Meet Australia’s best hope for the 2025 Australian Open who once quit tennis before being convinced to return by Ash Barty

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The entry list for the 2025 Australian Open has been released, with a real absence of home talent on the women’s side.

Australian men’s tennis is in a fantastic place, with plenty of top stars at the peak of their powers ahead of the 2025 season on the ATP Tour.

Alex de Minaur qualified for the ATP Finals for the first time this year, as he broke into the world’s top ten, establishing himself as a real threat.

Controversial star Nick Kyrgios is also set to make his return next year, having struggled with injury over the past few seasons.

Another rising star could pose a threat, as Canadian Open champion Alexei Popyrin, will look to cause damage.

Those are just three of nine Australian ATP stars who currently sit ranked inside the world’s top 100, but things aren’t looking quite so promising in the women’s game.

Olivia Gadecki: The only Australian woman who’s ranking qualified her for the 2025 Australian Open

The 2025 Australian Open women’s singles main draw entry list has now been released, with only one Australian woman included.

Plenty more will likely be awarded wildcards to the event, but only one qualified through her ranking alone.

That woman is Olivia Gadecki, who took the 96th of 98 spots available, as she flies the flag for Australia at the event.

Currently ranked 95th in the world, Gadecki has won just one Grand Slam singles match in her career to date, at the 2023 Australian Open, when she took down Polina Kudermetova in the first round.

She enjoyed the best year of her career in 2024, as she reached her first WTA final in Guadalajara, coming up just short against Magdalena Frech.

The 22-year-old became Australia’s number one during the 2024 season, as she overtook Daria Saville thanks to her success in Mexico.

Gadecki will be hoping to represent her country well in Australia, as she looks to become the first home winner at the event since Ash Barty in 2022.

Someone that Gadecki knows all to well, with the pair remaining close since their teenage years.

In fact, when Gadecki quit the sport in her early teens, it was Barty who convinced her to return and give tennis another crack.

Since then Barty has acted as a mentor to Gadecki and had some kind words to say about the 22-year-old in 2023.

“Liv [Olivia Gadecki] brings genuine life into Australian tennis,” she said.

“She is the one who injected oxygen back into my pre-seasons and my career and I know she has had a unique journey herself.

“Now I can see it in her eyes that she has got the hunger and the desire and it is about her now putting her head down and finding the ways to enjoy it and keep it alive and keep it fun.

“She has got a mind that, tactically, is more aware than she knows, and I love spending time on court with her because she is a breath of fresh air.”

Can Olivia Gadecki replicate Ash Barty’s Australian Open success?

Barty’s triumph in Melbourne in 2022, was Australia’s first in the women’s game in 44 years, since Chris O’Neil won in 1978.

The success was long overdue, but Barty made it look easy, as she won the tournament without dropping a single set.

Barty lost just 30 games on her way to the title as she dominated the field back in 2022 to take home her third and final Grand Slam title.

Her toughest test came in the final, as America’s Danielle Collins dragged her to a second-set tiebreaker before Barty eventually sealed the deal, lifting the trophy down under.

It’ll be a tough ask for Gadecki to do the same in January, but she will no doubt be looking to Barty as inspiration for a big performance against the world’s best.

Glory for Gadecki may seem unlikely, but for Australian fans, she’s their brightest hope, and they’ll no doubt be getting behind her when the Australian Open begins on January 12.