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Tennis

The future of Australian tennis? For the moment, let's enjoy the view

Sunny days indeed: Ash Barty claimed her maiden Australian Open singles win.

With a combined ranking of 637th and an average age of 18.5 years, maiden Melbourne Park match wins by Ash Barty and Jaimee Fourlis gave Australia an encouraging glimpse into the  future of the local women's game. It is, despite debutante Destanee Aiava's ambitions having fallen slightly short on the opening day, an unexpectedly sunny view.

World No. 4 crashes out again

Over and out: Simona Halep was eliminated on day one.

For Simona Halep, Australia is not quite the destination is used to be. The Romanian world No.4 crashed out at Melbourne Park in the opening round for the second straight year.

Tomic eases into second round

Bernard Tomic after his first-round victory.

Bernard Tomic has responded to the queries over his Australian Open preparation with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 thrashing of Thomaz Bellucci that counts as the most emphatic, in a scoreboard sense, of his 65-match grand slam career.

Australian Open: Destanee's grand slam date

Destanee Aiava says she's not much of a team player.

Destanee. There is a story in the name. Had to be. "The truth is, yeah, people have a lot of questions about that," says Rosie Aiava, the mother and coach of the 16-year-old Australian who who will make her grand slam debut as the youngest player at next week's Australian Open.

Gifted son Zverev's family affair

Rising star: Germany's Alexander Zverev is the world's highest-ranked teenager at world No.24.

Alexander Zverev, all 198 gifted, confident, composed centimetres of him, is strolling down a hallway with a Tennis Australia staffer, wondering out loud why a couple of local journalists would want to do this interview. We could joke we're planning to make him a star. Might have, actually. Except that Zverev already has that route well-covered.

Federer's bucket list, like his career, still unfinished

Roger Federer has enjoyed his injury-enforced layoff.

When Roger Federer discovered he would need a lengthy rest after Wimbledon to heal the wonky knee injured, freakishly, in a Melbourne hotel bathroom, he did not dust off a pile of overdue jobs wife Mirka wanted done around the house, or vow to finally reorganise his sock drawer.