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Grand Slam wins may have become less frequent in recent years for Andy Murray, but the Scot still has what it takes to beat the best on the big stage.

“I think the last few years, I've certainly questioned myself at times,” admitted former World No. 1 Murray after outlasting Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open for his first Top 20 victory at a Grand Slam in more than four years. “There's certainly a lot of people [that] questioned me and my ability, whether I could still perform at the biggest events and the biggest matches.

“I felt very proud of myself after the match. That's not something that I generally felt over the years at the end of tennis matches.”

Murray defied a stirring Berrettini comeback from two-sets-to-love down on Rod Laver Arena, saving a match point before dominating the deciding-set tie-break to seal a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(10-6) win. After a series of tough defeats in similarly close encounters at the majors in recent times, the three-time Grand Slam champion believes Tuesday’s victory is just reward for some hard off-season graft.

“I think I'm proud of the work that I put in the last few months,” said Murray, who fell to Berrettini in four sets at the 2022 US Open. “I trained really, really hard over in Florida getting ready to play here. I'm really proud of how I fought through that match at the end, like I said, when it could have got away from me, how I played in the tie-break at the end.

With his back against the wall, Alexander Zverev found a way to reach the second round at the Australian Open Tuesday when he clawed past Peruvian lucky loser Juan Pablo Varillas in five sets.

Trailing by two sets to one, the German rose to the occasion, rallying past the World No. 103 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-4 to earn his first tour-level win of the season.

Zverev tore several lateral ligaments in his right foot during his Roland Garros semi-final clash against Rafael Nadal in June and only returned to Tour at the United Cup last month. Competing in his third match of the year, the World No. 12 refused to go away against Varillas, striking 69 winners to seal victory in four hours and nine minutes.

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"I am extremely happy because I missed this over the past seven months," Zverev said. "This match alone pays off for all the hard work and suffering that I have had. To win in front of this kind of crowd again. I can't wait for the rest of the tournament. No matter what happens from now, the tournament is already a success for me."

The marquee matchup of the Australian Open first round far exceeded the hype, as Andy Murray edged 13th seed Matteo Berrettini in an instant classic decided by a fifth-set tie-break. With a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(10-5) win, Murray earned his first Top 20 victory at a Grand Slam in more than four years, requiring four hours, 49 minutes to secure the statement result in Rod Laver Arena.

“I’ll be feeling this this evening and tomorrow, but right now I’m just unbelievably happy, very proud of myself," Murray said in an on-court interview. "I’ve put a lot of work into the past few months with my team here to give me the opportunity to perform on stadiums like this and in matches like this against players like Matteo, and it paid off tonight.”

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Murray upset the returning Melbourne semi-finalist with a gutsy display full of shotmaking and clever tactics — along with a small slice of luck, as Berrettini netted a backhand passing shot on match point at 5-4 in the fifth with the court gaping.

The 35-year-old blunted his the Italian's powerful forehand by combining slice with power, making his opponent uncomfortable as he attacked the Berrettini backhand throughout the match. With neither man able to break serve after Berrettini made his lone breakthrough to lead 3-2 in the third set, the result hinged on late drama in the final two sets.

One year after making his first Grand Slam fourth round at the Australian Open, Taylor Fritz made a strong start to his 2023 Melbourne campaign with a 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win against Nikoloz Basilashvili on Tuesday.

Fritz, who also reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals last season, fired 32 aces in the victory as he progressed to the second round for the fifth straight year in Melbourne. He won 84 per cent of his first-serve points in the match.

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Playing in his first Grand Slam as a Top 10 player, the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals semi-finalist was down an early break before play was suspended to close the roof in John Cain Arena. From 2-4 in the opening set, the eighth-seeded American won four games to take command.

"It gave me a chacce to regroup a little bit," he said of the delay. "I came out, it's the first match, first Slam of the year, it's my first time being a Top 8 seed. I came out a little nervous but kind of regrouped. I felt like maybe closing the roof wasn't the best for me because I wanted it to be a little bit faster on the court. I felt like it slowed everything down.

An entertaining and charismatic on-court presence, Thanasi Kokkinakis overcame a heartbreaking series of injury setbacks to become an ATP Tour champion for the first time in 2022 with a dream run in his hometown of Adelaide.

Just a few weeks later, Kokkinakis was holding another trophy — the 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles crown — alongside his close friend and fellow Australian Nick Kyrgios. The duo’s emotional run at their home Grand Slam features in the first episode of Netflix’s new behind-the-scenes series Break Point. ATPTour.com runs down five things you may not know about one half of the duo known as the ‘Special Ks’.

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1. He Has Shown Great Resilience In The Face Of Injuries
Kokkinakis was just 19 when he first cracked the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2015, but since then he has endured a series of injury setbacks that have limited his time on court. Each time, however, the Australian has put in the hard yards to come back and in January 2022 he won his maiden ATP Tour title in his hometown of Adelaide.

