The 2017 edition of the Australian Open will be remembered as one chock full of surprises and retro performances by some of the game's greatest stars. Both finals featured unexpected matchups with the Williams sisters meeting for a ninth time in Grand Slam finals, while Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played for a Slam title for the first time since 2011. 

By the time the last ball was struck, Serena Williams had won her 23rd Grand Slam title to move past Steffi Graf and reclaim the world #1 ranking from Angelique Kerber. For Federer, his win was the 18th of his career and first since Wimbledon in 2012. After missing the last six month of 2016 to rehab injuries, Federer also returns to the ATP top 10.

​ #ThisWeekInTennis recaps week two of the Australian Open via news reports, press conferences, player tweets, featured articles, rankings, and podcasts.

​RUNDOWN
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• Roger Federer, at long last, won his still record 18th Grand Slam singles title. The new world #10 beat long-time rival, Rafael Nadal, in a five-set final that pulled in huge ratings across the world.
• Serena Williams ended Angelique Kerber's 20-week reign as WTA world #1 when she beat sister Venus to win her record 23rd Grand Slam title in the Open Era. 
• Rafael Nadal, like Federer, was a surprise finalist after taking time off at the end to last year to rehab injuries. The 14-time Slam champion led 3-1 in the fifth set before Federer reeled off five consecutive games to take the title. 
• The evergreen Venus Williams reached her first Grand Slam final in eight years and first at the Australian Open since 2003. Watch her celebration after beating CoCo Vandeweghe in the semifinals. 
• CoCo Vandeweghe scored two massive upsets on her way to a breakout semifinal appearance. She beat the defending champion, Angelique Kerber, in the fourth round before blitzing Muguruza in the quarterfinals. She leaves Melbourne with a career-high #20 ranking.
• Mirjana Lucic-Baroni was one of many turn-back-the-clock stories in Melbourne. But, hers may have been the most remarkable.  On her way to the semifinals, Lucic-Baroni beat Karolina Pliskova in the quarters, and Aga Radwanska in the second round. 
• Stan Wawrinka came within two wins of claiming back-to-back Grand Slam titles, falling to Roger Federer in a 5-set semifinal thriller.
• Grigor Dimitrov showed signs of vast improvement and readiness for a breakout in 2017 by stretching Rafael Nadal to five sets in the semifinals.
• The doubles pair of Mattek-Sands/Safarova claimed their fourth Grand Slam doubles title together from nine starts. 
• ​Henri Kontinen and John Peers won their first ever Grand Slam doubles title. 
• Kim Clijsters and Andy Roddick have been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

PRESS
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​For more comprehensive coverage of press interviews from the fortnight of tennis, visit the Australian Open website.

​We're checking in midway through the 2017 Australian Open, a tournament marked by the shocking upsets of Djokovic, Murray, and Kerber, as well as the Old Guard (Federer, Venus, Nadal) reminding us that they're still here. We do close reads of a few matches, take another look at Novak's slump, share our frustrations about cerain American players and commentators who should move on. ​

​Listen below: 

​1:15  Old Guard re-asserts itself, plus upset shockers
3:40  Venus Williams is feeling herself
8:50  Nadal def. Zverev, in what could be a tide turner for Rafa
15:30  Djokovic stunned by Istomin - what's up with Novak?
24:15  Andy Murray goes out to Mischa Zverev
30:15  Grandpa Roger is back, beats Berdych and Nishikori
33:20  Johanna Konta is playing great tennis, will face SW
35:00  Ashleigh Barty reaches 3rd round in singles, beats Hingis/Coco in doubles
37:00  The Bad: Trump-supporting, early-losing, badly behaving American men
44:00  A digression on politics
50:15  Also Bad: TV Commentary
54:30  John McEnroe is mean, hypocritical, and obsessed with demeaning Nick Kyrgios
59:45  Kyrgios' press conference and our shifting feelings
65:20 Looking at some potentialities/possibilities of the second week (including a vocal performance from Jonathan) ​

The 2017 Grand Slam season gets underway on Sunday in Melbourne, with tennis' biggest stars once again in search of their sport's ultimate prize. The second week of full play on both tennis tours produced four singles winners: Johanna Konta (Sydney), Jack Sock (Auckland) Gilles Muller (Sydney), Elise Mertens (Hobart). For Mertens and Muller, it was their first tour titles. Meanwhile, both Konta and Sock secured the second titles of their careers. 
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​For these and other stories, #ThisWeekInTennis recaps last week's tennis action through news reports, player tweets, tennis writing, rankings, and podcasts. In addition, this volume with prepare you for the upcoming fortnight of Grand Slam tennis. 

