The Australian is where one of the four major grand slams take place, with the Australian Open being the first grand slam to start off the year. The tournament is located in Melbourne, Australia and is played on a hard court surface. With the tournament starting two weeks ago, many seeds and upsets have taken place. 

Looking at the women’s draw, Naomi Osaka, the 3 seed, lost to the upcoming 15-year-old tennis star, Coco Gauff, 6-3, 6-4. Serena Williams, the 8 seed and one of the favorites of the tournament, fell to Qiang Wang in a tight three-setter and is now out of the tournament as well. Belinda Bencic also suffered a loss, losing 6-0, 6-1 after being seeded 6 in the tournament. 

Caroline Wozniaki, who was planning on retiring after the Australian Open, lost in a three-setter, but her legacy will still live on. Those big names that are still going strong in the tournament include Simona Halep, Ashleigh Barty, the one seed, and Sofia Kenin, who upset Gauff in the 4th round. 

On the men’s side of the draw, there haven’t been as many upsets, and most of the seeds have made it through to the following week. Facing off each other in the quarterfinals were Novak Djokovic against Milos Raonic, where Djokovic took an easy sweep. Roger Federer played the last remaining American, Tennys Sandgren in a thrilling 5 setter and Alex Zverev defeating Stan Wawrinka in 4 sets. Rafael Nadal, the one seed, lost to Dominic Thiem in 4 sets. 

Just before the Australian Open started, top players from both the WTA and the ATP came together to host an event in order to raise money for the bushfires occurring in Australia. Players like Zverev told the audience that for every match he won, he would donate $10,000 to the bushfires, and legends that include Federer and Nadal together donated $35,000 to the bushfires. The Australian Open, home to making memories and history, has been around for over 100 years, beginning in 1905.