Blog

Analyses, index watches and announcements

Always stay informed about new blog posts Sign up for notifications

Australian Open: Which Australian Publishers Served an Ace?

The Australian Open, the first of four Grand Slam tennis events of 2025, has captivated fans and news publishers alike with its thrilling matches and headline-grabbing moments. From feathers interrupting matches to ball-bounce controversies, the world-famous tennis tournament has delivered plenty of drama both on and off the court.

But how did Australian publishers perform throughout the event? And which keywords gained the most rankings for them? To answer these questions, we analyzed our Trisolute News Dashboard data to get a comprehensive view of Australia’s news coverage of the Australian Open. Specifically, we first looked at the mobile SERPs for the period between January 6, the tournament’s opening day, and January 22. Additionally, we examined coverage during the final matches of the tournament, the Women’s Singles Final of January 25 and the Men’s Singles Final on January 26, this time focusing on the mobile News Boxes to identify the top-performing publishers during these critical days.

The AO’s first rounds: What did the mobile SERPs look like?

Let’s start this analysis off by looking at the top 100 keywords related to the Australian Open that generated rankings throughout the initial period (January 6 to January 22):

Top 100 keywords on the 2025 Australian Open from January 6 to January 22 (sorted in descending order by number of rankings):

ao ; aus open ; australian open ; australian open 2025 ; alex de minaur ; ao open ; ao 2025 ; kokkinakis ; open ; djokovic ; learner tien ; danielle collins ; de minaur ; elina svitolina ; destanee aiava ; jack draper ; tennis ; emerson jones ; kyrgios ; novak djokovic ; australian open schedule ; sabalenka ; aleksandar vukic ; australian open draw ; tennis scores ; joao fonseca ; hady habib ; medvedev ; madison keys ; australian open results ; thanasi kokkinakis ; tommy paul ; naomi osaka ; vukic ; zverev ; ao schedule ; jannik sinner ; alcaraz ; nick kyrgios ; paula badosa ; emma raducanu ; swiatek ; raducanu ; andreeva ; gael monfils ; nishesh basavareddy ; aus open 2025 ; aiava ; monfils ; djokovic vs alcaraz ; andy murray ; coco gauff ; alex michelsen ; popyrin ; emma navarro ; lorenzo sonego ; olga danilović ; daria saville ; holger rune ; ao results ; pavlyuchenkova ; jacob fearnley ; alcaraz draper ; iga świątek ; tomljanovic ; tennis australian open ; svitolina ; ben shelton ; schoolkate ; cruz hewitt ; auger aliassime ; collins ; alcaraz djokovic ; putintseva ; kei nishikori ; fritz ; jessica pegula ; sloane stephens ; pegula ; kasidit samrej ; stefanos tsitsipas ; bencic ; eva lys ; felix auger aliassime ; kudermetova ; aryna sabalenka ; diana shnaider ; lys tennis ; taylor fritz ; australian open qualifying ; reilly opelka ; aus open schedule ; lehecka ; shnaider ; katie boulter ; kalinskaya ; kecmanovic ; djokovic alcaraz ; lys ; basavareddy

Interesting insights:

  • Among the top 100 keywords in the general Sports category, Australian Open-related keywords made up 52%, making the tournament the number one Sports topic covered in the Australian news landscape during the examined time span.
  • Keywords for the tournament’s abbreviations “AO” (9,538 rankings) and “Aus Open” (8,894 rankings) rank higher than the full term “Australian Open” (8,862 rankings).
  • In general, keywords containing any variation of the tournament’s name (e.g., ‘australian open 2025’, ‘ao open’) make up 42% of the total rankings (46,779 out of 111,539 rankings).
  • 82 out of the 100 keywords relating to the tournament contain a player’s name (e.g., ‘kokkinakis’, learner tien’), making up 55% of the total amount of rankings (61,707 out of 111,539 rankings). With 3,552 rankings, ‘alex de minaur’ is the highest-ranking player-related keyword, closely followed by ‘kokkinakis’ with 2,997 rankings.
  • Out of the keywords containing players’ names, the keywords with a player’s full name (e.g., ‘daria saville’, jessica pegula’) make up 63% (38,628 out of 61,707 rankings), while keywords only containing a player’s last name (e.g., ‘andreeva’, lys tennis’) make up 37% (23,079 out of 61,707). 16 keywords contain Australian players’ names, making up 33% of the name-related rankings (20,305 out of 61,707 rankings). Additionally, 32 out of the 82 name-related keywords contain the names of female players (e.g., ‘danielle collins’, ‘sabalenka’), making up 33% of those rankings (20,148 out of 61,707 rankings).

