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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday January 12, 2025

 
Elena Rybakina

Elena Rybakina will open her tournament against Australian wild card Emerson Jones on Day 3 - will she be focused on her tennis?

Photo Source: Mark Peterson / Corleve

Day 3 of the Australian Open will see the completion of Round One and a few blockbuster matchups are top of the ticket in Melbourne. Here’s a quick look at what’s on tap on Tuesday in Melbourne Park.

Tennis Express

Can Rybakina Shake off Controversy?

Controversy has been swirling around Elena Rybakina, with her coaching situation drawing more attention than her current form, but on Tuesday fans will finally get a look at the Kazakhstani’s tennis. We’ll see how well the 2023 Australian Open finalist has been able to compartmentalize, as she takes on Aussie wild card Emerson Jones on Day 3.

For the unitiated: Rybakina shook up the tennis world last week when she announced that she was bringing former coach Stefano Vukov back to her team. The WTA quickly countered by saying that Vukov has been provisionally suspended and will not be granted a credential. All of this while Rybakina continues to work with Goran Ivanisevice, whom she hired late last year in a high profile move.

Sixth-seeded Rybakina has only reached the second week in one of her five appearance at Melbourne Park, and last year she was dropped in the second round by Anna Blinkova in one of the most dramatic matches of 2024.

Rybakina certainly has the talent to make another run, but she’s going to have to shake off the distractions to do so. She says she’s ready to do just that.

“Definitely not the ideal situation,” Rybakina, who will be coached by Goran Ivanisevic in Melbourne, told the media over the weekend. “As I said, I'm not happy with the whole situation, especially when still some coaches are making some comments, and the people who are not so close to the tennis world, they just see the comments and then they're picking it up, make even more show out of this. I don't think it's fair, too.

“But as I said, my goal is here to focus on the matches. This is what I'm going to do.”

All Eyes on Fonseca

Brazilian 18-year-old Joao Fonseca has been getting a ton of attention from the media of late, and deservedly so. The hard-hitting teen crushed the field at the Next Gen ATP Finals in December, then won a challenger title in Canberra to start the season. After that Fonseca realized one of his big goals for the season by qualifying for his first main draw at a major.

Next up he’ll take on ninth-seeded Andrey Rublev in the final match on Margaret Court Arena. It will be Fonseca’s first ever match against a Top-10 player. Rublev has reached back-to-back quarterfinals at Melbourne Park, but he enters this tournament on a five-match losing streak.

Derbies Galore

Tuesday’s packed schedule features some great all-American, all-Italian and all-French clashes.

Emma Navarro and Peyton Stearns, two rising Americans, kick off the day on Rod Laver, while Matteo Arnaldi and Lorenzo Musetti are slated to clash on Kia Arena. There’s also a generational battle between Frenchman Gael Monfils, 38 and feeling great, and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard – 21 and serving bombs.

Ben Shelton vs Brandon Nakashima is another all-American tilt on the men’s side that could get interesting, as is Taylor Fritz vs Jenson Brooksby.

 

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