Six questions for the Top 25 ATP players following the Australian Open

From hungry Americans to the greatest of all time, here’s what we’re wondering about how their 2025 will unfold.

The Australian Open left Alexander Zverev saying he isn’t good enough, Novak Djokovic withdrawing from play due to hamstring injury, and the American men wondering how they can add a Grand Slam title to their name.

Here’s what we’re wondering about how the 2025 season will unfold for the ATP’s ranking leaders:

Alexander Zverev: He’s now 0-3 in Grand Slam finals, which summons memories of the Buffalo Bills losing four straight Super Bowls in the early 1990s. Then again, like the Bills, as cumulatively brutalizing as such outcomes can be, a competitor has to be darn good to get that far. Still just 27 years old, Zverev—who’s reached those finals in Melbourne, Paris, and New York—has many more chances ahead.

Carlos Alcaraz: What did he learn from an uncharacteristically dispirited loss to Novak Djokovic?

The biggest names in men’s tennis are all experiencing different setbacks at the start of the season.

Top 25 American men: Fritz, Paul, Shelton, Tiafoe, Korda. Which of these contenders will win more than one tournament this year? Will any match Fritz’s feat at the 2024 US Open and reach a Slam final?

Novak Djokovic: Great run to the semis—but hit the physical wall. What will his tournament schedule look like in 2025?

Jack Draper: Three-set five-set wins revealed tremendous fitness—but then Draper retired versus Alcaraz. Having soared in the last year from outside the Top 50 into the Top 20, how will this promising lefty manage his game in the months to come?

Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune: Frustration for each Down Under. What’s the improvement path?