We’ve barely taken a chunk out of the year, and we’re already done with a quarter of the Slams. No warm-up, no easing into tennis, just the highest quality of the men’s and women’s game to get things going.

It was another great AO with worthy winners on either side — a rising star asserting his dominance with back-to-back titles for the men, and then a player who was burdened with massive expectations so early in her career achieving maiden Grand Slam glory to prove that it was worth the wait.

Madison Keys’ Fairytale to the Final

Madison Keys’ Australian Open is a fairytale story of perseverance and sticking it to those who doubted you. When you’re American and you break onto the scene as early as Keys did, the expectations laid upon you are inconceivably lofty. Tennis is difficult enough, but carrying that burden makes it so much harder to the point where it becomes almost unfair.

Some have labeled her career thus far as an "underachievement," but that greatly undervalues her accomplishments. Tennis is an incredibly competitive sport, where 95% of players experience defeat each week. Since breaking through in 2015, she has maintained a steady presence in the top 20—a feat that is far too often overlooked.

Keys started her AO in red-hot form, having just won the Adelaide International, and convincingly beat her compatriot Ann Li in a straight-sets first-round match. From then on, it became a lot more complicated. When you go into a tournament as the 19th seed, you’re not going to have many easy matches, and it took her three sets to win over Ruse in her next match.

As early as the third round, she was already playing higher seeds, beating Danielle Collins in two, and then it was three-set slogs from there on out. She fought off former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and Elina Svitolina before taking on Iga Swiatek in the semis, who had bulldozed her way through the draw in typical Iga fashion: three bagels, three breadsticks.

That semifinal match was nothing short of epic, with Keys dropping the first before giving Iga a taste of her own medicine in the second, taking it 6-1. The third set will go down in history as one of the greatest ever demonstrations of resilience at the Australian Open. It was a tense affair, with both players making it to 5-5 unscathed, but Keys cracked first, losing the first break point at 30-40. At that moment, she could have folded; her AO was already a success, and breaking back against the world number 2 and one of the greatest players of all time seemed like too tall a task, but she did and took the match to a tiebreak.

It was a race to ten points, and Iga was up the whole time, but Keys kept it close, hitting some monster groundstrokes full of guts and determination. At 7-7, she hit a phenomenal passing shot hoping to take the lead, but Swiatek came up with an even better dig to take back charge of proceedings. Alas, it was to be Swiatek’s last point of the match: Keys rattled off three points in a row and took the enthralling encounter 5-7, 6-1, 7-6.

It was a battle of skill, determination, and endurance, all qualities Iga Swiatek usually combines to outclass her opponents. Beating her in such a manner must have been one of those “voila” moments that gave Keys all the confidence she needed to take on world number 1 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the final. She beat her in another classic Australian Open final and fulfilled her dream of winning a Grand Slam title.

Yonex’s Faux Pas

It was an incredible story, and it had the whole tennis world happy for Keys, but we need to take a second to appreciate the Swiatek vs. Keys matchup from a gear-spotting perspective.

Yonex may have just missed out on the greatest marketing opportunity in history. You may have noticed that Keys was using a black racket during the Australian Open, but what you may not know is that this was her first time ever using that racket in her life.

For most of her career, Keys was using a Wilson pro stock frame, but she finally ditched it during the off-season and made the drastic change over to Yonex.

From what the racket nerd community has come up with, it seems Keys was using the brand-new 2025 Ezone 98, but there’s one little issue: the racket was blacked out so no one could tell. Yonex had the opportunity to showcase a player switching away from their competition into their brand-new racket to win their maiden Grand Slam, and they missed out.

For eagle-eyed viewers, it was clear she was using an Ezone, and at least Yonex’s stencil was visible on her strings. Still, showcasing that signature periwinkle blue across the court would have been a far stronger endorsement of the brand’s latest frame. Whether her victory was influenced by the new racket is for her to determine, but one thing is certain—this Ezone is more forgiving and significantly more powerful than her Wilson pro stocks ever were.

