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SYDNEY, Australia – With the event officially getting under way in Perth on Friday and in Sydney on Saturday, some last-minute practices on the women’s side in the leadup revealed a few little tidbits.

The first is that the wondrous Barbora Krejcikova starts the season with a pretty substantial brace on her left knee (in addition to the supports on both her ankles, which aren’t a new thing).

Krejickova, who turned 30 two weeks ago, played just 26 singles matches in 2025 – winning 16 and losing 10.

The 2024 Wimbledon champion made the Tour finals that year, getting through the group stagse to make the semifinals.

But then, she didn’t play until Strasbourg, the week before Roland Garros. After doing reasonably well through Wimbledon and thh eUS Open, she retired in her third-round match at the WTA 1000 in Beijing. And then returned only in the middle of December at a WTA 125 in Limoges, there she retired early in the third set of her opening round match against Anastasia Sevastova. That was only six weeks ago.

Let’s hope it’s precautionary and she’s good to go. It’ll be quickly apparent when she plays her opener against Malene Helgo and Noray Monday morning in Sydney.

Here are some of the women players making their final preparations: Raducanu, Krejcikova, Belinda Bencic, Maria Sakkari, Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini.

(Rights-free footage from Tennis Australia).

Raducanu still Swooshing

With all of the chatter about Emma Raducanu going from Nike to Uniqlo – the kind of thing started .. somewhere and picked up by the trash tennis clickbait sites (and others) as facts, she was still sporting the swoosh as she arrived in Australia to start the season.

And, if it was a new deal to kick in for 2026, she was still wearing Nike on Jan. 1 in Perth, ahead of the United Cup.

Uniqlo told The Express there was “nothing to announce”. The only remaining possibility is that they’re waiting to “debut” the new collaboration at the Australian Open proper – much as Roger Federer did at Wimbledon, when he actually made that switch.

United Cup practice time: the men (vid)

As far as the racquet situation goes, it’s clear she’s adopted the Yonex E-Zone, just like Madison Keys did to start 2025, when she won the Australian Open. It’s been a popular switch in recent years.

Interestingly, though, Raducanu’s racquet doesn’t sport the Yonex logo stencil, which typically means she’s not officially sponsored/getting paid by the company.

To be continued …