This year’s Australian Open got off to an ominous start, with a match-fixing story that lasted all the way into week two. But the tournament finished in fine style, with a well-earned upset by the women's winner, and a pair of brilliant back-to-back performances by the men's. Here, in the calm after the storm, is a look back at who measured up, and who disappointed, in Melbourne.

As always, I can’t grade everyone; if you see someone notable who is missing, feel free to issue him or her your own report card in the comments below.

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The secret to winning the Aussie Open women’s event, it seems, is to face a match point in an early round. Li Na did it two years ago; this time it was Kerber’s turn. That may sound like a risky strategy, but according to Kerber it allowed her to play with a little less pressure the rest of the way. Something definitely was different about her. A woman famous for defense, and not famous for thriving on the big stage, used a confident attack to record her first win over Victoria Azarenka, and clever placement to record her second win over Serena Williams. “I just wanted to play my tennis,” Kerber said. For years, her tennis—athletic, versatile, improvisational—has been some of the most entertaining on tour; now, at 28, she’s made it into some of the most effective. A+

“I do feel like I’m at the peak of my abilities and my career,” Djokovic said. What else can a man say who has won four of the last five majors? Yet in easily beating Andy Murray and Roger Federer—the world’s No. 2 and 3 players—in the final two rounds, Djokovic hinted at even better things to come. This time, not only did he grind his top rivals down in the end; he blew them off the court at the start. After the tournament, Djokovic sounded like a man who is beginning to see the advantage of coming out with both guns blazing; that’s not a good sign for the rest of the tour. Nice touch: Djokovic’s thoughtful mention of Roy Emerson in his trophy speech. Emmo, the man that Novak tied with six Aussie titles, has been mourning the loss of his son. A+

The downside is that, for the second straight Slam, she lost 6-4 in the third set to a player everyone expected her to beat. It looks like catching Steffi Graf at 22 majors is proving to be as tricky as catching Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova at 18 was. Serena, as she said, didn’t have her A game in the final, and that seemed to affect her confidence at the end, when the match was suddenly there for the taking. The upside is that Serena doesn’t appear any less hungry in 2016 than she did in 2015, or 2014, or 2013, or 2012— or 1999. She caught Chris and Martina; she’ll catch Steffi, too. A-

It was a long two weeks for Murray, and by the end it showed. After a gritty comeback win against Milos Raonic in the semis, he came out flat in the final. Last year he won a set against Djokovic, but lost the last one 6-0; this year he didn’t win a set, but lost the last one in a tiebreaker. The loss, and the tournament in general, left Murray standing at an odd crossroads between excellence and futility. On the one hand, he’s 76-6 against everyone other than Djokovic and Federer in the last 12 months; on the other, he’s the first man in the Open era to go 0-5 at a Grand Slam event. A-

The revelation of the men’s draw made two ideas seem more plausible than they'd ever been before: (1) That he could be a future Grand Slam champion, and (2) that he could make watching him win a Grand Slam a pleasing experience. The strong returns, the deft volleys, the 92-m.p.h. backhand, the win over Stan Wawrinka and near-win over Murray. Who, many of us were left to ask, are you?A-

The wins over Venus Williams and Ekaterina Makarova; the run to the semifinals; the mostly successful war with her nerves. It’s nice to know that this 2015 breakout player isn’t going away in 2016. A-

At last year’s U.S. Open, it felt to me as if Federer could have beaten Djokovic if only he had believed in himself a little more. This time it didn’t matter what he believed. Still, while it’s probably little consolation to Federer, so far only the No. 1 player in the world can make it look as if he’s slowed a step. B+

At the start of the tournament, she looked to me to have the sharpness and confidence of a Grand Slam champ. At the end, she didn't look like she belonged on the same court as Serena. B+

He made Djokovic play some of the worst tennis of his career, and thus gave us one of the most intriguing matches of the tournament. B+

At 27, she won her first match at a major, and couldn’t stop until the quarterfinals. Her take-it-early ground strokes and never-give-in attitude made you ask why she hadn't had success at the Slams before. Her just-get-the-point-started serve provided one of the answera. B+

Remember the story of the first week? You probably should; Serena called this 18-year-old “dangerous” for a reason. Let tennis' Haitian-Japanese era begin. B+

The long farewell ended appropriately, in Rod Laver Arena, with a loss to David Ferrer, one of the many players who called Hewitt a hero. B+

Three wins and a set from Federer counts as progress. There’s some life in his game again. B+

Of course he followed up his 90-winner victory over Rafael Nadal with a loss to Dudi Sela. But he had a 90-winner victory over Rafael Nadal. B+

She won the first two games against Serena, and just three more. Sharapova has long been out of answers against Williams; now it looks like she's running out of questions, too. B

Everything seemed to be coming together for Azarenka, who didn’t drop a set through her first four matches. But she hasn’t been to the semis of a Grand Slam since 2013, and it showed. In the quarters, it was Kerber, despite having never beaten Vika before, who played like the favorite. B

She won tennis fans over with her exuberance, lost them with her "spoiled brat" (her words) antics in defeat, and won them over again with her grown-up apology. B

BZS being BZS: After upsetting the No. 3 seed, Garbiñe Muguruza, she showed just how creative a player can be in a straight-set defeat to Azarenka. B

Her 7-5, 7-5 loss to Sharapova was an interesting stylistic contrast, and a learning experience for the 18-year-old. She’s not there, but she’s not far. B

To the irritation of many, his smack talk about Federer not being at Djokovic’s level proved prescient. Now can he make good on his own promise to reach the Top 10? It’s hard to tell from this. Tomic had a friendly draw to the fourth round, where he lost in straight sets to Murray. We’ve seen that Bernie story before. B

This 19-year-old New Yorker’s upbeat attitude was refreshing, and it earned him a win over the 18th seed, Benoit Paire, in the first round. Hopefully Paire’s downbeat, sour-grape-filled words about Rubin's game will only add fuel to the motivational fire. B

On the one hand, he showed heart in forcing Raonic to a fifth set in the round of 16. On the other hand, he lost to Raonic at a major. That’s something the Big 4 have never done. B-

The ATP chief became the face of the match-fixing scandal, and his position “evolved,” as U.S. politicians like to say, over the course of the tournament. In his first statement, he seemed content to tell the world not to worry, that tennis had the situation under control. In his second statement a week later, after some helpful prodding from Parliament, Kermode announced a review of the sport’s policing system. Now it’s time for the game to put some enforcement money where it’s mouth is. B-

Does he really love the big stage as much as we say? For the second straight Slam, he was given an early-round evening-session slot; for the second straight Slam, he looked distracted in the spotlight. B-

Fognini in New York; Djokovic in Doha; Verdasco in Melbourne. Nadal has gone from demoralizing his opponents to inspiring the best tennis of their careers. C+

It wasn’t a banner tournament for the No. 2 seed. She came in with an Achilles issue and left needing nose surgery. In between, she lost in two sets to a woman who had never won a match at a major before. C-

She, not Kerber, was supposed to be Serena’s next challenger. So much for her meteoric 2015 rise; it flamed out quickly in Melbourne, with a straight-set third-round defeat to Strycova. Muguruza did come into the event with a foot issue, but her error-filled loss defined the word “listless.” C-