The Australian Open is upon us and with that comes the eager tennis loving Greeks who wish to cheer on the Hellenic athletes.
Perhaps most of all, all eyes will be on world No.7 Stefanos Tsitsipas, and whether he can replicate his outstanding run from last year, where he reached the final but fell short against Novak Djokovic.
Four out of Tsitsipas’ six semi-final Grand Slam appearances have been at the Australian Open, so he would be looking forward to return to his ‘home slam’ as he has called it in interviews.
Last month, when talking with the AO Show Podcast, the 25-year-old acknowledged the huge following he gets here, admitting that the Greeks’ support in particular over his last appearances has left him with “intense memories”.
“Every single Aussie swing that there has been so far, I’ve had a lot of fun playing those. Traveling around Australia and just seeing Greeks show up in courts everywhere feels amazing.”
He also said that his time in Sydney was probably the best Greek support that he’s ever had in a tournament competition.
As he trains for the tournament’s start on Sunday January 14, so does women’s world No.8 Maria Sakkari.
Sakkari enters the year strong, having won the Guadalajara Open Akron, her second career title, four and a half years after her first.
This also snapped a six-match losing streak in tour-level finals and marked her first WTA 1000 title, the first ever for a Greek female tennis player.
Elsewhere on the women’s side, a couple of Greek’s have made their Australian Open qualifying debuts.
26-year-old Valentini Grammatikopoulou defeated American Elvina Kalieva 7-5, 6-3 and will face first seed Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska tomorrow.
The Kilkis native took to social media to share that she’s “happy to be back to this beautiful place.”
Despina Papamichail also made her debut, but was unsuccessful in her first hit out, losing 5-7, 2-6 to Cyprus representing Romanian Raluca Georgiana Serban.
Grammatikopoulou and Papamichail also represented Team Greece in the United Cup alongside Sakkari, Tsitsipas and his brother Petros, and Stefanos Sakellaridis.
As for Greek Australians, Thanasi Kokkinakis’ preparations have taken a hit after he crashed out of his hometown Adelaide International during the first round.
The defeat means Kokkinakis will enter the Australian Open winless since last October. He subsequently missed the Davis Cup Finals with an ankle injury before suffering an opening-round loss to countryman Rinky Hijikita on his return in Brisbane last week.
And his trophy winning doubles partner from 2022, Nick Kyrgios?
Kyrgios’ short-term future on the court remains uncertain after the former world No.13 managed just one ATP Tour match in 2023 due to serious knee and wrist issues.
Everyone knows he’ll miss due to injury but that doesn’t mean he’s away from centre court.
Kyrgios and Djokovic will sit down at Rod Laver Arena for a live episode of the Canberran’s new podcast Good Trouble on January 11.
The live episode is one of two will record during this year’s Australian Open, giving fans a teaser before the tennis sensation’s new podcast drops on January 24.
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European broadcasters Eurosport and Discovery+ also announced Kyrgios will join their commentary team at the Australian Open, who will also capture content for Tennis Australia’s social platforms.
