It was a second round of media interviews yesterday before the real on-court action begins, as the main draw gets underway.
One player under an injury cloud is Thanasi Kokkinakis, who didn’t sound all that confident about his upcoming tournament.
"I've felt better, to be honest. I'm pretty frustrated," he admitted. "Pulling out last week was tough. I'm not sure how I'm going to go come Monday when I start. We'll see. [I have] a few things I need to work through.
"I'll probably just leave it at that. I don't know what else to say. I don't know how I'm going to feel on Monday."
But he did go on to say doubles with Nick Kyrgios is more likely.
"I think both of us made a pact on that; unless we are seriously, seriously hurt badly, we're going to try to come out there even if we're not feeling great."
Another player who spoke about playing doubles, and how it can help her singles game, was 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva.
"I think playing doubles... I try to improve my game at the net, and I think I am already improving. I can feel that. I also try to stay brave, for example on the pressure moments, I force myself to poach sometimes or to go for some shots," the teenager said.
"I feel like it helps me on the court when I play singles, because I feel like now I'm ready to maybe take a risk sometimes if I'm facing down a break-point and it's my serve, so I'm trying to also go for a little risk maybe."
One of the main talking points of late has been the return of Elena Rybakina’s coach, Stefano Vukov.
Rybakina, a former Wimbledon champion, wasn’t keen to go into depth, but was clearly disappointed with how the situation has been reported.
"Well, first of all, like with the whole situation, I don't want to speak much about what's going to be next. But definitely, as I said before, I don't agree with a lot of things [that] WTA [does] in the sense of my relationship with Stefano," she said.
"As I said before, I have never made any complaints or any of these things. I always said that he never mistreated me. That's one thing. Since this situation how it is now, I don't really want to speak about this."
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Australian Kimberley Birrell discussed how playing in her home country, including her recent quarter-final run in Brisbane, helps her.
"Yeah, it definitely does. Just having the crowd and everyone on your side, especially playing in front of my friends and family, is super, super special," Birrell said.
She also discussed the concern she had that she might be a little burnt out after Brisbane.
"I'm not going to lie (laughter). It was something that I had thought about. I knew right after my match in Brissy how important it would be for me to recover and just reset and prepare. I'm really glad that I got to have one day at home just to sleep in my own bed, repack my suitcase, use that as a metaphor for a new week."
On the flip side, Great Britain's Jacob Fearnley is about to find out what it’s like to play against Nick Kyrgios on his home court — John Cain Arena.
Talking about the draw when it came out, Fearnley said: "Yeah, it was a bit of anxiety for sure. It’s not kind of a match you want to see in Australia. I know that the crowd’s going to be against me."
Talking about how he’ll handle it, Fearnley was unsure.
"I don’t really know. I think we’ll see on Monday how I handle it. I think the best thing I can do is just try to enjoy it," he said.
One player who has bigger focuses than worrying about the crowd is Carlos Alcaraz, who is going for the career Slam at age 21.
The Spaniard admitted that his ranking isn't his main focus.
"Well, for me, the main goal is to win Grand Slams, Masters 1000s. The ranking is there, but [the] main thing for me is Grand Slams, to try to win as many as I can," said Alcaraz.
One player no one expected to see back in Australia this year was Danielle Collins.
At last year’s event, she dropped the bombshell that 2024 would be her last season. Collins has since backflipped on that, opening up about the reasons behind it.
"Obviously I was looking forward to starting a family right away, and to start a new chapter. But sometimes these things get thrown at you, and different curveballs, and now it’s just kind of like, well, I can enjoy some more time on tour, which is a bonus, but then obviously it’s been tough emotionally," the American shared.
Discussing the challenges around her endometriosis, Collins admitted: "It’s not easy. I have had days consistently where I cry every day and freaking out. It’s not a fun thing."
A player on the opposite side is former world No.4 Belinda Bencic, having recently returned on tour as a mother.
"For me, it was a very clear decision (to resume playing), and I was definitely inspired by other mums on tour, but also other athletes who are mums," she said.
"For us, this situation worked out best, and hopefully I have my best tennis in front of me."
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