RUNDOWN

• Johanna Konta continues to sizzle in the early parts of the 2017 season, backing up her quarterfinal run in Shenzhen with a championship effort in Sydney. The top ranked Brit is now 8-1 on the new year. 
• In Auckland, Jack Sock captured the second ATP title of his career. The second ranked American rises three spots to crack the top 20 for the first time in his career, just one spot behind his countryman, John Isner, at #19. 
• A qualifier and champion in Hobart, Elise Mertens surges into the WTA top 100 at #82 after winning the first title of her career. 
• Gilles Muller won the first ATP Tour title of his career in Sydney. The 33-year-old from Luxembourg also rises to a career-high #28 in the latest ATP rankings.  
• Maria Sharapova announced the location of her return to the WTA Tour following her drug suspension. The former world #1 will make her first appearance in Stuttgart, site of three of her 35 WTA titles. 
• Nadia Petrova and Jarmila Wolfe announced their respective retirements from tennis. 

The 2017 Australian Open begins Sunday in Melbourne, with Serena Williams once again in search of Slam title #23. Williams has two main targets this fortnight: surpass Steffi Graf (with whom she's tied for second on the all-time list), and reclaim her top ranking from Angelique Kerber. Meanwhile, Roger Federer returns to Grand Slam action having missed the 2016 U.S. Open. Currently ranked #17, Federer shut down his season after Wimbledon last year to rehab nagging injuries.

​Check out the singles draws below as well as some of the more intriguing first round matches on offer at Melbourne Park. 

2017 AUSTRALIAN OPEN DRAWS

FIRST ROUND MATCHES TO WATCH

Many of the games biggest names in tennis made their 2017 debuts during the season's opening week. Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Angelique Kerber were among the players in action during a hectic week across both tours.
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Week One Winners: Grigor Dimitrov & Karolina Pliskova (Brisbane), Novak Djokovic (Doha), Roberto Bautista Agut (Chennai), Katerina Siniakova (Shenzhen), Lauren Davis (Auckland)

​As always, #ThisWeekInTennis recaps the tennis action through news reports, player tweets, featured articles, rankings, and podcasts.

​RUNDOWN
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• Karolina Pliskova showed no signs of slowing down after a breakout 2016 campaign, losing one set on her way to the Brisbane title. 
• Grigor Dimitrov claimed his 5th career title, and first since Queen's Club in 2014, when he overcame Kei Nishikori in the Brisbane final. 
• Novak Djokovic survived five match points against Fernando Verdasco in the Doha semifinals before besting Andy Murray in a three-set final. 
• As for Murray, you can refer to him as Sir Andrew Barron Murray after the Scot received knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.
• Katerina Siniakova won the first WTA event of her career, beating Simona Halep, Johanna Konta, and Alison Riske on her way to the Shenzhen title.
• Lauren Davis beat Ana Konjuh to take the title in Auckland. 
• Roberto Bautista Agut snared the fifth title of his career, beating Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-4 in Chennai.
• Richard Gasquet and Kristina Mladenovic won the Hopman Cup for France
• Rafael Nadal, winner against Milos Raonic the week prior in Abu Dhabi, was unable to do so again against the world #3 in the Brisbane quarterfinals.
• Watch: Venus Williams' Kiwiana carpool, a Kiwi version of Carpool Karaoke. The elder Williams stuck around in New Zealand for a few days after withdrawing from the ASB Classic following her first round win.
• Serena Williams followed Venus Williams out of the Auckland event on the same day, losing in three sets to Madison Brengle. 
• Roger Federer made his return to tennis last week, partnering with Belinda Bencic to represent Switzerland at the Hopman Cup. Federer lost his singles match in three sets to Alex Zverev.
• Bethanie Mattek-Sands supplants Sania Mirza as the WTA #1 in doubles. 
• Francesca Schiavone announced her plans to retire after the 2017 season. 
• Since we've been gone: Ivanovic announced her retirement, Serena Williams got engaged, Victoria Azarenka had her baby, and Peta Kvitova suffered a horrific attack that will sideline her for at least six months.