2025 Australian Open, The Usual Elite Suspects, Usual Struggles, Predictable Exits

January 23, 2025,

It’s the big show.

A tennis stage that does not get any bigger.

No matter the Grand Slam, the usual suspects show up.

The break through star.

The consistent Super Star.

The dangerous show stopper who wins in the early rounds but can never get past the Round of 16.

The one time Grand Slam winner who can’t seem to win another one.

Ah, the Usual Suspects. Did you see the film? It’s really good.

The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie.

Simply said, people have patterns and if your goal is to predict patterns of behavior, you have the usual suspects.

At the 2025 Australian Open, the suspects showed up and played in the predictable way.

Let’s start with Sloane Stephens.

Sloane achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3, after Wimbledon in 2018.

That’s right. Don’t shake your head. The way Sloane has been playing at the hard court Grand Slams for the last several years, it is hard to see in what universe has Sloan ever been ranked number three in the world?

But she has.

And she is laughing all the way to the bank with over 18 million dollars, million with an M, in prize money. No Sloane Stephens jokes here.

Ms. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles.

So, who are we to criticize Sloane for getting knocked out in the first round at a Grand Slam, again? It was very predictable, especially since she was playing the world’s number one player in Aryna Sabalenka. We could sense a long legged Kangaroo styled whipping coming a Yarra River length away.

There was little to suspect what was going to happen here. It was very usual and predictable.

Then there is Jessica Pegula.

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She is currently ranked number six in the world and for some time, was ranked number three. At times we have scratched our heads why number three, since, for years, she could never seem to get past the quarters at a hard court Grand Slam.

Jessica has career-high rankings in singles of world No. 3, achieved on October 24, 2022.

Somehow it just didn’t feel like it. How can a player be ranked number three in the world, yet can’t make it past the quarter finals at a Grand Slam?

Here is what FCI wrote about the captivating and puzzling Jessica on September 5, 2023, “Her frustration continues.

The world’s number three, Jessica Pegula was out hit and pushed around by fellow American Madison Keys 6-1, 6-3 in the fourth round, at the 2023 US Open.

When Femcompetitor Magazine (femcompetitor.com) previously featured American tennis star Jessica Pegula, during the 2023 Australian Open, the thinking was, this time could be different.

This time feels different.

There was no point in printing an article like that this time, before, during or after the 2023 US Open.

In fact, it felt like more of the same.

Just look up at the ceiling.

Jessica can’t seem to paint it. Even with a ladder.

Jessica is sending a lot of other players packing on her own as she has blasted her way in the quarter finals of the Australian Open for the third time in a row.

Somehow though, this feels different.

She is playing more confidently and, to our recent posted concern, playing with more power.

We noted in her previous two matches Down Under, she hit no more than 3 aces.

Against Krejcikova, she didn’t hit any but won anyway.

As long as all roads lead to Rome, get there however you can.

She doesn’t have to serve a lot of aces as long as she can blast those ground strokes and blast them she did against the number 20^th seed Barbora Krejcikova.”

And yet, when Jessica met the veteran warhorse in Victoria Azarenka, in the quarter finals, the Belarusian champion pounded Jessica 6-4 6-1 in just one hour and 37 minutes.

Previously, Jessica could never seem to get past the quarter finals at a major Grand Slam.

Now, at this 2023 US Open, she couldn’t even get past the round of 16.

Jessica finally broke through the quarter finals barrier in 2024 at the US Open.

She reached the singles finals of the 2024 US Open and the 2023 WTA Finals. Extremely impressive and most important, unprecedented. Incredible progress. It begged the question, rankings aside, has Jessica final arrived as an elite player that we can expect to compete at a very high level at future hard court Grand Slams?

The answer is no.

At this year’s Australian Open she quietly lost in the third round to Olga Danilovic in just two sets.

Regarding Olga, as reported by puntodebreak.com, “The Serbian player, ranked 55th in the world, ousted Jessica Pegula, the seventh seed in Melbourne, in the first Grand Slam of the season with a score of 7-6(3) and 6-1 in 1 hour and 32 minutes of play.”

Is that a typo? 6-1 in the second set? Did the billionaire heir apparent have somewhere else to be? Could it be that since Jessica broke through that quarter final force field at the 2024 US Open that she just wasn’t hungry for this first Grand Slam of 2025? It would be extremely disappointing if that were the case. She seemed to play as if she had nothing to lose or gain.

Who is Olga Danilovic?

Ms. Danilović is a Serbian professional tennis player who, on December 2, 2024, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 51.

On April 24, 2023, she peaked at No. 104 in the WTA doubles rankings.

Our rising star has won two WTA Tour singles titles and two doubles titles.

On the WTA Challenger Tour, she has won one doubles title. Additionally, she has won seven singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit.

Playing for Serbia, Danilović has a win–loss record of 12–8 in Billie Jean King Cup competition (as of June 2024).

Now, she has sleighed a top ten player.