From Carlos Alcaraz to Jannik Sinner, and Aryna Sabalenka to Coco Gauff, the world’s prime tennis gamers have arrived Down Beneath because the yr’s first Grand Slam will get beneath approach in Melbourne this week.
The well-known blue exhausting courts will see all-time nice Novak Djokovic proceed his seek for a record-extending eleventh Australian Open and twenty fifth Grand Slam title amid the modern-day rivalry between defending champion Sinner and world primary Alcaraz.
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Within the ladies’s draw, Sabalenka will as soon as once more try to win her third Australian Open title however will face a tricky problem from Iga Swiatek, Gauff and Amanda Anisimova.
And hundreds of followers will courageous the Australian summer time to catch the largest stars of the sport in motion.
Right here’s all you want to know concerning the Australian Open 2026:
When does the Australian Open 2026 most important spherical begin, and when are the finals?
The primary spherical of males’s and girls’s singles matches begins on Sunday, January 18.
The ladies’s singles remaining might be performed on the Rod Laver Enviornment on Saturday, January 31, and the boys’s singles remaining might be performed on the identical venue a day later.
The place is the Australian Open performed?
The primary Slam of the yr is performed on the exhausting courtroom venues situated at Melbourne Park. Other than the Rod Laver Enviornment, the opposite most important courts are the Margaret Courtroom Enviornment and John Cain Enviornment.
Who’re the Australian Open defending champions?
Madison Keys stunned two-time champion Sabalenka to win her first Slam within the 2025 remaining in three units.
Within the males’s remaining, it was a Jannik Sinner masterclass because the Italian overcame Germany’s Alexander Zverev in straight units for his second Australian Open title.
Will Djokovic play within the Australian Open 2026?
The Serb pulled out of the Adelaide Open, which is seen as a warm-up occasion for the Australian Open, saying he wasn’t “bodily prepared” for the event.
Whereas the tennis nice didn’t reveal whether or not it was an damage or just a must relaxation his physique earlier than the Slam, he did verify his plans to reach in Melbourne forward of the primary spherical and has been named within the event’s draw.
Who’re the favourites to win the Australian Open 2026?
An thrilling mixture of former champions and present top-ranked gamers depend among the many favourites to raise the title on the finish of two weeks.
Carlos Alcaraz: The world primary has not performed a aggressive match because the ATP Finals in opposition to Sinner in Turin, Italy, the place he misplaced to the house favorite in straight units. Nevertheless, he ended 2025 on prime of the ATP rankings after racking up wins on the end-of-year hard-court tournaments. The Australian Open is the one Grand Slam title to have eluded him, and top-seeded Alcaraz might be wanting to set that document straight originally of the brand new tennis season.
Jannik Sinner: After dropping the US Open remaining to Alcaraz, Sinner went on to win 4 of the 5 ATP tournaments he performed, together with the ATP Finals at house. The defending champion might be trying to full a “three-peat” on the solely Grand Slam he’s gained greater than as soon as.
Daniil Medvedev: The previous US Open champion endured a topsy-turvy season in 2025. Whereas he has not appeared in a Grand Slam remaining because the 2024 Australian Open, the Russian started the present season with a statement win on the Brisbane Worldwide. Regardless of dropping out of the highest 10, together with his present ATP rating of 12, Medvedev might be one of many darkish horses in Melbourne.
Aryna Sabalenka: Regardless of spending most of 2025 on prime of the ladies’s rankings and getting into three Grand Slam finals, Sabalenka was capable of win solely the US Open title to finish her yr on a excessive. The Belarusian has advanced her recreation from hard-court experience to progress additional on grass and clay. She’s going to relish the chance to win her third Australian Open title after lacking out final yr. Sabalenka enters the event as the highest seed, after successful the Brisbane title with out dropping a set.
Iga Swiatek: The unassuming Polish participant has gained essentially the most ladies’s singles Grand Slam titles (6) among the many present crop of prime WTA gamers however she has but to get her palms on an Australian Open trophy. Swiatek skilled combined outcomes at majors in 2025 however tasted success at Wimbledon in a near-faultless remaining. The 24-year-old started the yr with a United Cup staff win for Poland in opposition to Switzerland and arrives at Melbourne ranked second.
Amanda Anisimova: Whereas Anisimova misplaced each Grand Slam finals – Wimbledon and US Open – that she entered final yr, the American has swiftly climbed again into the WTA rankings since making her return to the sport in 2024 after stepping away briefly in 2023, citing psychological well being issues. At the moment ranked fourth on the planet, the 24-year-old has proven the power to knock out prime seeds in main tournaments and might be one to observe within the ladies’s draw.
Who’re the highest seeds?
Males’s:
- Carlos Alcaraz (Spain)
- Jannik Sinner (Italy)
- Alexander Zverev (Germany)
- Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
- Lorenzo Musetti (Italy)
- Alex de Minaur (Australia)
- Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada)
- Ben Shelton (USA)
- Taylor Fritz (USA)
- Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan)
Girls’s:
- Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)
- Iga Swiatek (Poland)
- Coco Gauff (USA)
- Amanda Anisimova (USA)
- Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
- Jessica Pegula (USA)
- Jasmine Paolini (Italy)
- Mirra Andreeva (Russia)
- Madison Keys (USA)
- Belinda Bencic (Switzerland)
Can there be Sinner vs Alcaraz, and Sabalenka vs Gauff finals?
The highest two seeds are positioned in reverse halves of the boys’s singles draw and may meet within the remaining, ought to they qualify.
Djokovic and Sinner are in the identical half and might be on a collision course to fulfill within the semifinals, whereas Alcaraz may meet final yr’s runner-up, Zverev, in his semifinal.
Within the ladies’s draw, a remaining assembly between Sabalenka and Swiatek may materialise. Swiatek may meet Anisimova within the semis, whereas Gauff is in Sabalenka’s half of the draw and the pair may meet within the semifinals.
Has Venus Williams certified for the Australian Open 2026?
Williams was given a wild-card entry for the Australian Open, and can play on the event for the primary time in 5 years.
The 45-year-old will change into the oldest girl to compete in an Australian Open most important draw and may meet Gauff within the second spherical of the Australian Open, greater than six years after they first performed one another in a significant.
Gauff was 15 when she beat the seven-time main winner within the first spherical at Wimbledon in 2019 in her Grand Slam debut.
Why is Roger Federer on the Australian Open 2026?
Federer will headline the “Battle of the World No 1s” exhibition occasion that serves because the launching occasion for the Grand Slam.
The Swiss nice might be again on Rod Laver Enviornment for the primary time since he retired in 2022 because the Grand Slam at Melbourne Park introduces an inaugural “opening ceremony”.
Held on the night earlier than the event begins on January 18, it is going to embody a tribute to Federer, who gained the Norman Brookes trophy six instances amongst his 20 main titles.
He will even be part of four-time Australian Open winner Andre Agassi and Australians Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt for a star-studded match.
Find out how to purchase tickets for the Australian Open 2026?
Tickets are up for grabs on the event’s official web site.
How a lot is the prize cash for the Australian Open 2026?
The overall prize cash on supply might be $74.9m, whereas the boys’s and girls’s singles champions will obtain $2.79m every.
Find out how to comply with and livestream the Australian Open 2026?
The event might be proven by native and terrestrial broadcasters, in addition to digital streaming providers across the globe.
Al Jazeera Sport will cowl the boys’s and girls’s singles finals by way of dwell textual content and photograph commentary.