“I proved that the mind is probably the most important thing,” Kokkinakis told ATPTour.com when asked how he had overcome adversity to find success. “Obviously you’ve got to have some skill and a work ethic to balance it out, but if you’re strong with your mind and you keep pushing, you never know. The fortunate thing with tennis is you’re only a week away from turning your career around, so that’s the biggest thing.”

Lloyd Harris reached a career-high No. 31 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in September 2021. The South African had just made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and a month earlier defeated Rafael Nadal.

Less than a year later, Harris was at his lowest low — he had torn the Triangular FibroCartilage Complex in his right wrist. After taking some time to contemplate the injury, he underwent surgery in June.

“I think the hardest thing was to accept it mentally. Physically there was a problem. I was limited,” Harris said. “I was in a lot of pain and playing with a lot of pain. I knew what had to be done, and it was hard for myself to accept it. But as soon as I did the surgery, I think I went to a new page in the book.”

Just before going into surgery, Harris’ medical team discovered he had torn another tendon off the bone that runs across his wrist. Both were repaired in the operation.

“I actually felt happy. I was excited that we're going to get rid of that pain, and I could get back to playing and enjoying the game I love,” Harris said. “Actually I feel like I learned so much and could reflect so much. I think it just makes me better as a player and a person, through all the things I've been through in the past few months. It was really hard work, but it's part of it.”

Update: Conditions have improved at Melbourne Park. Outdoor matches will be called at 4:50 p.m. local time for 5 p.m. resumption of play.

Play has been suspended on the outside courts at the Australian Open Tuesday afternoon when the AO Heat Stress Scale reached 5.

Play continued until the end of an even number of games or the completion of a tie-break. No new matches will be called to the outside courts. Play has also been suspended on outdoor practice courts. On Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena, play has continued under closed roofs.

Under the tournament’s Extreme Heat Policy, the Referee will continually review the conditions and the policy to determine when play on outdoor courts can be resumed. Once that decision is made, players will be given at least 30 minutes’ notice before play resumes.

The AO Heat Stress Scale takes into account air temperature, radiant heat (strength of the sun), humidity and wind speed, which affect a player’s ability to disperse heat from their body. Those factors are measured in real time across five different locations across the Melbourne Park precinct.

Andrey Rublev won his fifth straight ATP Head2Head meeting with Dominic Thiem as he expertly navigated a challenging opening-round draw on Tuesday at the Australian Open. In a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win, the fifth seed followed a familiar game plan as he controlled the match with his booming forehand and serve.

Thiem competed well in his first Australian Open since 2021, but was undone by late breaks in each of the first two sets. Rublev, who saved the only two break points he faced in the second set, left no doubt in the final set, which he dominated from the start.

"When you see that you have to play against Dominic, it's never easy," Rublev said of the marquee matchup. "Plus we are really good friends. I know that he's going through a not easy time, so I just want to wish him all the best, to wish him to come back on the same level that he belongs as fast as possible."

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With brutally hot conditions in John Cain Arena, Rublev was especially pleased to finish the match in an efficient two hours, 10 minutes.

Editor's Note: This article was translated from ATPTour.com/es.

A tennis player’s most feared adversary is perhaps one that never wields a racquet. Injuries are the most unpredictable blight any sportsman can suffer throughout his career, and Matteo Berrettini has recently had first-hand experience of them.

In 2022, the Italian underwent wrist surgery, fought COVID-19 and recovered from a problem with his left foot. Berrettini was sidelined from the ATP Tour for several months.

However, the current No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings has been working hard to return this season with a vengeance. One of the professionals that has helped him with his recovery, physiotherapist Ramon Punzano, revealed to ATPTour.com details of the last year, his relationship with Berrettini, and the strengths that have made him one of the best players in the world.

Ramon Punzano (far right) celebrates with Team Italy at the 2023 United Cup. Credit: Tennis Australia

It was a French affair on the ATP Tour and Challenger Tour this week. And Arthur Fils was following the results of his countrymen Arthur Cazaux and Richard Gasquet, who were competing for titles on the other side of the world.

Set to play in his first Challenger final in Oeiras, the 18-year-old Fils had seen the results from Cazaux, who won the Nonthaburi Challenger on Saturday and Tour-veteran Gasquet, who collected the title at the ATP 250 in Auckland. He used that as inspiration to claim a title of his own in Portugal.

“I saw Luca [Van Assche] win the Maia Challenger not that long ago, I saw that overnight Arthur Cazaux did it, I saw that Richard Gasquet did it today. I said, ‘Okay you have to win this one!’” Fils said, while cracking a laugh during his post-match press conference.

