AC/DC remains one of world No.1 Iga Swiatek’s go-to rock groups to get her pumped up for matches.

While some players adhere strictly to pre-match rituals for luck Swiatek said she liked to switch things up with her playlist.

“I’m not superstitious, I would say I actually just changed my playlist before the match,” she said, listing Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Lenny Kravitz among her favourites. “I was listening to the same songs for like three years. It was tough. But I did that and it’s working, so hopefully the songs are not going to mess up my head.”

70-shot rally

Karen Khachanov and Jason Kubler shared a 70-shot rally in their second round match but the end of the point, when it came, was something of an anti-climax.

Russian Khachanov was serving for a two-set lead when Australian Kubler managed to snare a break point.

The pair slapped the ball back and forth for 90 seconds before a Kubler backhand clipped the net cord and dropped onto the other side of the court, leaving Khachanov stranded behind the baseline.

Kubler went on to take the set to level the contest at 1-1. Khachanov, however, eventually won 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

However, the record for a rally in a competitive match took place in 1984 when Jean Hepner and Vicky Nelson shared a 29-minute rally in Richmond, Virginia, in which the ball passed over the net an incredible 643 times.

Reflection of society

Novak Djokovic is back at the Australian Open, which is newsworthy because of the reason he was not in the tournament a year ago: He is not vaccinated against Covid-19.

Camila Giorgi, drew scrutiny because of reports on whether she got a fake vaccine certificate from a doctor under investigation in Italy that would allow her to travel. Ah, welcome to the modern world. Tennis, in particular, and sports, in general, can’t help but reflect society. A pandemic. A war. Mental health. #MeToo. Gun violence. And so on.