Roger Federer steals the show at Australian Open's first formal opening ceremony

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian Open's first formal opening ceremony became the Roger Federer show on the eve of the season-opening major.

There was Crowded House, the band, playing a set of four hits. There was a full house — a capacity crowd in the 15,000-seat stadium.

Rod Laver, the great Australian player of Grand Slam fame, was in the house. The 87-year-old Aussie was sitting courtside in Rod Laver Arena, the center court at Melbourne Park named in his honor.

Federer, the six-time Australian Open winner and 20-time Grand Slam champion, partnered past champions Andre Agassi and then Ash Barty in an exhibition doubles match against Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt as the main feature of the program.

It went to script, with Federer winning the first point despite framing a forehand and then emphatically finishing off the victory with a leaping overhead winner.

Novak Djokovic, who has won 10 Australian titles among his record 24 major championships, was there to watch.

The Australian Open main draw singles competitions start Sunday. Djokovic plays his opening match on Monday.

Australian Open organizers turned the 2026 edition into a three-week festival of tennis, with 217,999 fans attending across six days to watch exhibitions, qualifying and the 1 Point Slam before the main draw started.

Federer was back in Australia for the first time since 2021, making the trip now because he retired from competitive tennis before he could do a farewell season tour.

“It really truly means so much to me when people like Rocket (Laver) show up,” Federer said. “It’s super important to be grateful” to earlier generations of stars.

Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts with partner Ash Barty of Australia in their doubles match against Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter of Australia during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Rod Laver, centre, waves ahead of a doubles match between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andre Agassi of the United States, left, and Lleyton Hewitt, right, and Pat Rafter of Australia during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026.(AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andre Agassi, right, of the United States react in their doubles match against Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter of Australia during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Novak Djokovic, right, of Serbia embraces Roger Federer of Switzerland during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts with partner Andre Agassi, left, of the United States in their doubles match against Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter of Australia during the Opening Ceremony for the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Laurie Buckhout, a 2024 congressional candidate who fell just short of unseating North Carolina Democratic Rep. Don Davis, will get another chance this year after winning Tuesday’s Republican primary for a district recently redrawn favorably for the GOP.

Buckhout defeated four other candidates competing for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The victory sets up a rematch with Democratic Rep. Don Davis, who defeated Buckhout in the 2024 general election by less than 2 percentage points. Davis faced no primary opposition.

Since then, the Republican-controlled General Assembly altered the 1st District as part of President Donald Trump’s multistate redistricting campaign ahead of the 2026 elections to retain the House.

A now more right-leaning 1st District covers all or parts of 25 counties from the coast inland to Raleigh’s outer suburbs.

Buckhout is a retired U.S. Army colonel who started a military technology consulting company before later selling it and moving to North Carolina.

Republicans currently hold 10 of the state’s 14 U.S. House districts.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and ex-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley each won their party’s U.S. Senate nominations in North Carolina on Tuesday, setting them up for a fall campaign that could determine control of Congress' upper chamber.

Whatley and Cooper are seeking the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who chose last June not to seek a third term. The two announced their campaigns weeks later and easily won their respective primary elections over crowded fields.

Cooper’s candidacy brought optimism to Democrats aiming to take back the Senate this year with a net gain of four seats. Whatley, who is also a former state Republican chairman, entered the race when President Donald Trump endorsed him after Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, declined to run.

North Carolina, a traditional battleground where Democrats have been able to hold the governor’s seat even as voters helped send Trump to the White House, was one of three states kicking off this year’s midterm elections, along with Texas and Arkansas. Tuesday’s slate of primaries came against the backdrop of the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran, which began over the weekend.

North Carolina’s election this year could be crucial for determining which party controls the U.S. Senate, where Republicans currently have the majority. The seat is open because Tillis decided to retire after clashing with Trump and the president threatened to support a primary challenger. Political experts say a typhoon of outside money could make the race the most expensive Senate campaigns in U.S. history, perhaps reaching $1 billion.

