Australian Open 2025 Diary: Thunderous start, Aryna Sabalenka and Emma Navarro in press room, delayed matches, and more on Day 1

This assignment has breached the deadline as the 2025 Australian Open opened to a thunderous start, literally, on Sunday, January 12. The weather gods showed no mercy to Melbourne and came down heavily, suspending the play on outdoor courts till 17:00 local time.

One could sense the trouble coming as the fans were welcomed by a group of musicians playing the tunes to Taylor Swift's hit number 'I Knew You Were Trouble' (When You Walked In).

The Australian Open band entertaining fans at Melbourne Park.

Those in the media cafe of Centrepiece were at the mercy of rain as it continued to wet the carpets outside. Some were brave enough to get drenched but found their way back to the media workroom while others stayed inside.

An Australian Open staff member braves the rain to work.

The matches indoors unfolded as scheduled with No. 5 seed Zheng Qinwen taking on Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni. One would have expected Zheng to get the job done easily but Todoni proved a tough resistance.

The Romanian forced a tiebreaker in the first set before fizzling out in the second (7-6(3), 6-1). Despite the loss, she agreed to a brief chat with Sportskeeda and spoke candidly about her future on the interview terrace at Melbourne Park.

Bosnian Damir Dzumhur and Tunisia's Aziz Dougaz were requested to join for a similar chat but the chances of them starting their Australian Open campaign on Sunday were ruled out due to the bad weather.

Meanwhile, world No. 6 Casper Ruud survived a tough tast against Spain's Jaume Munar at Rod Laver Arena. Ruud was pushed to five sets by Munar but he managed to claim a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

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In the press room with Aryna Sabalenka and Emma Navarro at Australian Open

Emma Navarro arrived in Melbourne after the scheduled media days on January 10-11. Thus, she addressed the media on Sunday in Room 4 with only a handful of journalists.

Navarro played two lead-up tournaments in Brisbane and Adelaide before the Happy Slam, uncharacteristic of a Top 10 player, but she seemed confident about her choices.

The World No. 8 then spoke fondly about American tennis while responding to a Sportskeeda question, recounting the USA beating Poland in the 2025 United Cup final. She notably practiced with compatriot Coco Gauff right after setting foot in Melbourne.

After a while, Aryna Sabalenka took the court at Rod Laver Arena against US' Sloane Stephens at 19:00 local time to open the night sessions and prevailed in straight sets (6-3, 6-2).

The two-time defending champion showcased her dancing skills to the fans after the win and headed straight to the main interview room. Sportskeeda used the opportunity to find out if the World No. 1 was specific about winning matches in a certain way—without losing a certain amount of games—and found out that wasn't the case.

The first night session of the 2025 Australian Open naturally witnessed more action than morning as the sky had cleared by then.

Lebanese tennis sensation Hady Habib and Australian Li Tu were on Sportskeeda's radar but couldn't spare time to accept the offer. It was a historic night for Habib as he became the first tennis player from Lebanon to win a Grand Slam match, defeating China's Bu Yunchaokete in straight sets (7-6(4), 6-4, 7-6(5)).

Habib grabbed a lot of eyeballs following the result but Tu had a disappointing evening against Jiri Lehecka, the 24th seed from Czechia, losing 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(1). Tu declined the request to speak suggesting he wasn't in high spirits after the loss, however, assured he would talk the day after.

This brought an end to Sportskeeda's media responsibilities for the day but tennis continued at Melbourne Park, with Paula Badosa, Alexander Zverev, and Ugo Humbert toughing it out on the court.

Out in the city, one could spot Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2023 finalist at Australian Open, on billboards at the Flinders Street tram stop.

Stefanos Tsitsipas on billboards during the 2025 Australian Open.

Back at Melbourne Park, Paula Badosa, Alexander Zverev, and Ugo Humbert passed their first-round tests at the 2025 Australian Open fairly easily.

Badosa, the 11th seed, overcame China's Wang Xinyu 6-3, 7-6(5). Zverev and Humbert closed the day by downing Lucas Pouille (6-4, 6-4, 6-4) and Matteo Gigante (7-6(5), 7-5, 6-4) respectively.