Former world No. 8 Daria Kasatkina said watching the Winter Olympic Games helped her rediscover the consistency that had been missing through a difficult start to 2026. At the Qatar TotalEnergies Open she won back-to-back matches for the first time since August, following a straight-sets win over Elena-Gabriela Ruse and a 6-4, 6-0 victory over No. 16 seed Elise Mertens.

“Obviously, I’m watching figure skating. That’s pretty obvious,” Kasatkina said in a nod to longtime girlfriend and former Olympian Natalia Zabiiako. The 28-year-old admitted the Down Under swing after adopting the Aussie flag produced just one win in three tournaments, including a first-round exit at the Australian Open.

“I didn’t feel very nervous or extra pressure during the Aussie swing,” Kasatkina insisted on Tuesday. But she also accepted the ups and downs of a prolonged recovery. As she put it, “nothing is forever,” and the progress she showed in Doha feels encouraging.

“For a long time, I didn’t feel like this on the tennis court,” she said after defeating Mertens, 6-4, 6-0. “It’s something I was looking for over the past few months.

“It’s more the feeling of the results I’m getting after the work I’ve done for the past few months,” she added later. “When I say a few months, I mean over the last five-six months. Tennis is a difficult sport because sometimes you can get results straightaway, and other times you can wait much longer for them to come.

“I hope this is the first sign of my job paying off, but I don’t want to be super excited and think I’m finally back. There’s a lot still to work on, but I hope it’s just the beginning.”

Off court, Kasatkina has been following partner Zabiiako’s high-profile same-sex partnership with Gabriella Papadakis. A co-creator of Kasatkina’s What The Vlog YouTube channel, Zabiiako’s emotional performances have drawn wide attention.

“Natasha is enjoying it so much because unfortunately, she cannot get the same feeling on ice with me!” Kasatkina said with a laugh. “She needed someone a little bit better. Honestly, seeing her in her habitat is amazing. She’s really enjoying it and I can see how good she feels on the ice.

“Skating with someone like Gabriella is amazing and the results are very good, as well. I’m really happy for her and hopefully they can continue to do some stuff together because it looks beautiful.”

Kasatkina said she and Zabiiako plan to watch the Olympic-themed hockey drama Heated Rivalry and described her own progress on the ice as gradual. “I am often on the ice!” said the Aussie. “Not on the level I want to, but it’s like in tennis: one day’s better, one day’s worse. It depends on the ice, depends on the skates. But I really like it. It’s something about, when you learn something new, it’s good for your head. The only thing is that it’s a bit dangerous, so I have to be really careful. I might not care about my body as much if I wasn’t a professional athlete, and I would probably go on the ice by myself more often without the support.

“I’m still a little bit scared on the ice, so I’m always searching for something to hold onto so I don’t fall! So, my progress is stuck a little bit. Still, little by little, I’m improving.”

She joked about winter sport options. “Honestly, the Winter Olympic sports are dangerous!” she joked. “They’re either dangerous or boring!” Kasatkina also reflected on temperament on court: “On the tennis court, I think I’m just pretty much stuck in an Eastern Europe mentality,” sighed Kasatkina, who could face top seed Iga Swiatek in the third round. “It’s difficult to change because it’s coming from when I was a kid. This is something probably I have to keep going with, adding some positive Aussie stuff in there. But in life, it’s definitely the best approach ever. I’m trying to get it more and more.

“The tennis court is a bit different because of all the pressure and emotions involved. You need to really know how to manage them.”

Victoria Mboko left the Qatar TotalEnergies Open buoyed by a first-step victory and a clear aim: play as many top-ranked opponents as possible. The 19-year-old Canadian has climbed to No. 13 on the back of title runs in Montréal and Hong Kong and recently met world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open.

Asked about players she wanted to face, Mboko did not避r away from a childhood aspiration even as she acknowledged the current reality. She answered plainly.

Q. It’s your first year on the tour, second year on the tour, on the main tour. Is there any player that you’re particularly keen to play against, ones that you watched growing up that you want to match up against on the tour right now?

VICTORIA MBOKO: Well, one person that I always looked up to was Serena Williams, but she’s retired now. I feel like I kind of already played people who I was wanting to play growing up. I mean, playing world No. 1 has always been a dream of mine, whether you win or lose it.

But, yeah, I think just playing as many top-10 players as I can is pretty cool. That’s always a different experience for me. Yeah, there’s not someone in particular.

Meanwhile, speculation about Serena Williams has remained active since last fall. Williams has re-entered the World Anti-Doping Agency testing pool and was the subject of reports suggesting she might make a major announcement during this past Super Bowl weekend. No official confirmation of a comeback has been made. Reports indicate she could be cleared to return as early as this spring, which would create the possibility, however remote, of Mboko meeting her childhood idol on tour sooner than expected.

For now, Mboko is focused on the progression that has accelerated her ranking and the valuable lessons that come from facing the sport’s best.

Carlos Alcaraz’s title at the 2026 Australian Open delivered a run of milestones that altered his place in the sport. He won the title after rallying from a set down to beat Novak Djokovic in the final, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5, and earlier edged Alexander Zverev in a semifinal epic in which he battled back from the brink of defeat and overcame cramps. He had stormed past his first five opponents in straight sets en route to the title.

That triumph completed his Career Grand Slam. He is the ninth man in tennis history to do so and the youngest ever to complete the set at 22 years and 8 months, surpassing the previous mark set by Don Budge at 22 years and 11 months. He is also the first man to complete a Career Slam at the Australian Open. The list of players who previously completed the Career Slam includes Fred Perry, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

The victory was his seventh Grand Slam title. His major tally now reads one Australian Open (2026), two Roland Garros titles (2024, 2025), two Wimbledons (2023, 2024) and two US Opens (2022, 2025). He has won seven of the 20 Grand Slams he has contested and seven of the last 13 majors he has played, stretches that date to the 2022 US Open. He missed the 2023 Australian Open with a leg injury.

The win produced several other markers. He became the youngest man ever to reach seven major titles, moved to 7-1 in Grand Slam finals with his sole loss coming to Jannik Sinner in last year’s Wimbledon final, and became the first player to beat Djokovic in an Australian Open final. Since the tournament switched to hard courts in 1988, he is the sixth man to claim back-to-back hard-court majors at the US Open and Australian Open.

Statistically he improved an already stellar résumé. His Grand Slam career record rose to 91-13 for an 87.5 percent winning percentage. He now has 25 career titles, bringing his total of wins over Top 10 opponents to 55 after victories over Alex de Minaur, Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic at this event. His 25th title pushed him past Sinner and Zverev (24) and left him second among active men in career titles behind Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz also surpassed 13,000 ranking points for the first time, moving from 12,050 to 13,650.