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2025 Australian Open Day 6: Jack Draper comes out triumphant following his 3R win against another Aussie opponent yet again this time against Aleksandar Vukic

by Sports Benches

Damn, that was a bummer when Aleksandar Vukic was so close to closing out his third round match against 15th seed Briton Jack Draper but it seems he threw his chances away when trying to cross that finish line, and it turns out Draper succeeded in the end where Vukic failed following a long four-hour contest.

So that means, Jack Draper has once again won yet another Ashes of Tennis match against the Aussies this time under much a much higher standard against a completely different opponent in Vukic, having previously defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in the 2nd Round a few days ago.

When will this winning streak gonna end? Don’t know. For now, he deserves to hold that little Urn as if it’s a five-match series.

But he will have a tough next match ahead this Sunday v Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz (3rd seed), who only needs this tournament to complete his collection of grand slam champions, other than the Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open. 

He’s been there in the toughest of circumstances before off the back of his stunning US Open breakthrough in September last year from breaking Alex De Minaur’s heart at first in the Quarters to being knocked out by eventual champion Jannik Sinner during the last 4.

But he’s only just getting started at the age of 21 with more bumps expected to learn along the way regardless of this Sunday’s result. Other than that, it’s been a journey Vukic can be totally proud of following his best grand slam performance to date, especially at the ripe age of 28.

We wish Vukic all the best and he still has unfinished business at Melbourne Park when it comes to the men’s doubles competition straight after a good night’s rest and his first game will be an all-Aussie affair where he will join forces with James Duckworth against Luke Saville & Li Tu.

For now, we are rolling onto Super Saturday for Day 7 of 15 at Melbourne Park as everyone in Australia will be right behind Alex De Minaur – the only one standing in this men’s singles draw. Plus, there should be some from Great Britain if you’re a Katie Boulter fan who will be by his side from the stands – even though she won’t be able to take any further part following her elimination from 2R the other day in the women’s singles draw by Veronika Kudermetova. His next match will also be an afternoon game at the same Rod Laver Arena showpiece this time against Francisco Cerúndolo (Argentina).

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2025 Australian Open Day 5, Round 2: Alex De Minaur on song once again at Rod Laver Arena but Katie Boulter unlucky in her own match at the final set decider

by Sports Benches

Yes, it was another super Alex De Minaur day of Tennis in the 2025 Australian Open R2 albeit during the early afternoon v Tristan Boyer from the USA smoothly and effectively also in straight sets & also at the Rod Laver Arena (2-6, 4-6 and 3-6).

We’ve saw a bit of Alex taking his time there right from the beginning but he knows what to do under pressure as if he’s on the front foot and he’s done that really well by moving onto the third round this Saturday this time against 31st seed Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina.

Looking at his next opponent, he only did well just outside the Quarter-Finals back-to-back on clay at the Roland Garros & has won the Croatian Open a few weeks later last June. But that’s just it really and let’s hope Alex can keep his guard going into Monday’s Round of 16 if he wins it & hopefully earn his first ever AO Quarter-Final either against young American Alex Mickelsen, who just defeated James McCabe, or familiar AO specialist in Karen Khachanov (Russia). All he has to do is take one step at a time and the looming threat can go away under his own eyes.

Congratulations to the Demon once again as so far, so good & who knows if he will get another headline booking at RLA yet again – we shall find out on Day 6 during Super Saturday, should be a beauty!

Other than that, his fiancé Katie Boulter from Leicester in Great Britain saw her AO singles campaign come to an end unfortunately a little later by Veronika Kudermetova – even though she was so close in the first set via tiebreak & found her way back in the 2nd, but got taken away at the deciding end of the match.

What we do know though that she still did her best to fire back to her opponent as our Aussie and British fans were right behind Katie to get this job done. But again, can’t help when Kudermetova managed to pull off really quickly as if it was a final set drag race & the Russian turned out to the quickest than we thought – final score was 7-6 with 6-3 tiebreaker, 2-6, 6-2. 

Such a bummer because had Katie won instead then she would’ve got a great opportunity to play in the 4th round & that next round she was hoping to play against was Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil.

So yeah, sad not to see her progress to Saturday’s 3rd Round & looks like there’s no other Aussies left now that Destanee Aiava has been eliminated by 2022 AO runner-up Danielle Collins, as Katie may not be playing doubles but she will 100% be there to see her fiancé play by his side on what is going to be Alex’s biggest campaign up to date, especially at home.

