Submissions have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Cleaning out the mailbag for an Australian Open follow-up …

• In case you missed it, here is the Australian Open 50 Thoughts column.

• Served with Andy Roddick toasts the first major of 2025. Thanks to all of you who commented on the daily microdoses. Those were fun. The vast majority of you seem to get our vibe: We’re not going to pull punches, but we also love the sport deeply. So come with smart, good-faith challenges, but spare the gratuitous hate. Andy and I will get back on a weekly schedule soon.

• Now that he has emerged to join the Madison Keys receiving line, we are reminded of Lil Wayne writing to Sports Illustrated from prison to offer U.S. Open analysis.

In honor of the Shinkansen (the bullet train) let’s go speed round … 

Keys beat [Elena] Rybakina, [Iga] Świątek AND [Aryna] Sabalenka, plus [Danielle] Collins and [Elina] Svitolina. What a run!

Bill

• Amen. I still think the ultimate run might have been Serena Williams’s first U.S. Open. She took out a teenage Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martínez, Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis—five major champions—on her way to a first title. But Keys going through four top tenners—Collins, Rybakina, Świątek and Sabalenka—has to be close. You only play the opponent that the draw disgorges. If she had beaten seven qualifiers it still would count as a major. But somehow going through a murderers’ row adds to the sense of occasion.

Really, he had to post that? At the same time everyone else was celebrating Madison Keys. Can you imagine [Roger] Federer at age 37 tweeting an image to shut up the haters??

Anon

• This was in reference to Novak Djokovic posting a photo of his MRI and directing it at the haters. Would Federer have done this? Unlikely. And, yet … so what? Different people. Different players. Different relationships with social media and the public. The Federer crowd will (and did) cite this as evidence of Djokovic’s boorishness, narcissism and self-aggrieved default mode. The Djokovic fans will cite this as their man’s authenticity, principles and frustration with double standards. 

Can we all come together and agree that tennis (life?) would be really boring if everyone acted and reacted like everyone else? Life’s rich pageant and all … 

As for the booing, it was disgraceful. Who boos an injured athlete—never mind a 10-time champion at the event. (What? Do you think he was faking? Do you think he—age 37, with his family there, and a new coach—didn’t want to compete?) You just hope that wasn’t Djokovic’s last match and memory at the Australian Open. It’s a pity that it seems this ungracious crowd response affected Djokovic. This was wildly out of bounds.

Just reading this from you: “For as much flack as the USTA gets—and as concerning as the 21-year men’s major drought might be to some—one must acknowledge the sheer volume of credible Americans.”

Color me completely unimpressed. The Italians have ELEVEN top 100 men, the U.S., only nine.

@Bagelandtomato

• Tennis is a global sport. There are 8 billion people on the globe. Just 4% are American. Yet, Americans represent 40% percent of tennis’s top 10 on the women’s side and four of the top 18 players on the men’s. 

Hey Jon 

I think the ugly American stereotype is not fair. I’m American—and I love the Danimal.

I really think it’s her energy, which is palpable across the screen. She turns friction into fuel, it’s a very MMA and NFL running back kind of vibe, like, I’mma run not around you, but run through you, kind of vibe. 

We love the Danimal—your thoughts on tennis fans rooting for villains?

D.S. (NYC)

• Again, I put this in the Daniil Medvedev category. (Same, by the way, for Sabalenka’s racket smash after the final.) It’s hard to generate too much outrage when you have seen so many offsetting acts of decency. If we are being totally honest here—and when are we not?—Collins’s health issues and the unfortunate circumstances of her “unretirement” give her special immunity. I was just telling a friend: The same what-you-see-is-what-you-get candor that has her telling jeering fans they are funding her Bahamas vacation? That also came through when she unabashedly explained her endometriosis, raising awareness that may have saved lives.

Jon,

What is your take on another option on the best-of-five Grand Slam matches for men: best three out of four sets and if the match is tied 2–2 then use the 10-point tiebreaker. Same ending as if it’s five sets without having to play a fifth set.

Paul Simone, Portsmouth, RI

• Again, I take my cue from the athletes. In the NFL, players hate the prospect of an 18-game regular season. In the NBA, players take nights off to guard against fatigue. In tennis, players don’t seem to mind best-of-five matches (especially when the suggestion for an abbreviated format comes from people who’ve never played at a high level). I rather like the first-to-set decisive tiebreak at 6–6. Simply starting at two apiece is a little too close to a coin flip or shootout for my liking.

I caught a little of the conversation you guys had on Tennis Channel. But what were your thoughts on Iga Świątek and the double-bounce against Emma Navarro?

Anon 

• I am of two minds here:

A) It is ridiculous that we have the technology to get calls right and we don’t use it. It should not be incumbent on the players to stop play immediately (thereby risking the point if their instincts betray them). The onus shouldn’t be on the officials either. It should be on AI. It’s like having security footage and choosing not to consult it after a theft allegation.