Fils, who enjoyed a standout junior career, hopes to be part of France’s next crop of great players. In 2021, he was a finalist at the Roland Garros boys’ singles event, only losing to countryman Luca Van Assche, who earned his maiden Challenger title in December. That same year, Fils teamed with close friend Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard to capture the Roland Garros boys’ doubles crown.

Following his triumph in Portugal, Fils joined an exclusive list of French Challenger champions aged 18 and under: Gasquet, Sebastien Grosjean, Gael Monfils, Fabrice Santoro, Corentin Moutet, and Van Assche. Now at a career-high 195 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, Fils is the first teenage Challenger champion of 2023 and the youngest French player in the Top 200.

More than 6,000 miles apart, French youngsters Arthur Cazaux and Arthur Fils combined to be crowned champions on the ATP Challenger Tour this week.

While Cazaux advanced through qualifying in Nonthaburi, Thailand, 18-year-old Fils won his maiden Challenger title at the Oeiras Indoor 2. Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo also triumphed Sunday on home soil.

Fils, who was playing in his first Challenger final, seemed unfazed as he earned a 6-1, 7-6(4) victory to end Belgian Joris De Loore’s 11-match winning streak.

Shortly after beating Top-60 players Jaume Munar and Fabio Fognini last season to qualify for the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris, the 2021 Roland Garros boys’ singles finalist has built on his momentum and worked hard in the offseason to prepare for 2023.

The bottom half of the men's singles draw opens play Tuesday at the Australian Open, with a full slate of marquee matchups and star names on Melbourne's Day 2 schedule.

Novak Djokovic begins his campaign for his record-extending 10th title in Melbourne against Roberto Carballes Baena, while Matteo Berrettini meets Andy Murray in the day's other ATP matchup on Rod Laver Arena. Andrey Rublev faces wild card Dominic Thiem in another popcorn encounter, while Top 10 seeds Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune are also in action.

ATPTour.com looks at some of Tuesday's biggest clashes.

View Schedule | View Singles Draw

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Roman Safiullin remembers his early days playing tennis at a facility with two courts just next to an ice hockey arena. His father, Rishat, was the head coach.

“I was there taking the racquets practising in the small group. Hitting with the wall,” Safiullin told ATPTour.com. “[There were] a lot of times like this.”

Growing up, Safiullin played some football and swam, but spent 80 per cent of his time playing tennis.

“I was happy to play tennis and especially when I grew up. Then school started, so you had to choose one thing,” Safiullin said. “If you go then you go full school or you go tennis. So I chose tennis and I am still here.”

Safiullin began taking tennis seriously from the age of 12, when practice became different. “Since then, I started a kind of professional career already,” he said.

Daniil Medvedev’s unique game and personality has been captured in the launch of his very own logo. As he takes his partnership with Lacoste to new heights, the 15-time tour-level champion will now have his own co-branded collection with the iconic brand.

Medvedev made a splash in Rod Laver Arena, where he debuted the logo on his new-look polo as he opened his Australian Open campaign with a straight-sets win against Marcos Giron.

“My partnership with Lacoste is special. I consider them family,” Medvedev said, discussing the new venture. “To have this special line with Lacoste is not only exciting, it speaks for the business relationship we have. It already started some years ago when Lacoste asked me to help bring a tennis shoe to the market, which we very successfully accomplished together. To now put this special Daniil M line/logo on my clothes makes me very happy and I hope to see many fans wear these products.”

Playing off Medvedev’s love for video games — his favourite games are FIFA and Rainbow Six — the logo’s design is similar to a gaming controller. It’s not the first time Medvedev has brought his passion for gaming onto the court — after winning the 2021 US Open, his “dead fish” celebration confounded many until he revealed he was paying homage to a celebration from the FIFA video game franchise.

Each aspect of the logo tells a story. The ‘D’ and ‘M’ stand for Medvedev’s initials, while the two lines at the bottom represent the two ‘I’s in his first name. At the top of the logo is a circle symbolising a tennis ball.

Daniil Medvedev wasted little time in reaching the second round at the Australian Open Monday when he dismantled American Marcos Giron 6-0, 6-1, 6-2 to start his title quest in style.

The World No. 8 is aiming to go one step further than his previous best showing showings at the first major of the season this fortnight, having lost in the final in 2021 and 2022. Competing on Rod Laver Arena, Medvedev made the perfect start, hitting 28 winners en route to a one-hour, 36-minute win.

“I am really happy with the match,” Medvedev said. “Marcos is a tough opponent, so to beat him with this score in the first round at a Slam is great. I am really happy with my level and I am looking forward to the next round.”

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With his fourth tour-level victory of the season, Medvedev improved to 2-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against the 29-year-old Giron. The seventh seed will next face John Millman after the Australian wild card defeated Marc-Andrea Huesler 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3.

Felix Auger-Aliassime didn’t have things all his own way Monday, but he stepped up when needed to reach the second round at the Australian Open for the third time.