For now, there’s Aleksandar Vukic we need to keep an eye on who could be the one to end Jack Draper’s good record of eliminating Aussies when it comes to his Ashes of Grand Slam Tennis. Don’t forget he’s the one of the two Aussies still in the men’s singles race alongside Alex with Tristan Schoolkate just eliminated by defending champion Jannik Sinner despite his good start & Sinner was just too good.

Can Vukic finally succeed where others failed? We shall find out to prevent Jack Draper’s 3-0 clean sweep at Margaret Court Arena tomorrow night.

And if you want more Alex x Katie, check out their funny appearance together on Andy Lee’s The Hundred quiz show segment dedicated for the annual AO the other day – didn’t know Katie thought that Aussies had less shark attacks of 4% compared to the rest of us at 59% including Alex himself who thinks it’s 81%. Speaking of that percentage they’ve both answered, looks like their own love relationship speaks for itself compared to McLaren in Formula 1 with No.4 representing Katie’s country in Lando Norris while the other No.81 is currently driven by another of our Aussie drivers with the one and only Oscar Piastri.

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Australian Open Day 4, 2nd Round: Thanasi Kokkinakis fell short by top Briton Jack Draper after a long five sets with Destanee Aiava last one standing in the women’s singles draw

by Sports Benches

Oh so close from our own Thanasi Kokkankis who wasn’t bad off the back of a brilliant start via the tiebreak including a third set reprieve and a near finish opportunity where he was only a game away at one stage during the fourth.

It’s a shame he just couldn’t hold off through to the finish line unfortunately having been thrown out at the hands of Briton Jack Draper following a long, gruelling five-set contest last night at John Cain Arena. The final score was 6-7 with 3-7 tiebreak, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 and 6-3 as the Kokk’s time at Melbourne Park isn’t over just yet when he will team up with Nick Kyrgios as his other “Special K’s” duo when the men’s doubles begins today.

If Kokkanikis have won it over Draper, then this could’ve been an all-Aussie third round match against Aleksandar Vukic going into tomorrow. But Vukic can be the one to shock yet another top-seeder in his watch like he did yesterday afternoon against 22nd seed American & 2023 AO Quarter-Finalist Sebastian Korda also following another long five-set stunner of his own (6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3 and 7-5).

Although you can tell Jack has been our nemesis for a quite a while now having defeated a couple of Aussies along the way.

He first broke the hearts of Alex De Minaur a few months ago at the US Open Quarter-Final before he was eliminated in the semi by eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Then as said above, he managed to stop Kokkinakis in his tracks from also being very nearly shockingly eliminated to finishing off as triumphant to keep his AO campaign alive – fair play to him for that.

Now it looks like he’s leading this Ashes series of Tennis 2-0 over the best of five – we’re just making this up since Australia and England have a great sporting rivalry together for a very long time.

Who could be the man to stop him and not let Jack collect this Ashes urn? Well, Vukic could be the one to solve this.

And yes, shoutout to John McEnroe who does know his cricket well thanks to the love of cricket bats. His favourite cricket player is not far from the US down south from the Caribbean in West Indies player Sir Vivian Richards – good on ya John!!

Elsewhere, we only have Destanee Aiava in this women’s singles draw and she will have to dig deep this afternoon against 2022 AO runner-up Danielle Collins (USA).

This comes after Talia Gibson was blown away big time by Paula Badosa also last night (6-1, 6-0) while Ajla Tomjlanovic had some good moments too against 12th seed Diana Dhnaider but just not quite enough unfortunately at the end (6-7, 4-5) & also not the same player really since her Wimbledon QF breakthrough back in 2022 thanks to her knee troubles.

Other than that, there’s always Alex De Minaur’s fiance Katie Boulter even though she’s British. She will be back in action  later today v Veronika Kudermetova & so does Alex who will be getting another chance to rock up Rod Laver Arena – his next opponent will be American Taylor Boyer & he will start not long after lunch.

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2025 Australian Open: Alex De Minaur and Katie Boulter off to their own good starts as the three-day opening round becomes back-to-back next rounds from today

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, it was a really top and lovely day yesterday for those who have been keeping an eye on one of the most power couples of world Tennis and also soon to be husband and wives too – our own Alex De Minaur and Katie Boulter from Great Britain in Leicester.

