My viewing has been shoddy since the 00s tbh. I've always relied on watching YouTube highlights, except for the Slams where I'll make more of an effort to catch things as they happen. I managed to attend multiple tournaments last year for the first time ever and realised how much I relish the live experience so I think I'm gonna try and hit up the French and maybe the US this year - but let's see if the budget extends that far. :/
I'm still struggling with the fact that the two players I've most often rooted for the last few years (Sinner and Swiatek) have...
clouds hanging over their heads, to put it mildly. That said, it's nice to see all the top women come right out the gates in good form. I reckon it's gonna be hard for anyone to hit through a confident Gauff atm, I'd make her a co-fave for the big one with Sabalenka. Iga's mentality remains questionable (despite many positives this week), and Rybakina's coaching drama is troubling. Both flopped early in Melbourne after playing well in the lead-ups last year iirc, and for the WTA's sake I'd like them to avoid a repeat this year.
Can't really comment on the men without getting a glimpse of Jannik and Carlos. Are neither of them playing warm-up tourneys? Re: Novak, if he's in his 'handing out wins to any scrub' era could he not have chosen poor 20-0 Gael Monfils, sigh. And what are the odds that Sir Andy is sabotaging his longtime tormentor's final days, eh!

I've never really understood the collective problem with Djokovic tho. He's dealt with the general media/crowd bias against him with more grace than most would have imo. And I say this as a diehard Fed fan who will forever be haunted by 40-15 MP (all of them! I was despairing about Wimby 2019 with the racquet stringer just the other week lol

). I'd be happy for him to nab #25 somewhere and wipe Margaret Court from any contemporary relevance (Steffi should have done this for us long ago). When is the AO gonna give us the Evonne Goolagong Arena we deserve?
As for Raducanu... I was rooting for her. We were all rooting for her. Time to cut the losses, smh. Same goes for Kyrgios who I thought a breath of fresh air when he first burst onto the scene, but whose antics ever since have been majorly ick. The lack of maturity never ceases to disappoint.
My sole plea to the tennis gods this year is to allow lovely Ons Jabeur to get her game and - especially - her head together for one more miraculous SW19 run, Novotna-style. My mind is still reeling from Marketa fucking Vondrousova Wimbledon champion. The fact that Wimbledon (currently the random Slam) and Roland Garros (era-defining players' happy hunting ground) seem to have switched their 21stC WTA roles gives me a sliver of hope. And as the iconic Babs Krejcikova proves, it is totes possible to flop everywhere else all season but put it together for two weeks in July, so this is all I'm asking for. Yalla, habibi! <3