Chasing his first win of the season, the Canadian recovered from a slow start to overcome countryman Vasek Pospisil 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3), 6-3 in three hours and 59 minutes.

The sixth seed Auger-Aliassime, who struggled at times to find his best level against the World No. 99, now leads Pospisil 4-1 in their ATP Head2Head series. The 22-year-old will next meet Alex Molcan after the Slovakian clawed past 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka 6-7(3), 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.

“He is a good friend and great teammate,” Auger-Aliassime said. “We recently had some amazing memories together. Winning the Davis Cup two months ago. It is always tough to play a good friend. He came out firing, playing really well. On my part it was a bit of a struggle but it is ok. It is a first round, it happens. I am just happy I was able to get back into this match.”

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A two-tournament week on the ATP Tour saw Richard Gasquet lift the trophy at the ASB Classic in Auckland and Soonwoo Kwon triumph at the Adelaide International 2.

ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

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No. 42 Richard Gasquet, +25
The Frenchman has climbed 25 places in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings after he lifted his first tour-level title since 2018 in Auckland. The 36-year-old stunned second seed Cameron Norrie in the championship match to cap an impressive week at the ATP 250 event. Read Auckland Final Report & Watch Highlights.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is playing for a double prize this fortnight at the Australian Open. The Greek certainly started his campaign like a man on a mission on Monday at Melbourne Park, where he eased past Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(6) to reach the second round.

Prior to the tournament, the Greek had spoken about his desire to carry the impressive form he showed at the United Cup, where he went 4-0 during Team Greece’s run to the semi-finals at the mixed-teams event, into the first Grand Slam of the 2023 season. The 24-year-old did just that, delivering a highly aggressive and largely consistent performance — and holding off a third-set resurgence from Halys — to seal victory in exactly two hours.

“It was challenging,” acknowledged Tsitsipas after saving four set points in the third set before completing the win. “He came up with some good tennis towards the end of the third set. I kind of lost my rhythm on the serve. I wasn’t expecting to get broken twice, so I had to find ways to kind of get out of there, this difficult situation.

“I think my fighting spirit showed that towards the end. I wasn’t going to give up and even though I faced difficult situations in the tie-break, being down in the score, I got some good crowd support and we came back and won this together.”

The 24-year-old Tsitsipas, who reached the semi-finals at the opening Grand Slam of the season in 2019, 2021 and 2022, is chasing his maiden major crown this fortnight. Should the third seed go all the way in Melbourne, he would also overtake the injured Carlos Alcaraz to become No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time. He will meet home wild card Rinky Hijikata or German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann in the second round.

Rafael Nadal had to dig deep on Monday at the Australian Open to claw through his first-round match against Jack Draper. But for the defending champion it did not matter if it was a straightforward victory or not. A win was a win.

“I needed a victory, so that's the main thing. Doesn't matter the way. The most important thing today is a victory against a tough opponent,” Nadal said. “To win against Jack, as I said before the tournament started, has been one of the toughest first rounds possible being seeded. We knew [it is] not going to be perfect, as I said the other day. [It] was not perfect.

“But to win against Jack, I need to do things well. I think I did things well. So satisfied with the victory because that's give me the chance to play after tomorrow again.”

Entering the tournament, Nadal had lost six of seven matches. Last year he struggled with an abdominal injury.

“Of course, when you break the abdominal twice, [it] takes a while to recover the confidence in the movement. I mean, [it] was difficult for me for a few months to put the ball high and go for the ball,” Nadal said. “When you break the abdominal, you start to protect yourself, putting the ball more to the left, trying to not do the movement, the full movement, with the abdominal.”

Back at the Australian Open for the first time since his epic five-set comeback in the 2022 final, top seed Rafael Nadal won another see-saw match in Rod Laver Arena to kickstart his title defence on Monday afternoon. The Spaniard delivered in the crucial moments of a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory against 21-year-old debutante Jack Draper to reach the Melbourne second round for the 17th time.

"Last year was without a doubt one of the most emotional tournaments of my tennis career. I’m super happy to be back here in Australia one more time," Nadal said in his on-court interview. "I know it’s my 19th season on the professional Tour. I’m very excited about this new beginning, just super happy to be back here in Rod Laver Arena with a victory that I needed. The last couple of months haven’t been easy for me, but hopefully this victory is going to help me."

In an all-lefty matchup, Nadal clinched sets one and three with decisive, late breaks to make up for what was nearly a 6-0 second set for Draper. The Briton went toe-to-toe with Nadal and dominated for stretches, but ultimately fell victim to the 36-year-old's relentless pressure.

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As the Spaniard reclaimed the initiative in the third set, finding his forehand from all parts of the court, Draper began to struggle with cramps and required treatment during several changeovers.