3 player feuds that will make for spicy Australian Open 2025 clashes ft. Danielle Collins vs Iga Swiatek

The forthcoming Australian Open will bring some intense rivalries into sharp focus. Not least of these is the ongoing feud between Danielle Collins and Iga Swiatek, which flared up during the 2024 Paris Olympics and continued at this year's United Cup.

However, this is not the only spat that has been grabbing headlines. Nick Kyrgios's return to major competition has been prefaced by a social media storm involving World No. 1 Jannik Sinner. Emma Navarro's beef with Zheng Qinwen has also continued to simmer months after their Olympic showdown. Let us take a look at all of these player feuds that will make for spicy Australian Open 2025 clashes in detail:

#1 Danielle Collins v Iga Swiatek

Collins labeled Swiatek as "insincere" after retiring injured from their Olympic quarterfinal clash, and appeared to re-ignite their quarrel at the United Cup when offering a dismissive handshake at the start of the tournament.

Collins said:

"I told Iga she didn't have to be insincere about, you know, my injury. I just haven't had the best experience, and I don't really feel like anybody needs to be insincere. They can be the way that they are. I can accept that, and I don't need the fakeness." [via The Tennis Letter on X]

Additionally, when she swapped her Instagram profile picture to one of her barely acknowledging Swiatek, she seemed to confirm their rivalry.

Collins and Swiatek have met twice at the Melbourne major—in 2022 and 2024—each sharing a victory. Collins banked a straightforward 6-4, 6-1 win in their 2022 semifinal and led Swiatek 4-1 in the deciding set of their second-round encounter last year before crumbling and losing the last five games to the Pole. Swiatek has remained tight-lipped about the relationship.

#2 Nick Kyrgios v Jannik Sinner

2022 Miami Open - Day 9 - Source: Getty

Predictably Nick Kyrgios's return to major competition has been marked by a social media storm in which he appears to criticize fellow Australian Leyton Hewitt's 16-year-old son Cruz for posting pictures of training sessions with World No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

That comment followed an earlier remark after Kyrgios's loss to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the Brisbane Open which was a not-so-thinly veiled stab at Sinner's recent drug test issues, for which the Italian has neither been formally accused nor sanctioned. Sinner has kept his counsel throughout, but might secretly hope for an Australian Open draw that pits him against the home-grown firebrand.

#3 Emma Navarro v Qinwen Zheng

Taste Of Tennis Indian Wells 2024 - Source: Getty

After Qinwen Zheng's US Open quarterfinal 6-7, 7-6, 6-1 defeat of Emma Navarro in September, Zheng reported that Navarro "told me she doesn’t know how I have a lot of fans." Navarro doubled down at the Olympics, describing Zheng as "cut-throat" to the Paris media, and added:

"I think she didn't necessarily treat me or the sport with respect."

Like Sinner and Swiatek, Zheng has not commented publicly about the matter, but no doubt will welcome the opportunity to set matters straight on the court in Melbourne next week.