Three takeaways from a high-quality first week of the 2024 tennis season

What do you get when you give the pros a couple of months off from competition, and let them stay in one place and practice for a few weeks? A crisper, higher quality of tennis.

The year’s first major, the Australian Open, has produced more than its share of classic matches over the years, and the first week of 2024 lived up to that tanned-rested-ready tradition.The jet lag had passed, the injuries had (mostly) healed, and, at least in the matches I watched, the play was sharp.

That goes doubly so for this week’s winners, of course. Grigor Dimitrov, Coco Gauff, Andrey Rublev, Elena Rybakina and Germany’s United Cup team walked away with trophies, and looked good doing it. While the year’s three star returnees—Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu—failed to make the semifinals in Brisbane and Auckland, all of them had their promising moments. Surprisingly, it was Novak Djokovic, the ageless wizard of Oz, who provided the most prominent question mark for the new year. A right-wrist injury contributed to his first loss in Australia since 2018, to Alex de Minaur.

What, if anything, does this panoply of results mean for the near future, and specifically the upcoming Aussie Open? Here are three takeaways from week one.

Dimitrov and Rublev picked up where they left off

Rublev and Dimitrov are from different ATP generations; the Bulgarian is 32, the Russian 26. They exist on different tiers of the rankings; Rublev is a perennial Top 10 player who is currently No. 5, while Dimitrov is No. 14, after treading water in the 20s and 30s for years. But they’re good friends, and two of the most personable and popular players on the men’s side.

The only problem is, “personable and popular”—Nadal and Roger Federer aside—doesn’t always make you a champion. There’s such a thing as being too nice in sports, and Dimitrov and Rublev could both credibly be accused of that flaw. But after some fluctuations in their levels, and many tough losses, each has found a competitive groove—and a way to win without turning into a jerk. This week Rublev won Hong Kong, while Dimitrov won his first title since 2017, by downing top seed Holger Rune in Brisbane.

Dimitrov in particular gained strength through the week. After edging Andy Murray in three in the first round, he didn’t drop another set. The man formerly know as Baby Fed has always had the full arsenal of shots, but by the end of the week in Brisbane, he was deploying them with more force and confidence than usual. In big moments, Dimitrov has been known to suffer from the double-fault disease; instead, against Rune, he fired aces and service winners when he needed them late in each set.

“It’s been a while since I held one of these, it’s a bit emotional,” Dimitrov said.

Whether it’s in victory or defeat, Dimitrov is often emotional. It’s one reason so many fans hope that this win, and Rublev’s, are signs of more to come in 2024.

Rybakina and de Minaur came out guns blazing

“First of all, Elena, whoa,” Aryna Sabalenka said after losing to Elena Rybakina 6-0 6-3 in the Brisbane final.

It’s hard to think of a better way to describe how Rybakina played on Sunday. She jumped to a 5-0 lead in 20 minutes. She hit her ground strokes as cleanly and nervelessly as I’ve ever seen. And while she’s known for her serve, she was even better on her return, knocking it back deep with Djokovic-like regularity. Sabalenka made 65 of her first serves in the opening set, but won just seven points in her service games. That capped a week in which Rybakina lost just 15 games and didn’t drop a set.

Maybe low expectations are key for the Kazakh, who was sick before Brisbane and didn’t get much practice in.

“This week was a bit unexpected with the result,” said Rybakina, who made the Australian Open final last year. “It was still getting back to the shape, to recover from the illness. Hopefully, as I said, I continue to play well and feel good on the court.”

If anyone looked as sharp as Rybakina this past week, it was de Minaur. He didn’t win a title; his Australian team went out in the semifinals of United Cup. But that was through no fault of his own. The Demon was undefeated against three Top 10 opponents—Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev, and …drumroll, please … Novak Djokovic. The end result is that he has cracked the Top 10 for the first time, and become the first Australian man to make it there since Lleyton Hewitt 18 years ago.

De Minaur sounded a Rusty-esque note of defiance when he was asked about his stellar play.

“It comes from a lot of people not believing in me,” he said, “so I’m just here to prove a lot of people wrong.”

Now that’s he in the Top 10, he may hear a new question soon: Do we believe in de Minaur as a Grand Slam champion?

Coco Gauff gave us something new, and something old

We knew Gauff could win in Auckland; she did it last year. But in 2024, she did it, for the most part, with a new level of polish. That was especially true on her two least-favorite shots, her serve and forehand. Each looked a little more fluid and complete than in the past, and each produced a little more shape and spin. I had wondered whether Gauff might feel some extra pressure early this year, after her US Open breakthrough. She didn’t show it in her first four matches, in which she dropped just 13 games.

Then, in her fifth match, the pressure showed, and some old issues returned. Up 5-3 in the first set against Elina Svitolina, Gauff squandered two set points, lost confidence in her serve and forehand, and lost the set in a tiebreak.

Meet the new Coco, same as the old Coco? Not quite. This Coco showed a major-title winner’s deeper reserve of confidence. Once upon a time, she wouldn’t have found her serve after losing it, but on Sunday she did. She put that blown first set behind her and out-hit a very good and stubborn opponent—who she had never beaten before—through the last two sets. She won this match with her offense as much as her defense, hitting 32 winners to Svitolina’s 21. When she faced a break point in the final game, Gauff served her way past it for the title-winning hold.

“I think today level-wise was definitely not my best match or best level this week,” Gauff said. “But sometimes when you win when you’re not playing your best, it makes you feel more satisfied.”

When it was over, Gauff showed that satisfaction by letting out a long, pent-up scream. She sounded relieved about winning, and ready for what’s to come.