The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the editor-at-large is Paul Kelly.

The Australian is the biggest-selling national newspaper in the country, with weekday sales of 135,000 and Saturday sales of 305,000, figures substantially below those of top-selling papers in Sydney (The Daily Telegraph), Melbourne (The Herald Sun), and Brisbane (The Courier-Mail). Its chief rival is the business-focused Australian Financial Review.

In May 2010, the newspaper launched the first Australian newspaper iPad app.

The Australian is published by News Limited, an asset of News Corporation, which also owns the sole dailies in Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin and the most popular metropolitan dailies in Sydney and Melbourne. News Corporation's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder is Rupert Murdoch.

The Australian integrates content from overseas newspapers owned by News Limited's parent, News Corporation, including the Wall Street Journal and The Times.

Sarah Louise Palin ⁱ/ˈpeɪlɨn/ (née Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice presidency. Her book Going Rogue has sold more than two million copies. Since January 2010, she has provided political commentary for Fox News, and hosted a television show, Sarah Palin's Alaska. Five million viewers tuned in for the first episode, a record for The Learning Channel.

She was elected to Wasilla City Council in 1992 and became mayor of Wasilla in 1996. In 2003, after an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor, she was appointed Chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, responsible for overseeing the state's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency. The youngest person and first woman to be elected Governor of Alaska, Palin held the office from December 2006 until her resignation in July 2009. She has since endorsed and campaigned for the Tea Party movement, as well as several candidates in the 2010 midterm elections. From the time of her Vice Presidential nomination in 2008, Palin was considered a potential candidate for the 2012 presidential election until she announced in October 2011 that she would not run.

Novak Djokovic (Serbian: Новак Ђоковић or Novak Đoković; pronounced [nɔ̂ʋaːk dʑɔ̂ːkɔʋitɕ] ( listen); born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player who has been ranked World No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) since 4 July 2011. He has won five Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008, 2011 and 2012 Australian Open, the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2011 US Open. By winning three Majors in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player in the open era to win three Majors in a calendar year.

He is the first male player representing Serbia to win a Major singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events, separately and consecutively. Amongst other titles, he won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and was on the team which won the 2010 Davis Cup. He also won the bronze medal in singles at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He has won 11 Masters 1000 series titles placing him joint fourth on the all time list. Djokovic has quickly moved up in the rankings of history. Tennis Channel ranked him number 40 , and former player Pat Cash said he is one of the greatest ever.

Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova (Russian: Екатерина Валерьевна Макарова, born on 7 June 1988) is a professional tennis player from Russia. She achieved her career high ranking of number 29 on June 6, 2011.

She began playing tennis when she was six years old and joined the senior women's circuit at the age of fifteen.

In her first professional tournament in Elektrostal, Russia as a wildcard, she reached the quarter-finals losing to Olga Savchuk 6–3, 3–6, 0–6. At the Zhukovsky, Russia, she lost in the first round after qualifying. This was her last tournament of 2003.

She then played in Cairo, Egypt, reaching the second round as a qualifying. At Antalya, Turkey a she won her career first title over Kateryna Avdiyenko 6–3, 6–3. Appearing at Felixstowe, Great Britain she lost in the first round. At Târgu Mureş, Romania, she claimed her second $10,000 title without dropping a set, defeating Simona Matei in the finals. In Moscow, she lost in the first round to Tatsiana Uvarova 4–6, 6–4, 6–7. At Balashikha, she lost to Elena Vesnina 3–6, 5–7,in the second round after qualifying. In Moscow as a wildcard in the qualifier, she earned her first top 100 victory over Tatiana Perebiynis 2–6, 6–4, 4–0 ret and Polish World No. 83 Marta Domachowska 7–6, 6–4 but lost to compatriot Anna Chakvetadze. In Minsk, Belarus, she came through qualifying in straight sets, losing to Ekaterina Dzehalevich 2–6, 1–6 in the quarterfinals.

Elena Sergeevna Vesnina (Russian: Елена Сергеевна Веснина) (born Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, on 1 August 1986) is a professional female tennis player from Russia. Her career high rank was #22, achieved on 12 October 2009. She is coached by former ATP tour player Andrei Chesnokov.

In October 2002, aged sixteen years and two months, she gained direct entry into the qualifying draw for her first $10,000 tournament at Giza, Egypt, and succeeded in qualifying for the main draw before losing a close three-set match.

The very next week, once again qualifying at Al-Mansoura to enter the main draw, where she won two further matches in straight sets, beating Hana Šromová of the Czech Republic in Round Two, to reach her first ever $10,000 quarter-final in just her second event played. However, she defaulted her quarter-final tie to her opponent.

In 2003 she began the year entering two successive ITF events India. at Chennai and Bangalore, and not only succeeded in qualifying both times, but also reached her first semi-final and another quarter-final in the main draws, notably losing to future star Akgul Amanmuradova at the quarter-final stage at Bangalore.