De Minaur absolutely too good thanks to a flying start by writing off the looming threat his that first round opponent was about to come up with against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets (1-6, 5-7 & 4-6). Looking at that Dutchman when some people has been talking up about him, it seems that he did do well at the US Open last year through to the third round but so far played in a Quarter-Final at the same place once back in 2021 – not much of a shock there to kick the Demon out. But hey, at least, De Minaur was the better player we know with still a long way to go if he was going to play his first Quarter-Final on home soil – very important to get behind him all along as a huge Australian Sports and Tennis fan.

Next up, American Tristan Boyer tomorrow rolling onto Round 2 as so far, so good to kickstart his journey on home crowd at the famed Rod Laver Arena showpiece.

Not only De Minaur was up and flying, his fiance Katie Boulter also off to a great start also at the same time last night, even though she had to overcome a 2nd set loss to shut down Canadian Rebecca Marino (4-6, 6-3 and 5-7). It was also sweet seeing De Minaur rushing his way straight following his own mach from RLA to the one of the show court venues to cheer her on by the way.

Yes, her journey looks a bit different to her loved one but she has been improving though in recent months, especially at WTA events plus the team tournaments for her country as we speak. Entering the 2025 AO as the 22nd seed with ranked No.23 in singles is such a huge reward for her to justify also going into tomorrow when Katie will take on Veronika Kudermetova who just defeated Olivia Gadeki (also one of our own) yesterday in straight sets (6-1, 6-1).

Another day, another win from both players with a bit of fun along the way when Alex and Katie appeared on The Hundred AO edition segment last night with comedian Andy Lee on Nine. We are sure to come back tomorrow for their next journey as we shall see both staying on for this weekend’s third round and hopefully the next for the Round of 16.

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Australian Open Tennis 2025: Nick Kyrgios eliminated on his return to grand slam singles by Jacob Fearnley from Scotland after a long time away due to injury

by Sports Benches

Last night was the moment we’ve been waiting for Nick Kyrgios to return out on-court after a long 1 1/2 years away from Tennis due to injury. Although his return wasn’t the result we wanted with Scotland’s Jacob Fearnley going through to the second round in straight sets, he at least did his best even though he wasn’t 100% fit to keep up with his opponent.

Yes, he fired off not bad where he gave us a really good time (love him or hate him, he’s one of our Aussie Tennis players) but still lack the long runs to beat him to the punch. 

Not long following his early-round elimination, it seems he played his final singles’ match again – at least at Melbourne Park with a bit more to go in the other grand slams later this year- during his post-match press conference. 

However, he has been successful in doubles before and that’s where he can still play an important for the rest of his career, especially at the age of nearly 30.

Yeah, gonna miss his own swashbuckling personality no matter how you see it as that’s how Nick operates if he truly decides to stick only on doubles for at least the next few years. 

Everyone in Australia has cheered on him many times before including his Wimbledon Final breakthrough by surprise back in 2022 alongside Ajla Tomjlanovic (eliminated in the Quarter-Finals) only for him to be defeated by his good mate Novak Djokovic. 

We also hoped he & Ajla could’ve carried into the 2023 AO with high hopes like Ash Barty did from her 2021 Wimbledon win on what has been her home championship win in the women’s singles’ Final v Danielle Collins (USA) before she announced her retirement from the game on a high note.

But again both of them suffered huge injuries along the way and unfortunately, that’s probably the last we probably saw from Kyrgios and Tomjlanovic.

For now, will we see Nick make a huge splash with our strong doubles’ competition & have his other “Special K’s” partner Thanasi Kokkinakis that is to begin later this tournament? We’ll see as his fitness to keep himself in good condition is at the upmost priority for now.

And if you want more AO spice today, there’s not only but two players everyone in Australia needs to get behind with:

  • Katie Boulter’s journey (even though she’s British & plays for them at team tournaments) set to begin this afternoon v Canadian Rebecca Marino.
  • Then her fiancé Alex De Minaur will also begin his own campaign tonight v Botic van de Zandschulp from the Netherlands.

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Australian Open 2025 Day 1: Sabalenka, Zverev, Ruud among the winners

by Admin

The first day of the Australian Open 2025 set forth plenty of action including the reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka defending the crown for the second time as well as top seeds Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud, and Zheng Qinwen getting a taste of the competition.

Here is everything you need to know about AO 2025 Day 1.

Anca Todoni vs Qinwen Zheng

Chinese tennis star Qinwen Zheng began the Australian Open by facing Romanian Anca Todoni. There was little to differentiate between the two in the first set, which went to a tiebreak. 