The notion that Navarro lost the point unfairly and then walked to her chair on the changeover and saw the stadium replay confirming that she was wronged? What are we doing here, people?

B) This will come off harsher than I intend … But here is Świątek. This is her first major after a doping controversy. She is, essentially, exonerated, but there is still a stain. Especially in your very next event, wouldn’t you take every measure and opportunity to send a message that you compete with integrity and take pride in your reputation? Martina Navratilova is among the many former stars who claim top players know instinctively whether a ball bounces once or twice. Even taking Świątek at her word that she was unsure if her hit was legal—note her absence of celebration after she “won” that point—why wouldn’t she defer to the opponent? If she concedes the point, it’s a huge sporting gesture. If she wins the match the headline is Swiatek shows integrity en route to quarterfinal win. Instead, it leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouths of many. 

Not surprising. Everyone loves [Keys] because she’s delightful. Her colleagues are responding like the men would if Casper [Ruud] or [Félix Auger-Aliassime] or Diego Schwartzman won a slam. Maybe Casper will win Roland Garros one day and someone will dig up this tweet lol

@realstevewalk

• This was in response to the suggestion that Keys’s title has gone over well in the locker room, citing the sheer volume of social media love from current and former players (we see you, Jennifer Capriati!). We’ll save this note for Ruud’s 2029 Roland Garros title. Seriously, I think part of this stems from Keys’s popularity in a vacuum. And part stems from her career arc. Winning your first major at the 47th major you enter—after close calls, bouts with injuries, admitted bouts with pressure—warms the heart of everyone.

A lot of players have huge fan bases. But how many have ZERO HATERS? None. Everyone likes this person. Very happy for her and for anyone who was declared a future superstar and struggled to get to the top of the mountain.

@therockfordfile

• This too was in response to the assertion that the volume of players congratulating Keys on social media suggested that her title went over well—perhaps to an unprecedented degree—among colleagues.

It’s lovely that players take to social media to congratulate their colleagues. It’s less lovely that this has turned into a litmus test. Why didn’t so-and-so chime in?! Maybe they were in midair and there was no wifi. Maybe they were on some ayahuasca retreat. Maybe they didn’t feel like it. For all we know these MIA well-wishers have yet to learn who won the match. Regardless, they are entitled to use social media as they see fit.

You called it before the tournament started …

@kikejavy

• I appreciate how many of you offered congratulations for citing Keys as a contender ahead of the tournament. I am quick to—and duty-bound to—point out that I also picked big things for Sebastian Korda … who lost to a sub-top-50 player in the second round. One of the great appeals of sports is its unscripted and unchoreographed nature. It lends itself to speculation. (And gambling.) But let’s move in the margins here. Picking Keys isn’t exactly Nostradamus. Picking Korda shouldn’t disqualify you from showing your face in public. When Ugo Humbert wins Roland Garros, you can scatter rose petals before me. (Joking.)

Jon, what was the most underrated story of the [2025 Australian Open]?

Carter, J.

• Not quite sure what you mean by underrated. Perhaps, the agents tripping in their loafers to sign João Fonseca? That Jannik Sinner is potentially playing his last major in 2025 seemed strangely undercovered, if not underrated. The WADA appeal of his doping penalty will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in mid-April. Imagine if they wait a few weeks to issue a decision and then settle on a 90-day ban. (Speculative but not crazy.) 

Also, I’m not sure it qualifies here, but I thought the Andy Murray and Djokovic coaching relationship would get far more coverage. To his credit, Murray was no glory hog and didn’t do much in the way of interviews (or meme-able, on-court histrionics). We’ll see if this was a one-off when Djokovic returns, etc.

Hi Jon. 

Why is there so much hate for the let? You and the TC gang hated on it for a segment the other day. Martina in particular railed about how she wants to get rid of lets because they make a match so much longer. Really? A let is called instantly and there’s an immediate do-over. Getting rid of it would save, what, 17 seconds per five-set match? Maybe? What makes a match too long is Djokovic taking a slow stroll around the perimeter of the arena between every first and second serve (and after every let!). Or [Stefanos] Tsitsipas taking a carefree schvitz in the locker room between sets. And so on. I honestly can’t remember the last time I heard a chair umpire give a time warning. Blame the players! Or the umpires! What did the let ever do to you??? Don’t blame the let! Long live the let! Viva la let! 

P. 

• The issue: There is no electronic let, so it falls to the chair umpire to make these calls. (Insert Fingers Fortescue reference here!) The obvious solution: just play the let, as we would if the returner’s subsequent shot ticked the net and dribbled over. They do it in the juniors and college tennis and some doubles and everyone adjusts just fine.

HAVE A GOOD WEEK, EVERYONE!