Australian Open: Emma Raducanu and Novak Djokovic make promising start while Andy Murray yet to prove himself

The first Grand Slam tournament of the year has served some exciting matches so far with Brit Emma Raducanu and former world number one Novak Djokovic advancing through the stages, after winning their opening matches in Melbourne.

Some tennis stars are still yet to face their first competition. Andy Murray is set to take on Matteo Berrettini tomorrow morning and another fell at the first hurdle will undoubtedly raise questions. Meanwhile, Australia's own tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios has pullled out with injury.

As the Australian Open starts to heat up, PeopleWorld takes a look at the stand out tennis stars to watch following the first couple of days:

Emma Raducanu

The British female number one proved to audiences that she is worth that top spot after winning with straight sets against Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch.

Emma’s victory comes after an injury scare for the 20-year-old who rolled her ankle in Auckland just 11 days ago and walked off the court in tears, raising worries for her opening match.

She said: “Everything I’ve done has been quite controlled the last week. So I had to test it out in a real match, with the unpredictability and just getting used to it in the beginning. It felt good…It’s a great achievement for us all.”

Since catapulting herself to tennis stardom after winning the US Championships 2021 as a teenage qualifier, Emma has faced multiple physical challenges, so here is hoping the Australian Open changes her luck.

Novak Djokovic

While Novak Djokovic was noticeably missing from last year’s Australian Open schedule due to visa and vaccination problems, the nine-time winner of the competition participated in an exhibition match against Nick Kyrgios.

Novak and Nick had not faced off since Wimbledon last year so certainly put on a performance for the crowd - with tickets selling out for the charity exhibition in under an hour.

The Serbian tennis player unfortunately did not come up top for Friday night’s game, shielding under an injury cloud with a bad hamstring.

Moreover, Novak will be crucial to watch in the next couple of days as it was reported that he had to cancel a scheduled practice session, making fans question the likelihood of him withdrawing from the tournament.

Nick Kyrgios

In terms of withdrawing, sadly Nick Kyrgios has already had to say ‘love’ you and leave you, as he exited his home competition due to a knee injury.

The Australian bad-boy revealed his ‘devastating’ decision to pull out of the tournament on Monday, alongside his coach Will Maher, despite looking strong at the Rod Laver Arena against Novak Djokovic.

Nick won against Novak, and there was a massive chance of the 27-year-old advancing through to the finals in the 2023 Grand Slam, which made the news that much more heartbreaking.

He said: “I‘m not doubting I will be back to my full strength and playing the tennis I was playing prior to this event. Yeah, I‘m devastated obviously…It’s like my home tournament. I’ve had some great memories here..All I can do now is just look forward, do what I need to do and come back.”

Andy Murray

With fellow Briton Emma Raducanu winning her opening match, all eyes will be set to watch Scot Andy Murray in his first Australian Open game against Italian player Matteo Berrettini.

The three-time Grand Slam champion has competed against the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up on four occasions, with the latter winning three of the four meetings, including the most recent game at the 2022 US Open.

While Andy has been on the backburner for the past two years, he has recently been gaining momentum - seen by advancing through to the Stuttgart 2022 final (despite this title being given to his upcoming opponent).

As a result of the time difference, fans can watch Andy at 2:30am GMT on EuroSport or Discovery+.