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Linda Pearce

Linda Pearce is the Chief Tennis Writer and general sports reporter for The Age. She writes about a range of sports, including football, netball, and gymnastics. Linda has twice been named Australian tennis writer of the year.

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

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

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.

Bernard Tomic after his first-round victory.

Tomic eases into second round

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.

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

Australian Open: Destanee's grand slam date

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.

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

Gifted son Zverev's family affair

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.

Roger Federer has enjoyed his injury-enforced layoff.

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

  • EXCLUSIVE

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.