Top publishers in Australia (January 6 – January 22)

Based on the above keywords, we then took a look at the top five publishers in Australia and their courses of visibility throughout the tournament from January 6 to January 22:

Line graph showing the course of visibility for the top 5 Australian publishers on the Australian Open 2025: abc.net.au, nine.com.au, news.com.au, foxsports.com.au, theage.com.au. Time range: January 6 to January 22.

Top five Australian publishers on the 2025 Australian Open (January 6 – January 22)

    1. ABC.net.au
      ABC.net.au takes the first place among Australian publishers in the race for visibility on the Australian Open. On January 9, this publisher had their peak in visibility, towering high above the competition. After that, though their visibility went down, they still managed to stay in second place for the remainder of the examined time span. ABC.net.au’s total number of rankings from January 6 to January 22 for Australian Open-related keywords amounts to 7,601 in total. Their top keyword, ‘australian open’, contributes 1,064 rankings to that number. The publisher’s most visible article on the topic is, thus far, Djokovic boycotts interview as Australian Saville ends playing career.
    2. Nine.com.au
      Second place goes to Nine.com.au. Similar to ABC.net.au, this publisher shows one huge peak in visibility where they overtake all of their competitors, though in this case it takes place on January 16, after a massive rise in visibility starting on January 11. Another surge can be seen on January 22. In total, Nine.com.au achieved 8,111 rankings in the examined time range, with their top keyword, ‘australian open’, contributing 585 rankings. This publisher’s most visible article is: Australian Open 2025, day four AS IT HAPPENED: Jack Draper’s win against Thanasi Kokkinakis denies all-Australian showdown; Casper Ruud knocked out by teen prodigy.
    3. News.com.au
      News.com.au takes third place overall. Though their visibility has been rather steady throughout the tournament thus far, it does show a quite impressive peak on January 16, just below ABC.net.au. News.com.au’s total number of rankings amounts to 4,152. Their top keyword, ‘aus open’, has achieved 693 rankings so far, and the publisher’s top article is: ‘Hurting a lot’: Kokkinakis’ Aussie Open dream ends.
    4. Fox Sports.com.au
      In fourth place is Fox Sports.com.au, who show their peak in visibility on January 18. In total, this publisher has ranked 4,173 rankings on the topic of the Australian Open so far, with the top keyword, ‘aus open’, contributing 547 rankings to that number. Fox Sport’s top article on the tournament is: Aussie magic with EIGHT locals through but fans fume over huge Kyrgios ticket stuff-up — Wrap.
    5. theage.com.au
      Last but certainly not least, fifth place goes to The Age. This publisher’s peak in visibility can actually be seen recently on January 22, and it looks like they are far from finished with their rise in visibility. The Age’s total number of rankings amounts to 3,790; 482 of those rankings come from their top keyword, ‘australian open 2025’. Their top article on the topic is: Collins versus the crowd: Petulant, obnoxious … and highly entertaining.

The Australian Open Finals: Who dominated the mobile News Boxes?

Let’s now take a close look at the tournament’s final matches on January 25 and 26. As with our initial analysis, we’ll first list the top-ranked keywords on the Australian Open for that time range:

Top keywords on the 2025 Australian Open’s Final (sorted in descending order by number of rankings):

australian open ; novak djokovic ; sinner ; jannik sinner ; djokovic ; madison keys ; australian open final ; final ; zverev ; ao final ; sinner vs shelton ; madison keys husband ; darren cahill ; maddison keys ; aus open final ; alexander zverev ; henry patten ; open ; tennis final ; ao ; ben shelton ; djokovic vs zverev ; harri heliövaara ; final zverev ; sabalenka ; women’s tennis final ; hsieh su-wei ; heliovaara ; henry bernet ; novak djokovic australian open ; zverev tennis player ; siniakova ; shelton ; siner australian open ; taylor townsend ; aryna sabalenka ; australian open prize money ; madison keys ranking ; grand slam ; sinner age ; alex zverev ; bjorn fratangelo ; prize money australian open ; martina hingis ; final sinner ; sinner final ; ben shelton age ; ao prize money 2025 ; sabalenka boyfriend ; ostapenko ; men’s tennis final ; australian open final jannik sinner ; australian open live ; tennis ; kristina penickova ; sinner vs zverev ; jeļena ostapenko ; final alexander zverev ; australian open madison keys ; zverev allegations ; sinner djokovic ; jannik sinner girlfriend ; erin routliffe ; australian open novak djokovic ; live sabalenka ; open final ; zverev girlfriend now ; open sabalenka ; australian open sinner ; sinner girlfriend ; zverev girlfriend ; open jannik sinner

