The 2026 Australian Open is over, and with it, we’ve seen our fair share of broken records and surprising twists – expected, for the most part. However, as always, the Open is often a great barometer of what’s to come as the tennis year progresses. While the winners and losers here won’t be guaranteed glory or failure in the coming months, that doesn’t make them any less fun to watch.
Below, we review the biggest moments and progress of players during this year’s Australian Open and consider what could be in store for the sport’s brightest and best.
All eyes are on Alcaraz
Men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz has risen to the top of the world tennis rankings over the past few years. However, this year’s Australian Open cemented him as one of the sport’s greats – as he entered the history books as the youngest player to complete a career Grand Slam.
As we reported, Alcaraz took the ever-present and ever-ready Novak Djokovic to the wire 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 in the men’s final, leading to questions about whether he has the ability to win all four slams in 2026. If he is optimistic and doesn’t want him to face reality, Alcauriz doesn’t want him to face reality. Instead, you want to focus on recovery and exercise.
Such a strong finish for Djokovic raised a few eyebrows, although predictions of who would go home were still up in the air until match day. Fans following the men’s final through platforms such as LiveScore were treated to a strange four-set affair. It’s fitting that Alcaraz is one of the most exciting players in the sport, with many years left in him.
Rybakina causes an upset
Elena Rybakina, of course, was the toast of the women’s tournament this time around – with a stunning comeback in the final set of her championship match against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Rybakina stunned the fans with a five-game sweep en route to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 finish, effectively reversing Sabalenka’s loss in the 2023 Aussie Open final. As such, the Kazakh claimed his first ever Australian Open title – and at the age of 26, he still has a long career to play.
Rybakina is no stranger to top-flight tennis, as she is known for Wimbledon in 2022, for example. Sabalenka and Iga Świątek, while playing at the top of the game, have dominated the conversation about women’s tennis for a long time now; it will be interesting to see if Rybakina can make the trinity of top players in 2026 and beyond.
Indeed, the victory came with Rybakina admitting that although she believed she could return to the top of her game, she personally wondered if she would ever win another trophy. I hope his performance at the Open proves these doubts wrong.
Looking at world standards
As any tennis fan knows, it’s always worth checking the ATP and WTA rankings after a major tournament to see if there are any big moves or any indications of who to watch in the coming months.
In the ATP rankings at the time of writing, Alcaraz is naturally ahead, a few thousand points ahead of Jannik Sinner and Djokovic, with Alexander Zverev and Lorenzo Musetti coming next. Of course, while Alcaraz made history this time, this doesn’t mean we do still it should knock out Djokovic – and we shouldn’t think Sinner will play in the champion’s shadow.
Within the WTA rankings, meanwhile, the current state of play is a little closer – only Sabalenka has hit the five-figure lead. Rybakina closes Świątek with less than 400 points between them. And we can’t rule out Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff, and Jessica Pegula as the three Americans who fill out the top six.
While rankings don’t always predict future success, they’re worth a jump if you’re serious about finding a new favorite as the tennis year progresses.