After a grueling 75 minutes, Zheng ultimately secured the first set 7-6. The second set was much different. Despite the thunderous weather, the world number 5 looked more comfortable at the Rod Laver Arena. She got the lead 3-0 early into the second set and finished things off 7-6, 6-1 with an ace to qualify for round 2. 

She acknowledged after the match that the first set was “not easy” for her. It is unclear so far who she’ll face in round 2.

Casper Ruud vs Jaume Munar

In men’s singles, world number 6 Casper Ruud took on the tricky Spaniard Jaume Munar. In a five set thriller, Munar showed incredible tennis as he won the second set 1-6 after Ruud secured the first one 6-3. 

The Norwegian went on to win the third set 7-5 and lose the next one 2-6. Munar’s resilience eventually faded away, as he didn’t have much to show in the fifth set which ended in favor of Casper Ruud (6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1).

Casper will either face Jakub Mensik or Nikoloz Basilashvili in the next round. With 48 winners in the match and a close finish in last year’s Roland Garros, the Norwegian looks in good shape and could be up for winning his first ever grand slam title.

Aryna Sabalenka vs Sloane Stephens

Aryna Sabalenka continued her top form from the 2024 season where she captured her second Australian Open title and also the US Open title. The world number 1 tennis star has her eyes set on winning the AO title for the third consecutive time, a feat not very common in the women’s singles.

Sabalenka faced Sloane Stephens (US Open 2017 winner) in her first main draw fixture. While the overall affair was in favor of the defending champion(6-3,6-2), Sabalenka’s serves ignited discussion online. 

Her first serve success rate was at 70%, her second serve fell even below that number. However, this is something that might get better as the tournament progresses. 

Sabalenka will next face Spanish star Jessica Bouzas in round 2.

Lucas Pouille vs Alexander Zverev

Last year Alexander Zverev had his hopes shattered in the Australian Open semi-final against Daniil Medvedev in an iconic 5-set classic. Since then, the German tennis star has played the Roland Garros final and US Open quarter-final.

Now, he looks hell-bent on winning a grand slam in 2025, as he says himself “everybody knows what I’m chasing.” Zverev who entered the tournament as world number 2 played against Lucas Pouille, the Frenchman who was the Australian Open semi-finalist in 2019.

While Pouille showed great tennis skills, it all went down to Zverev’s deadly first serves which also included 18 aces.

The final scorecard as expected was a straight set victory for Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. The German will next face Spanish tennis star Pedro Martinez in the Australian Open round 2.

With Tsitsipas, Sinner, Dimitrov, Djokovic, Gauff, Azarenka, Svitlona, and Collins all scheduled to play their first round matches on Monday, action for Australian Open 2025 day 2 will continue from tomorrow.

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2025 United Cup Tennis Final, Coco Gauff & Taylor Fritz puts USA back on top with the 2-0 clean sweep over runners-up Poland at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena 

by Sports Benches

So there we have it, the 2024-25 United Cup tournament is done and dusted mostly at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney with some group stage ties from Perth’s RAC Arena. The winner is the United States of America following their 2-0 series final whitewash over Poland without the need of a 3rd mixed doubles game.

We began the night with Coco Gauff having her moment against one of the world’s best out there in Iga Swiatek through straight sets, even though both sets were oh so competitive. But hey, Coco’s got it while Swiatek is feeling the heat who does not have a consistent Australian record, especially when playing at the Australian Open – this is from someone who always dominates on clay when it comes to the Roland Garros.

Although you can count she has won the US Open one time before on the hard courts and that was back in 2022.

Then this 2nd tie between Taylor Fritz and Hubert Hurkacz was not only another top notch outing but also a nail biter too across the best of three set. There’s Fritz firing off to a great start and Hurkacz not giving up along the way after Stage 2 thanks to his brilliant fightback that kept himself in the race alive for Poland. 

This 2nd men’s singles match was done off the back of a side-by-side drag race finish and it turns out that Fritz had the better gas though than Hurkacz even via the sudden death tiebreak much to the delight of his USA team-mates as well as girlfriend Morgan Riddle by his side.

I mean, yes, the result was USA 2-0 Poland but what a Final it was along with a full 10,000 attendance house, as they’ve just regained the trophy for the 2nd time since 2023 with Germany being other winner last year also v Poland (so sorry with their runner-up finish yet again but still played their best) & so does the tournament itself over the last ten days.

At the same time, I was also fortunate enough to stop by and watch one of the United Cup games a week ago with Great Britain v Argentina, even though I didn’t get the chance to see the whole thing across three matches (women’s singles, men’s singles and mixed doubles ties).