Interesting insights:

  • The top-ranked keyword ‘australian open’ generated 1,154 rankings and therefore made up 11% of the total AO-related rankings alone (10,649 total rankings).
  • The majority of keywords in the list contain players’ names (55 out of 72 keywords). The sum of the rankings of those keywords is 7,498, which makes up 70% of the total number of rankings. The split between keywords containing the player’s full name (e.g., ‘novak djokovic’) and those containing only the surname (e.g., sinner’) is almost equal in number (27 keywords with the full name, 28 keywords with only the surname), though the keywords with the full name generated slightly more rankings (4,090 full name vs 3,408 surname). There are immense differences between keywords containing men’s names and those containing women’s names within the list: 37 out of the 55 keywords contain men’s names, making up 77% of the rankings for name-related keywords (5,796 out of 7,498 rankings). Women’s names appear in only 18 out of the 55 keywords and make up 23% of the total rankings (1,702 out of 7,498 rankings). Additionally, 6 out of the 55 name-related keywords thematize the players’ relationship status (e.g., ‘madison keys husband’, ‘zverev girlfriend’), though they only make up 4% of the total rankings (322 out of 7,498 rankings). When looking at the distribution of the name-related keywords among individual players, the keywords can be broken down as follows:
    • The majority of name-related keywords contain the men’s singles winner Jannik Sinner: With 14 out of the 55 total keywords, those containing the Italian’s name make up 29% of the name-related keywords (2,188 out of 7,498 rankings).
    • Keywords containing Novak Djokovic, who was eliminated from the tournament in the semi-finals, make up an impressive 24% of all name-related rankings (1,768 out of 7,498 rankings), while only occurring in six keywords, two of those being among the top five most-ranked in the list.
    • The other Men’s Singles finalist, Alexander Zverev, appears in 11 keywords, which make up 13% of the total rankings (976 out of 7,498 rankings).
    • Close behind, women’s singles winner Maddison Keys makes up 12% of the total amount of name-related rankings with keywords containing her name, even though there are only five of those in the list.
    • Aryna Sabalenka, the runner-up in the Women’s Singles Final, also appears in five keywords, though the rankings of those only make up 4% of the total rankings (302 out of 7,498 rankings).
  • Other than name-related keywords, the list contains 13 keywords with the word ‘final’ in them, which make up 15% of the total number of rankings (1,649 out of 10,649 rankings).
  • The name of the tournament appears in a total of 19 keywords, which make up 26% of total rankings (2,754 out of 10,649 rankings), though in four different variations: ‘australian open’ is the most common as well as the most ranked variation, with 11 corresponding keywords and 1,992 rankings. Besides that, ‘open’ appears in four keywords, which generate 184 rankings, ‘ao’ appears three times with 412 rankings, and ‘aus open’ appears once with 166 rankings.

Top publishers in the mobile News Boxes during the Finals

After examining the most-ranked keywords during the days of the AO Finals, let’s now see which five Aussie publishers were able to make it to the mobile News Boxes:

Line graph showing the top 10 publishers in Australia for the mobile news box rankings on the Australian Open finals 2025. Publishers are: Nine.com.au, ABC.net.au, Foxsports.com.au, News,com,au, and TheGuardian.com.

