<p>The Washingtonian scribe Ben Rothenberg filed over 20 stories from Australia over the course of his 3 weeks in the media center at Melbourne Park. He got home a day or 2 ago and joined me for a banger hour of power chat about the 2026 Australian Open. We discussed :</p><p>the demise of the Washington Post</p><p>the joy of going to Australia in January</p><p>the one point slam </p><p>the Turkish and Filipino Diaspora Phenomenon</p><p>Fonseca and so many others not ready to play </p><p>Fils returns after the major, odd.&nbsp;</p><p>Impressions of the Wawrinka swan song</p><p>Monfils</p><p>Svitolina </p><p>Anisimova&nbsp;</p><p>Jovic's great run, beat paolini</p><p>Zverev loses to Carlitos&nbsp;</p><p>Novak beats Sinner&nbsp;</p><p>Rybakina's redemption and domination. </p><p>Osaka&nbsp;drama</p><p>Serena</p><p>PTPA </p><p>All in all, a successful kickoff to the season</p><br><p>Recorded and Released on 2.5.26</p><br><p>The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast is Powered By Golden Ticket Tennis</p><br><p><br></p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>