open semi-final, and respected sports doctor Peter Larkins said it shows there are no doubts that the tennis star was actually injured.
“It’s a significant strain,” Larkins said. “It’s not career-ending, but I felt it was quite amazing that he was even able to play a couple of matches after he initially did it.
Novak Djokovic and a scan of the injury that forced him to retire from his Australian Open semi-final.Credit: Getty Images
“Novak’s incredibly athletic and mobile on the court. We’ve seen those slides [he does] … There’s no surprise that he was limited. There’s no doubt, that’s what the scan shows.”
Djokovic was unimpressed at being booed by some in the Melbourne crowd when he retired from his match against Alexander Zverev on Friday after losing a draining opening set in a tiebreak.
The biggest tennis Melebrities
By Cara Waters
Such is the desire of Tennis Australia and its big name sponsors to lure famous names to the Open, it seems that some “Melebrities” (Melbourne celebrities) were more frequently at Rod Laver Arena than many of the actual players.
But who played the most public appearance matches?
Bec Judd, centre, watching Alex de Minaur in action earlier in the tournament.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Early on we had our money on Queen Melebrity and Bayside crimewave commentator Bec Judd. But the wife of AFL legend Chris Judd told us she was only appearing twice, one being a spectacular 45 minutes late appearance at the Emirates marquee.
Influencer Rozalia Russian got so many invitations to the tennis she had to double-up attending with Emirates for a day session then backing it up with Ralph Lauren that evening.
When asked how often she had attended, Russian said, “never enough”, despite calculating she’s already been five times and loved to bring her kids along.
Comedian Joel Creasey is an Australian Open regular.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Comedian Joel Creasey told us, “I’m here every day”. Although that turned out to be partly due to his hosting duties at Squealing Pig’s wine bar at Grand Slam Oval.
However, the ultimate Melebrity tennis fan has to be stylist Lana Wilkinson, who attended “six or seven days” as a guest of various sponsors including Ralph Lauren, Marriott Bonvoy, Chemist Warehouse and Tennis Australia.
“People will probably start asking if I’m working for Tennis Australia,” she said. “I had a photo shoot on Thursday with my team, and they were even joking, ‘Oh did Tennis Australia let you have the day off?’”
The bonus of being a tennis Melebrity means never needing to fork out for a ticket. Wilkinson extolled the good value of $20 ground passes at the tennis, indicating it may be a few years since she last purchased one with ground passes this year costing from $30 to $85.
The new queen of Melbourne Park celebrates
All eyes were on American star Madison Keys this morning after her stunning three-set win over tournament favourite Aryna Sabalenka last night.
Keys proudly showed off the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup with a photo shoot in Brighton…
Madison Keys poses with the trophy at Brighton Beach.Credit: Getty Images
Keys sprayed the champagne on Australia Day after breaking through for her first grand slam title win at 29.Credit: Getty Images
How Djokovic helped Zverev
By Scott Spits
Alexander Zverev tapped into close friend and tour rival Novak Djokovic for deep advice only months ago as the German grappled with his biggest quest in tennis: Breaking through to win a major.
Zverev, who will face Jannik Sinner in tonight’s Australian Open final, has lost his previous two grand slam finals in five sets – last year’s Roland-Garros decider against Carlos Alcaraz and the 2020 US Open final against Dominic Thiem.
Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic embrace after Djokovic retired from their semi-final.Credit: Eddie Jim
He said he turned to Djokovic in Shanghai only weeks after he crashed out to Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals at the US Open.
“I was not winning tournaments any more,” Zverev said about talking to Djokovic in Shanghai.
“I was just asking him how it was for him when he was having difficult moments, you know, [in] 2016, ’17 and all that, how he was coming back. He was always very open to me.”
Zverev said the pair had long chats and even caught up to practice together in Shanghai.
“He was just talking to me about his situations and about his experiences with difficult times.”
“He’s been one of my closest friends on tour. Whenever I struggled, I could always text him, I could always call him, I could always speak to him for advice.”
Read Scott Spits’ full story on the Zverev-Djokovic relationship here.
Welcome to Australian Open men’s final night
The moment has almost arrived to decide our 2025 men’s singles champion.
At 7.30pm, Italian world No.1 Jannik Sinner and German world No.2 Alexander Zverev will take to Rod Laver Arena to duke it out. It’s a mouth-watering clash. Big men, with big games.
Will it be first-timer Zverev, who has never lifted a grand slam trophy before? Or, will the Italian go back-to-back? This one is too close to call.
My name is Danny Russell and I will be your blog host tonight. So, buckle in for the ride as we give you an armchair view during the Australian Open men’s final.
