Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic celebrate Christmas by training, Iga Swiatek shares early Festive look as Venus Williams hints at wildcard

Merry Christmas to all that celebrate with our latest look at the day that just was as Christmas Eve turns into Christmas Day on our Daily Dose of Social Media.

The daily look at the best news and entertainment in the tennis world over the last 24 hours that you may have missed featuring top tennis stars and their Christmas plans albeit with the Australian Open incoming for most it features a plane or a tennis court.

It has been an interesting week for Carlos Alcaraz who split from long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and is still ironically training at his facility despite the fact that they are no longer together with the World No.1 retaining most of his team.

He is likely to keep Samuel Lopez for the time being as his main head coach albeit signs do look towards him perhaps looking at a new coach to hire as his main coach.

Rumours told that he disposed of Ferrero due to contract disputes with also the involvement of his father Carlos Alcaraz Sr supposedly also a heavy factor in this.

But despite that Alcaraz who will likely soon fly to Australia is very much in new season mode as he wished his supporters Merry Christmas or Feliz Navidad on his Instagram page.

"Feliz Navidad a todos! Seguimos!," he wrote on his Instagram page. Onto the new season he goes and the most festive it seems this year is his green shirt in the gym.

As was seen with Novak Djokovic practicing with a young prodigy in Greece, he too is very much in the pre season grind. This is despite Djokovic taking it light albeit with a stop along the way.

For once he will play in pre season before Australia that isn't the United Cup as he plays Adelaide in the second week of the year. Other Adelaide entrants include Jack Draper, Joao Fonseca, Tommy Paul and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

He often does not play a warm-up but is very much locked in it seems for one last push towards a 25th Grand Slam title as he shared footage from his training this week. Lindsey Vonn, superstar skier wished him Merry fitness too in the comments.

Will 2026 herald the year of Djokovic's 25th Grand Slam title?

Not one to show off and keeps it all business perhaps in comparison to her counterparts who share holiday snaps in bikinis in the Maldives, Iga Swiatek famously shocked many with her look in Cancun two years ago at the WTA Finals as not many had seen her in a dress before.

But Swiatek it seems is embracing dressing up off court as she shared her Christmas message. She shared a get ready with me to go out for an evening out ahead of Christmas in what she dubbed her early Christmas Eve.

Swiatek went for a white shirt and red lip look as a pro makeup artist helped her get ready for an Instagram video. She said: "I just want to wish you Merry Christmas! I hope you will spend them exactly the way you want to, as I'm in my way to China today, here is a little something for you. The one and only @ewelinakrason helping me get ready for my early Christmas Eve."

Referencing to China is that Swiatek will play in the Continental Tennis Cup over the festive period. She plays in Shenzhen in a Team Europe v Team World type scenario which will take place from December 26th and also includes Belinda Bencic and Elena Rybakina in regards to top WTA names.

She then heads onto United Cup where she again will anchor Team Poland to hopefully at least for her and her legion of fans finally sealing the title. Swiatek had an interesting season with the former World No.1 losing her aura as the so-called Queen of Clay but she unexpectedly gained another as the Wimbledon champion. A surface she has often struggled on. She could feasibly seal a career Grand Slam in Australia but she has said recently that this isn't really her first priority.

Albeit a bit closer than Swiatek is to China, Alexandra Eala also plays in exhibitions over Christmas playing in the Macau Tennis Masters on December 26th.

But Eala has spent time with her family and friends as she shared snaps of her recent forays off court ahead of the new season including of her family ahead of Christmas.

Eala had a breakout year and famously beat Swiatek in Miami. She will aim to build on that in 2026 and now heads onto the new year after ending her 2025 ironically quite late anyway.

She played until the end of the season with the Hong Kong Open seeing her end point and just over a month later, she is firmly back at it. But with some rest and relaxation in between.

While Katie Boulter is at a crossroads and will have to play Australian Open qualifying, she has found time to be selfless and give back alongside Aussie hero Alex de Minaur.

De Minaur has had a great year and will no doubt be heading home soon for the United Cup where he teams with Maya Joint. But is spending Christmas with his fiance in London and they gave back serving lunch at a charity in Clapham.

"Wishing you a very Happy Christmas from the Wimbledon Foundation. Thank you to all the staff and volunteers at our charity partners working this week including @aceofclubs_clapham homelessness charity who had some special help serving lunch and preparing for Christmas Day," said Boulter on Instagram.

A promising skier as a kid, Jannik Sinner has continued to hit the slops despite his career going down a different path and instead of heading to Australia early, he is at home in Sudtirol on the slopes skiing. Taking one final portion of rest and relaxation before the season kicks back into overdrive.

Currently Venus Williams will not be at the Australian Open but it seems likely there is a battle ensuing for a final spot between the American and Victoria Azarenka.

Azarenka has since not entered qualifying so that is an interesting conundrum. Williams couldn't enter anyway so needs to rely on it but she is playing in Auckland to begin the run towards Melbourne.

She wrote: "Exactly @andreapreti88 is a great coach" when asked about getting ready for AO 2026. So will it be on the cards for the newly married Williams sister?