These qualities complement each other and her game extremely well. She has plenty of natural power, and amplifying that can overwhelm her opponents, while a more forgiving feel gives her that little boost in confidence she needs on the tightest points. You could see how comfortable Keys was hitting big throughout the tournament, so this may be the most successful example of a player switching to a new racket setup. Too bad for Yonex that it was so hard to tell.

Iga Swiatek also went through her own racket switch journey, although hers happened in 2023. We just haven’t gotten a chance to talk about it yet. Throughout most of her career, she used her signature Tempo Iga but switched over to the T-Fight line early last year.

The Tempo was very powerful but had a tendency to spray the ball. While the T-Fight also packs a serious punch, it has a much more controllable launch. With the T-Fight, she defended her French Open and WTA Finals titles and added several more Masters 1000s to her trophy cabinet. So, while it’s not the same wild success story as Keys, it certainly worked out for the best.

There’s a new T-Fight on the horizon, and while it’s unclear as to whether Iga herself has switched to it, the hype surrounding its imminent release is at an all-time high. From the little I’ve tested it, I can confirm it’s going to be a great racket, and our review will be coming very soon, so stay tuned!

Zverev switches to a frame that doesn’t exist

Alexander Zverev is quickly becoming tennis’s symbolic “bridesmaid,” adding yet another Grand Slam final loss to his resume. Having beaten an injured Djokovic in the semis, he couldn’t compete in the final and was outclassed by an all-conquering Jannik Sinner. His last two Grand Slams had been hard-fought, five-set brawls, but this one disappointed in the end. He lost in straight sets, but his road to the final was a good one, and he actually switched to a new racket in the off-season.

After a solid end to 2024—winning the Paris Masters and losing in the semis of the ATP Finals—Zverev decided it was time to go back to the drawing board with his racket setup. It was a surprising decision after such a successful season, but the choice he made reflects a lot of what the professional tennis tour is demanding. Pros are looking for more power—Madison Keys is a great example of that—as they claim that the tennis balls have changed and don’t generate the same pace off the bounce that they once did.

Zverev was clearly struggling from this lack of power at the Laver Cup in Berlin last year. While it’s not a professional tournament, he couldn’t compete with Alcaraz on a very slow court and wanted to regain that power advantage from his setup.

Having used the 20-millimetre Head Gravity Pro since its release back in 2019, he decided to switch to the thicker, 22-millimetre Head Gravity Tour. Making it to the Australian Open final proved that it was a worthy change, but Head, much like Yonex, now finds itself with egg on its face.

The Head Gravity Tour that Zverev is now using is not that different from his previous Gravity Pro. It has the same 18x20 string pattern and the same 100-square-inch head size—the only difference is the thicker 22-millimetre beam. A thicker beam makes the racket more powerful and more forgiving—a great option for players who don’t play their best with the super-demanding Pro. The issue is, that racket doesn’t exist in Head’s lineup anymore. Head decided to redesign the Gravity Tour in 2025, making it a 98-square-inch, 16x19 instead of the more control-focused racket it had been in the past.

They’ll tiptoe around this PR disaster by claiming Zverev is still using the Pro or switched to the new Tour, but the reality is, they probably should have stuck to the racket that’s clearly good enough for the number two player in the world.

Now, you might be thinking, who cares about these Gravity Tours? Well, I care because I’ve been using the Graphene 360+ Gravity Tour since it came out back in 2019. It’s an amazing racket with incredible control, power, feel, and stability, so I take it as a mild offence that they’ve decided to scrap it from their lineup. Still, I have to admit, the new Gravity Tour 2025 is quite an amazing frame. The 98-square-inch head size makes it swing much quicker through the air, the sweet spot is accurate and forgiving, and the spin potential, when you swing big, is off the charts.

I love the new 98 Tour, but I’ll keep calling it the ninety-eight Tour because I think they should have kept the 100—but that’s just me. Well, me and Alexander Zverev.

We can’t wait until the French Open to see all the new gear in action again, but until then, enjoy all the great tennis on offer this season.

If you want to demo any of these rackets, come visit us in-store, or you can check them out online.