But I, for one, would like to come back there again when the next United Cup Tennis tournament edition will return in 11-12 months time. For now, yes, it’s been unlucky and disappointing for the Aussies not to make it past the group stages despite their consolation win the other day v Great Britain (who later went on to being eliminated from the Quarter-Finals by the eventual runner-up side) but their inconsistent women’s singles record + shock opening game series defeat by Argentina says it all. We will have to start from scratch via Qualifiers in a few weeks time rather than September when it comes to the Davis Cup since they were out from semis.

But there’s still a lot more to look forward to other than the Adelaide tournament for six days today this week, we got Alex De Minaur coming off a good run much like with his fiancé Katie Boulter even though she’s British. Plus, our doubles record are still oh so strong to pull off yet again when the Australian Open will begin across a long-three week draw starting Sunday from early rounds to finals with one winner across each category can only be crowned at the famed Rod Laver Arena.

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2024-25 United Cup Tennis: Australia unable to advance to the Quarter-Finals despite series deciding win last night over Great Britain with poor women’s singles run a factor in their elimination from Group F

by Sports Benches

So there we have it despite Australia’s series deciding win over Great Britain to finish off the Group F campaign last night, it’s a shame they won’t even able to take further part unfortunately along with Argentina in this 2024/25 United Cup competition. 

Their poor women’s singles performances across both matches was a non-starter coupled with that shock mixed doubles series defeat a few days ago v Argentina proved so difficult for the Aussies to at least justify the best of second-place spot redemption for their Sydney group which belongs to Czech Republic when they won the opening tie v Norway even though the Czechs lost 2-1 v Poland earlier yesterday.

If so, Australia would’ve had another reunion with Italy being set up there who faced them not so long ago during the Men’s Davis Cup semi-final in November last year and again, that proved to be an extremely long shot indeed.

Yes, it was close but Great Britain had the upper hand particularly with Alex De Minaur’s future wife Katie Boulter, who is extremely good in that women’s singles area unlike us. It’s something we will have to live with for a long while until we find our next sensation to take on the world’s best when Ash Barty is clearly content away from the court these days following her Australian Open singles’ triumph three years ago. Although we can count ourselves okay when it comes to Billie Jean King Cups albeit from early qualifiers to Quarter-Finalists – nothing more.

Other than that, great to see De Minaur avoiding another series tie humiliation over Billy Harris in straight sets before De Minaur filled-in to empty the tank for doubles specialist Matt Ebden once more alongside Olivia Gadeki. However, his future wife wasn’t there though as Olivia Nicholls took Boulter’s spot instead to team up with Charlie Broom in order to avoid a conflict of interest between those two who love and cherish for each other, having just announced their long-awaited engagement lately.

I guess they won’t have to live up with that again as the next time Alex and Katie are playing on court, then it has to be together whether it’s through training or mixed doubles matches outside of team tournaments. Fortunately, he and Gadecki gave a good reason for us to celebrate our first night of 2025 on a high thanks to their match-deciding win v Nicholls & Broom.

Yes, it’s a pity Australia are unable to contend further having made the semis last year where they were defeated by eventual champions Germany. However, we are still good to go where our doubles performances are still top notch along with Alex Minaur off the back on a straight of recent grand slam quarter-finals outside of the Australian Open last season.

Make sure everyone will be right behind him as who knows if he will make his first Quarter-Final appearance at Melbourne Park soon enough. For now, they should be right behind his future wife Katie when her Great Britain team will take on Poland this evening from 5.30pm AEDT. It’s gonna be a tough one when she will go head-to-head v one of the top players in Iga Swiatek but her support would be greatly appreciated and she’s coming off a great run lately likewise as World No.24.

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2024-25 United Cup Tennis: Great Britain v Argentina group stage match day on-site at Ken Rosewall Arena

by Sports Benches

Now I may have not been able to see out the whole thing but at least was fortunate enough to see some of it, particularly during the first half morning and afternoon with the United Cup Tennis yesterday between Great Britain and Argentina in Group F drawn with Australia at Ken Rosewall Arena.

First of all, Katie Boulter too good against Nadia Podoroska in straight sets. She too is entering the next Australian Open edition soon with high hopes beginning mid-January at Melbourne Park & congratulations on her recent engagement by the way with our own Alex De Minaur.

