Pregnant With Possibilities: Australian Open Preview

The first Slam of the year doesn't give us many weeks of tennis to form opinions, but it's delivered on story lines, with one taking the cake: Naomi Osaka -- having already withdrawn from the Australian Open -- announced she's pregnant and will miss the 2023 season. This barely a week after defending champ Ash Barty announced her own pregnancy. Tournament director Craig Tiley is up to his usual hijinks, this year banning booing, rolling out NFTs in an inhospitable market, and extracting surplus labour from what used to be free (player practices). All that plus draw analysis, January standouts, PTPA news, a complete diversion on our take on Rolling Stone's greatest singers list. Ready?     2:30 Naomi Osaka is missing the Australian Open, yes … but why, pray? 10:50 What kind of mess will Craig get into this year? Well, funny you should ask 16:00 Booing Novak Djokovic is illegal. Is this a real thing? 19:50 Scamming scammers: extracting surplus value from player practices plus the AO NFT gallery 29:10 The PTPA announces an executive committee 33:50 Who’s standing out in the first two weeks of 2023? Peggy, Sabs, Linda, Novak, Taylor, Cam 44:50 Carlos Alcaraz misses the Australian Open but gets an international Calvin Klein underwear spread 49:50 Women’s draw analysis 60:55 Men’s draw analysis 71:35 Our greatest singers - fie, Rolling Stone!