Australian Open Upsets Signal New Era in Men’s Tennis

If Rafael Nadal’s retirement in November wasn’t a sign of the changing times in tennis, then the early rounds of the Australian Open certainly are.

With the clock about to strike 3 a.m. on Friday in Melbourne, Learner Tien, a 19-year-old from California, clinched a five-set win over No. 5 Daniil Medvedev. Tien became the third teenager this week to knock out a top-10 player following upsets by Brazilian João Fonseca, 18, and Czech Jakub Menšík, 19, over No. 9 Andrey Rublev and No. 6 Casper Ruud, respectively, in the second round.

Tien, who turned pro in 2023, has already earned about $264,000 by reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, which has a total purse of nearly $60 million. The No. 121–ranked player had about $729,000 in career earnings before the tournament.

Fonseca and Menšík were eliminated in the third round, but they will each go home with about $182,000. Menšík, who turned pro in 2022 and is ranked No. 48 in the world, amassed about $1.6 million before this tournament—the most coming from a third-round appearance at last year’s US Open, which earned him $215,000.

Fonseca, who turned pro last year, is more comparable to Tien. He is ranked No. 112 and had under $850,000 in career earnings before his upset in Melbourne. Like Menšík, his best payday came last year via a third-round appearance at the US Open.

Djokovic Complaints

World No. 7 Novak Djokovic, the last active member of the Big Three, has advanced to the fourth round of the tournament as he chases a record 25th Grand Slam. But the 37-year-old has aired out some concerns in Melbourne following his last two matches.

On Wednesday, he complained about the tournament’s new coaching pods—which allow players to have on-court conversations with their coaches in the middle of the match—because one of his chats was picked up by the television broadcast. He believes there could be a lack of privacy here.

Then, on Friday, Djokovic, who was barred from Australia in 2022 after choosing not to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, criticized the crowd in Melbourne. 

“A few people here and there [overstepped],” the Serbian said after his three-set win over Tomáš Macháč. “I understand you have a few drinks more, and then you get into it. … I tried to tolerate it, but then at one point I had to respond.”

Raducanu Alive, Osaka Out

On the women’s side, Emma Raducanu advanced to the third round for the first time in the Australian Open, just the second time the 22-year-old has made it past the second round in a Grand Slam since her win at the 2021 US Open. The British star has struggled with injuries over the last few years and was even unable to play a warmup tournament before playing at Melbourne Park due to a back muscle strain. 

Naomi Osaka, another Grand Slam winner who has struggled with injuries over the last few years, bowed out of her third-round match against Belinda Bencic due to an abdominal muscle strain.

Despite the injury issues, Osaka and Raducanu were tied for No. 6 on Forbes’ highest-paid female athletes list of 2024 with $12.9 million in earnings—though less than $1 million came from on-court earnings.