Many Democrats see Cooper, who served two terms as governor and has been successful in state politics for decades, as the party’s best shot at victory. Democrats think their most likely path to regaining the Senate majority includes winning in North Carolina, Maine, Alaska and Ohio.

Whatley promises to keep pushing Trump’s agenda if elected, one that he says has cut taxes and spending and restored U.S. military might.

“His leadership has changed our country, and I am proud to stand with him in the fight to secure our border, to strengthen our economy, and put America first,” Whatley said while giving his nomination acceptance speech in Charlotte.

Moments later in his own speech in Raleigh, Cooper said inflation and health care cuts caused by Republican policies are hurting North Carolina residents.

“These are not ordinary times. Everyday people are being left behind,” Cooper said. “And we see the chaos that’s coming out of Washington only making it worse.”

Some primary voters say Congress needs Democratic control as a counterweight to Trump and what they consider disastrous policies.

“I just think we’re not headed in the right direction as a country, so I needed to express that opinion,” said Shailendra Prakash, 65, of Raleigh, an unaffiliated voter who chose to vote in the Democratic primary on Tuesday and picked Cooper. “My hope is that it needs to flip.”

Republican voter Lisa Weaver, 64, of Apex, said she was picking Whatley because as the former RNC chairman, “he’s in tune with the issues that we care most about” and would assist the president.

“It’s not that I love everything that Trump does, but I do believe in the framework that he is offering for our country,” Weaver said.

A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in North Carolina since 2008. Meanwhile, Cooper, 68, hasn’t lost a North Carolina election going back to first running for the state House in the mid-1980s, leading to 16 years as attorney general and eight as governor through 2024.

Whatley, 57, previously worked in President George W. Bush’s administration, for then-North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole and as an energy lobbyist.

Whatley, Trump and other Republicans have blistered Cooper on criminal justice matters, accusing him of promoting soft-on-crime policies while governor. They’ve repeatedly highlighted last August’s fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train. Trump identified Zarutska’s mother in attendance at last week’s State of the Union address.

The fall election will be “a choice between a conservative champion for North Carolina, who will be an ally for President Trump in the Senate, or a champion for the failed policies of the left,” Whatley said Tuesday night.

Cooper told reporters recently that his career is about “prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars.”

In turn, Cooper and his allies have centered campaign attacks on Whatley’s allegiance to the president and to his past lobbying, with Cooper calling him an "out-of-touch D.C. insider.”

Repeating recent comments, Cooper said Tuesday night that if elected he would be a “strong, independent senator who will work with this president when I can and stand up to him when the people need me to.”

Tuesday’s election also included primary elections in all but one of North Carolina’s U.S. House districts. They include a five-candidate Republican primary in the northeastern 1st Congressional District, which is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis, who faced no primary opposition.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly created last fall a more right-leaning 1st District to join Trump’s multistate redistricting campaign ahead of the 2026 elections to retain the House. Davis won in 2024 by less than 2 percentage points.

Associated Press journalists Erik Verduzco in Charlotte and Allen G. Breed in Raleigh contributed to this report.

In this image from video provided by WNCT, Laurie Buckhout speaks during a debate with Republican candidates running in the primary for North Carolina’s Congressional District 1, in Greenville, N.C., Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (WNCT via AP)

This combo image shows North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate former Gov. Roy Cooper, left, and Republican candidate former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, both speaking at separate primary election night watch parties Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Ramey, Erik Verduzco)

North Carolina Republican Senate candidate former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley speaks at a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)

North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate former Gov. Roy Cooper speaks at a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Ramey)

North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate former Gov. Roy Cooper speaks at a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Ramey)

From left, Viet Tran, Lorena Castillo-Ritz and John Steward pose for a photo together at the primary election night watch party for former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)

People attend the primary election night watch party for former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)

North Carolina Republican Senate candidate former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley speaks at a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)