Iga Swiatek enters the Australian Open needing one title to complete a Career Slam. Her major haul includes four Roland Garros victories (2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024), the 2022 US Open and her first Wimbledon crown in 2025. That sequence makes her the only active woman to have won three of the four Grand Slam events.

Carlos Alcaraz is not the only player attempting to complete a Career Slam at this year’s Australian Open. Swiatek will pursue the final missing major in Melbourne starting next week. If she succeeds, she would become the 11th woman in tennis history to complete a Career Slam and only the third this century, after Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. She would also be the first woman born in the 2000s, or even since 1988, to accomplish the feat.

Swiatek’s record in Melbourne shows she has come close. Her best results at the tournament are semifinal runs in 2022 and 2025. In 2022 she was defeated by Danielle Collins, 6-4, 6-1. A year later she reached the semis again and was literally one point from the final, holding a match point at 6-5 in the third set before losing to Madison Keys, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8).

Those narrow margins underline how little separates a champion from an also-ran at the top level. With six Grand Slam titles already to her name, the Australian Open remains the solitary major Swiatek has not yet won. How she responds to the memories of those two semifinal exits will be central to her run. The outcome in Melbourne will determine whether she joins the short list of women who have completed tennis’s rarest career collection.

Iga Swiatek arrives at the Australian Open needing a single title to complete a Career Slam. She has already captured four Roland Garros crowns (2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024), the 2022 US Open and, most recently, her first Wimbledon trophy in 2025. That record makes her the only active woman to have won three of the four majors.

Carlos Alcaraz isn’t the only player who’ll try to complete their Career Slam at this year’s Australian Open. Swiatek will chase the missing piece in Melbourne starting next week, a pursuit that would carry historic significance if she succeeds. A victory would make her the 11th woman in tennis history to complete a Career Slam and only the third in this century, after Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. She would also become the first woman born in the 2000s, or even since 1988, to achieve that milestone.

Swiatek has been competitive at the Australian Open before. Her best results at the tournament are semifinal runs in 2022 and 2025. In 2022 she was beaten by Danielle Collins, 6-4, 6-1. Last year she came within a point of a place in the final, holding a match point while up 6-5 in the third set, but ultimately lost to Madison Keys, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8).

Those near-misses frame Swiatek’s return to Melbourne: the record of majors already in her trophy cabinet underlines both her consistency and the narrow margins at the highest level. With six Grand Slam titles to her name, the Australian Open represents the final major she has yet to claim. How she responds to the memories of those semifinal exits will determine whether she joins the short list of women who have completed tennis’s rarest career collection.

Tatjana Maria defeated Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Hobart International, registering a straight-sets win in the first career meeting between the two veterans. The 38-year-old mother of two closed out the match after breaking serve five times in just under an hour-and-a-half on court.

Their combined age exceeded 84 years, making it the oldest match on the WTA tour since the tour began in 1973. The result followed Maria’s loss the previous week in the first round of the Brisbane International to 17-year-old Aussie Emerson Jones.

“Everybody loves Venus—I love her too!” the German said, noting a local connection: Maria makes her family home near Williams in Florida. She also described her children’s excitement about the matchup. Maria said her two daughters, 12-year-old Charlotte and 4-year-old Cecilia, count Williams among their favorite players.

“They said they are for me! But Charlotte’s reaction was, ‘Oh my God, that’s amazing. I’m going to see Venus against you?’,” Maria said. “For me, to play her was such an honor because I never played her before. It was not easy with all the wind but it was amazing.”

For Williams, the loss extended a difficult run in main-draw singles. Since becoming the second-oldest winner of a WTA main-draw singles match in the Open Era last summer in Washington, D.C., former world No. 1 Williams has lost five straight singles matches. The Hobart meeting paired two experienced players and produced a clear, straight-sets outcome as the early-season events continue to unfold.