Speaking of De Minaur, he is also entering Melbourne Park too off the back on his string of recent grand slam Quarter-Finals last year, particularly outside the Australian Open other than the fourth round here where he was defeated by Andrey Rublev. Who knows? Maybe either one or even both of them will look to have an extended 2nd week run and Australia will be right behind them, even with just Katie if she does stick around – at least in this upcoming women’s singles draw. 

Oh, nice seeing Alex watching on by the way also from yesterday too – just don’t know where he was sitting exactly when staring around the whole arena.

For now, they may as well have to face one another in the mixed doubles match on Wednesday when Australia v Great Britain regardless of outcome beforehand. But hey, they are very compatible with each other that makes this romantic relationship so unique as wishing them lots of success both on & off the court. 

Then this second match was a full of cat and mouse through a series of deuces where Billy Harris was on a roll from the start but Tomas Martin Etchverry proved to be the master of this court following his magnificent comeback from the opening set down to keeping Argentina’s hopes alive going into the mixed doubles decider. 

In the end though, Boulter came back along with Charlie Broom to secure the series game deciding win over Etchverry and Maria Loudres Carle, having stayed up all along that puts them now on top spot of their group in the 24/25 United Cup.

If you can’t get enough, here’s the two minute odd YouTube clip from yesterday’s game. Also, special shoutout to Chris Stubbs by the way who is currently hosting the United Cup Tennis world feed coverage on top of grand slam tennis and of course motorsports throughout the year! Good on ya Stubbsy!

Happy New Year to all as 2024 ends tonight before we say hello to 2025 at midnight while the United Cup Tennis reaches the halfway mark.

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Thoughts on BeIN Sports staying onboard with the weekly Men’s ATP Tour for another three years in Australia and what does it mean for Stan Sport as the home of Grand Slam Tennis alongside Nine

by Sports Benches

Just heard about the BeIN Sports’ renewal of the weekly Men’s ATP Tour rights for another three years going into 2025 but no word about Stan Sport being on their radar at all – not even the WTA Tour as well as the majority Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup rights other than Australian-only games via free-to-air Nine. 

You can say that they are the home of Grand Slam Tennis along with Nine but again, it wouldn’t be sustainable if they have everything Tennis all on the one go – as these things don’t tend to happen anymore these days unlike the long past.

Sure, 10 and Optus may be great examples like A-League/Matildas/Socceroos on 10 as well as Premier League & FA Cup via Optus but they don’t have much other sports rights though.

For example, Sky Sports used to have everything English Domestic Football on top of the UEFA Club competitions and England National Team matches. Now it’s just all of English Domestic Football while everything else is via TNT Sports (Half of Premier League games and UEFA club comp content) and ITV (National team).

You never know what could happen though but at the moment, it seems Stan would want to add things when appropriate as weekly tour Tennis despite tempting wouldn’t work – and not many people would have the time to watch it anyway. So BeIN is your best bet if you want to look at your favourite players every week for now while there’s always free-to-air Nine for everything else too.

Plus, there’s a whole bunch of other sports Stan has to offer throughout the year anyway like Rugby, UEFA soccer, Grand Slam Tennis and Motorsport. With the Motorsport part though, it remains to be seen if IndyCar will come back next year due to the change of domestic rights holder from NBC to FOX. 

Also keep an eye out for the new-look SRO Australia National series that is set to replace SpeedSeries (the one they previously covered back in 2022-23) going into next year, their headline category is the National GT World Challenge equivalent competition. 

They currently have the European GT World Challenge comp as it wouldn’t be a surprise if it ends up on Stan again with some secondary free-to-air content on Nine like it was before with mixed to little success when it comes to SpeedSeries. But I reckon they may as well trust their instincts by going with Seven & 7Plus online (they’re all free-to-view options) since Motorsport Australia would still be involved in some capacity. 

And don’t forget they are currently in talks with Supercars to secure the 2026-30 TV rights contract off Fox Sports (majority) and Seven (secondary with 7 major races live). Sure, there won’t be happy fans out there having to sign up with another subscription provider like we’ve saw with SpeedSeries but at least, Nine could show all Sunday races live with everything exclusive to Stan behind a paywall. 

Not going to make my verdict but if Foxtel can offer the same thing when it comes to all other Sunday only races on Kayo Freebies like they’re currently doing with Netball Australia, that wouldn’t be much of an issue either. Plus, Seven would be heavily committed to cover AFL first (shared with Fox) since it will cost them lots of $$$ to cover every season ahead of the Australian Summer of Cricket (also shared with Fox) amongst weekend Horse Racing.

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