A busy first week of the 2026 tennis season in Hong Kong, Brisbane, Sydney, and Perth has come and gone. Here are my top takeaways from what were three very entertaining tournaments.
1. Hubert Hurkacz is back. Hurkacz missed the second half of 2025 due to a knee injury, but he is back with a vengeance in 2026. The 28-year-old Pole led his country to its first United Cup title, going 4-1 with wins over Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Tallon Griekspoor, and Stan Wawrinka while losing only to Alex de Minaur in a tight three-setter. Don’t look now, but Hurkacz is leading the race to the Nitto ATP Finals — and deservedly so!
2. The Alexander Bublik of 2025 is still here. After capturing four ATP titles in 2025, Bublik already has one after just one week of the new season. Nobody thought last year was fluke; this Hong Kong result merely confirms what we already knew: Bublik is one of the best players in the world. The 28-year-old Kazakh is into the top 10 for the first time in his career and he will stay there for a while if the mental game stays strong.
3. The end-of-2025 Daniil Medvedev is still here. Whatever was going on with Medvedev in the first eight months of 2025 remains one of tennis’ great recent mysteries. However, he ended the year with a title in Almaty, semifinal showings in Beijing and Shanghai, and a quarterfinal appearance in Paris. Picking up right where he left off, Medvedev lifted the Brisbane trophy on Sunday. Given his form and history at the Australian Open (three-time runner-up), I would rank him as the third favorite (a very distant one, of course) behind Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
4. The Stefanos Tsitsipas of 2025 hopefully isn’t here. Tsitsipas was a disaster throughout much of last year and barely played at all following the U.S. Open. Early returns in 2026, however, are encouraging. The 27-year-old Greek went 3-0 at the United Cup, which featured a straight-set upset of Fritz. Tsitsipas crucially climbed two spots to No. 32 in the rankings, which earns him a seed for the Aussie Open. That should set him up to reach at least the third round.
5. Stan Wawrinka is fully deserving of his AO wild card. Wawrinka deserved an Australian Open wild card regardless of his current form. That he is playing well and seemingly capable of advancing a round or two in Melbourne is simply a bonus. The 40-year-old helped Switzerland finish runner-up at the United Cup, albeit while winning just a single match. Still, three of his four losses came in three sets against superior opponents — including against Flavio Cobolli in a final-set tiebreaker.
6. More question marks for Australian Open hopefuls. Taylor Fritz is already dealing with knee tendonitis — far from ideal at this very early stage of the year. The world No. 9 went 1-3 at the United Cup, where he traditionally excels. His only wins came over Jaume Munar, and that required a third-set ‘breaker. Being seeded outside the top eight at the Australian Open only adds insult to injury, so Fritz’s prospects are not looking good. Add him to a list of players who are out or questionable, including Holger Rune, Jack Draper, Arthur Fils (all three have already withdrawn), and Novak Djokovic (WD from Adelaide).
7. NextGen participants not slowing down. Alexander Blockx and Raphael Jodar faced each other in the Canberra Challenger final (Blockx won 6-4, 6-4). Those are more good results for two of the stars of the 2025 NextGen ATP Finals (Blockx finished runner-up to Learner Tien, Jodar compiled a 2-1 round-robin record — including a win over Tien). These two guys are ones to watch in 2026.
8. Depth on display for American men. Three of the four Brisbane semifinalists were Americans (Brandon Nakashima, Alex Michelsen, and Aleksandar Kovacevic). Sebastian Korda reached the quarters. In Hong Kong, Marcos Giron advanced to the semis after beating Michael Mmoh in the quarters. Team USA may not have a realistic Australian Open title contender on its hands (who does outside of Spain and Italy?), but it could put a record number of guys in the second, third, and fourth rounds at Melbourne Park.
9. Sebastian Baez has success on hard courts for the second time in his career. Baez is the essence of a clay-court specialist, but he went undefeated in Argentina’s three matches at the United Cup — beating Fritz, Wawrinka, and Munar. Those are three of the best hard-court victories of Baez’s entire career, although he did win the 2023 Winston-Salem title from completely out of nowhere. Now the question is if he can build on this…which he certainly didn’t do following his Winston-Salem triumph.
10. We want Indiana vs. the Raiders. To heck with the Battle of the Sexes. The gimmick that we really need to see is Indiana vs. the Raiders! Indiana is an absolute wagon. Especially against the Week 18 version of the Raiders (no Maxx Crosby and no Brock Bowers), I think the Hoosiers would have a great chance.