Welcome back, everyone, and happy 2025. We hope the year is not merely new but improved.

We’ll start Australian Open preview coverage next week. But this week, with a nod to Nick K.—columnist and former Oregon gubernatorial candidate Kristof; not self-aggrandizing and episodically committed tennis player Kyrgios—let’s start with a game of predictions for the new year.

We can revisit in 11-plus months and see how we all performed. My answers are in bold.

Tennis will:

A) Survive and advance, despite inevitable high-profile retirements and the inevitable political in-fighting.

B) Figure out how to avail itself of Saudi Arabian capital while avoiding a LIV-style tectonic shift and the SuperTour currently being discussed.

C) Come to grips with a doping policy that imposes draconian thresholds, imposes draconian policies and leaves a trail of horrible PR in its wake.

D) Realize that padel, not pickleball, poses a great competitive (existential?) challenge.

E. All of the above.

Jannik Sinner will:

A) Compartmentalize as he did in New York, defend his Australian Open title and then face a penalty for his 2024 positive doping result.

B) Face a penalty, on appeal, commensurate with Iga Świątek.

C) Face a penalty, on appeal, harsher than Świątek’s.

D) Quit tennis on top and return to competitive skiing, hoping to qualify for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.

Novak Djokovic will:

A) Win another major—one for the road—with his new coach Andy Murray gleefully looking on.

B) Announce his retirement.

C) Not only benefit from his partnership with Murray, but occasionally play doubles alongside him.

D) Serve as yet another data point to support the proposition, time is undefeated and, in the year he turns 38, miss a chunk of the season with an injury.

Aryna Sabalenka will:

A) Continue her transcendent tennis and retain the top spot, causing more casual fans to appreciate her generosity of power … and generosity of spirit

B) Succumb to the pressure of stardom and abruptly quit tennis to launch her meme coin, Crypto.com Aryna.

C) Struggle again with her serve and revert to the days of notching double-figure double faults.

D) Win multiple majors—bearing in mind that she won two in 2024 despite falling ill during Roland Garros and missing Wimbledon.

Coco Gauff will: 

A) Ride the momentum from fall 2024, ascend to No. 1 and win another major.

B) Slide a bit, pulled in too many directions as such an engaging figure and player.

C) Continue winning and remain in the top five, but also continue to lose matches on account of that recalcitrant forehand.

D) Quit tennis and apply to Yale.

This player will join the ranks of the retired:

A) Venus Williams

B) Stan Wawrinka

C) Simona Halep

D) Petra Kvitová

E) All of the above

The WTA will:

A) Reach a deal with the ATP, an acquisition masquerading as something touted as “commercial aggregation.”

B) Remind the world that, amid this women’s sports boom, for decades, the WTA has been the standard bearer, the piston and most lucrative women’s league.

C) Improve its media rights, both in terms of dollar figures and distribution.

D) Deal with its “quiet quitting” issue—so many players who should be in their prime years, failing to find joy and fulfillment, and taking time off or leaving the sport entirely.

E) All of the above.

Peng Shuai will:

A) Announce a tennis comeback.

B) Depart China, buy Jelena Janković’s San Diego home and become an outspoken dissident against authoritarianism, censorship and autocracy.

C) Become an honorary tournament director, a show of good faith now that the WTA has backpedaled (as if chasing down a topspin lob) and returned to China.

D) Remain largely forgotten and unmentioned—out of sight, out of mind—even though her mysterious situation barely three years ago has played an outsized role in shaping the finances and future of the WTA.

The highest-ranked American male will be :

A) Ben Shelton

B) Taylor Fritz

C) Frances Tiafoe

D) Tommy Paul

E) Seb Korda

F) Other

The highest-ranked American female will be:

A) Jessica Pegula

B) Coco Gauff

C) Madison Keys

D) Emma Navarro

E) Other

The WTA player to win her first major will be:

A) Jessica Pegula

B) Qinwen Zheng

C) Karolína Muchová 

D) Ons Jabeur

E) None of the above

This male player will finish 2025 ranked No. 1:

A) Novak Djokovic

B) Jannik Sinner

C) Carlos Alcaraz

D) Daniil Medvedev

E) Other

This female player will finish 2025 ranked No. 1:

A) Aryna Sabalenka

B) Iga Świątek

C) Coco Gauff

D) Elena Rybakina

E) Qinwen Zheng

F) Other

Naomi Osaka will:

A) Rediscover her groove and love of the game, and return to No. 1.

B) Continue to make a considerable impact irrespective of her results, and gracefully balance work and motherhood.

C) Announce her retirement.

D) Have a harder time than perhaps she anticipated getting back to being a full-time player. 

Tennis X (formerly Twitter) will:

A) Take a stand against the bad faith actors, pool-poisoners, unreasoning partisans and pitchfork-wielders who make the community less pleasant for everyone.

B) Continue its seep into toxicity, helpless to fight the algorithms that reward the most noxious and obnoxious posts and posters.

ENJOY THE YEAR. BE NICE TO EACH OTHER. WE CAN SEE HOW WE FARED ON THE ABOVE QUESTIONS IN 11 MONTHS …