Top five Australian publishers in the mobile News Boxes for the AO 2025 Final

  1. Nine.com.au
    The first place in the race for mobile News Box visibility on the Australian Open Finals goes to Nine.com.au. This publisher sees a steady course of visibility that is above the competition for almost the entirety of the two Final-days. On January 25, there is an obvious peak at 5 pm, just before the Women’s Singles Final, and another one at 11 pm that night. On January 26, the day of the Men’s Singles Final, Nine.com.au’s visibility sees a steady rise starting at 4 am, which peaks at 3 pm, four and a half hours before the start of the match. In total, the publisher gained 1,120 keyword rankings within the two Final-days, with the top keyword ‘australian open’ contributing 122 rankings to that number. The top most visible article was ‘Hot headed, upset’ Novak Djokovic explains stunning semi-final walk off.
  2. ABC.net.au
    Second place goes to ABC.net.au, who reached 882 rankings, with the top keyword also being ‘australian open’ and contributing 150 rankings to that number. This publisher’s visibility peaks on January 25 between 5 pm and 8 pm, right at the time of the Women’s Singles Final. On January 26, ABC.net.au’s visibility generally rises in comparison to the previous day, with there being obvious peaks at 8 am, 3 pm, and 7 pm, right before the beginning of the Men’s Singles Final. The publisher’s most visible article was Live: Djokovic uncertain of Australian Open future as injury sends Zverev to final.
  3. Fox Sports.com.au
    In third place is Fox Sports.com.au. This publisher showcases a relatively steady course of visibility, with there being slight peaks on January 25 at 9 am, 1 pm, and 11 pm, and a more obvious peak on January 26 from 2 pm to 5 pm, just before the Men’s Singles Final. In total, this publisher gained 526 keyword ranking, with ‘jannik sinner’ being the top one with 68 rankings. Fox Sport’s most visible article on the AO Finals was Husband’s ploy propels underdog to AO glory; unsavoury truth behind men’s final: Talking Pts.
  4. News.com.au
    Fourth place goes to News.com.au, who has gained a total of 473 keyword rankings in the two Final-days, with the top keyword ‘australian open’ contributing 106 rankings to that number. This publisher’s visibility saw peaks on January 25 at 9 am and 1 pm, and a steady build-up starting at 5 pm and peaking at 9 pm, right at the time of the Women’s Singles Final. On January 26, the visibility was generally slightly higher than on the previous day, with peaks being visible from 3 am to 7 am, from 10 am to 11 am, and during the Men’s Singles Final between 6 pm and 8 pm. The publisher’s top article was Aus Open loser erupts after final defeat.
  5. The Guardian.com
    Last but not least, the Guardian.com takes fifth place in this list. This publisher’s visibility starts off strong from midnight on January 25, where it sees three peaks at 4 am, 7 am, and 10 am. For the remainder of that day, the visibility stays quite low, before there is another surge starting at 9 pm and peaking on January 26 at 5 am. At the time of the Men’s Singles Final, The Guardian’s visibility then rises once again. The publisher’s total number of keyword rankings adds up to 465, with the top keyword ‘australian open’ reaching 67 rankings. The most visible article was Novak Djokovic retires hurt to send Zverev into Australian Open final.

Key insights

The Australian Open not only entertained tennis fans but also provided a competitive battleground for Australian news publishers.

When comparing the mobile SERP rankings during the initial phase of the tournament from January 6 to January 22 to the mobile News Boxes during the Finals on January 25 and January 26, some notable differences emerge.
One of the most striking changes was the way the tournament name was searched. During the earlier rounds, abbreviated terms like ‘ao’ and ‘aus open’ generated more rankings, whereas in the Finals, ‘australian open’ became the dominant variation. Additionally, player-related keywords played an even larger role in the News Boxes during the Finals, comprising 70% of the rankings compared to 55% in the initial tournament phase. The split between full names and last names also evened out in the News Boxes (55% full names vs. 45% last names), whereas in the earlier period, full names had a more significant advantage (63% full names vs. 37% last names). The representation of female players in keyword rankings also dropped, from 33% during the main tournament to 23% during the Finals.

When looking at publisher performance, Nine.com.au stood out as the most dominant in the News Boxes during the Finals, maintaining high visibility throughout. ABC.net.au, which performed strongly in the earlier rounds, continued to hold a strong presence but was outperformed by Nine.com.au. Interestingly, The Guardian.com, which did not rank among the top five in the mobile SERPs during the earlier period, managed to secure a spot in the News Boxes during the Finals. Meanwhile, The Age.com.au, which was in the top five in the initial period, did not make it into the top five News Box rankings for the Finals. News.com.au and Fox Sports.com.au made it both to the top five in the initial period and the Finals.

These shifts demonstrate how coverage focus and search trends evolve as a tournament progresses, with increased emphasis on final matchups and individual players. With the Australian Open wrapped up, it’s clear that the competition for visibility among publishers is just as fierce as the competition on the court. Will these trends continue in future Grand Slams? We’ll be watching.

Interested in more sports-related analyses? Check out one of our recent articles:

Follow us on LinkedIn so you never miss our latest blog posts and for even more international analyses across all newsworthy topics!

Not yet part of the Trisolute News Dashboard family? Request a FREE DEMO today and find out how your articles rank on Google Discover, Google News, and the SERPs!

Comments