The 2025 Australian Open begins on Sunday, and the world’s best men’s and women’s tennis players will battle it out for one of the sport’s most coveted prizes.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of this year’s edition of the ‘Happy Slam’.
Australian Open format
The tournament begins on Sunday and will run for two weeks. The women’s singles final will be played on Saturday 25 January followed by the men’s singles final on Sunday 26 January. It’s the second year in a row that the tournament will run for 15 instead of 14 days, to prevent matches from running into the early hours of the morning.
Men’s singles
The number one seed for the men’s singles is defending champion Jannik Sinner. The 23-year-old Italian looks hard to beat following a stellar 2024 which saw him win eight titles and lose just six of his 79 matches. The second and third seeds are Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.
Novak Djokovic may be the seventh seed but it would be naive to think the 37-year-old can’t rise to the occasion. The Serbian already holds the record for most Australian Open titles in the open era (10) and is one slam away from a record-breaking 25th title.
Aussie men
14 Australians are playing in the men’s singles draw. Aussie fans will likely be pinning their hopes on eighth-seeded Alex de Minaur. ‘The Demon’ will face the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp in the opening round and will be wary given the Dutchman upset Alcaraz at the 2024 U.S. Open. If de Minaur can get through the first four rounds, he will likely play Sinner in the quarter-final.
Alexei Popyrin (25) and Jordan Thompson (27) are also seeded. In their opening matches, Popyrin is playing France’s Corentin Moutet and Thompson will take on German qualifier Dominik Koepfer.
If Nick Kyrgios is healthy (he withdrew from an exhibition match against Djokovic earlier this weekend due to an abdominal strain) he will play 86th-ranked Brit Jacob Fearnley.
Women’s singles
Aryna Sabalenka is the number one seed in the women’s draw and is looking to win a third consecutive Australian Open title. The 26-year-old is fresh off a title at the Brisbane International where she only lost one set all tournament.
Poland’s Iga Świątek is the second seed and American Coco Gauff is the third seed. Five-time slam winner Świątek has never made the final at the Aus Open and Gauff is looking to add a second grand slam title to her resume after her first at the U.S. Open in 2023.
Aussie women
Eight Australians are set to contest the women’s singles. Olivia Gadecki gained automatic entry, five players (Daria Saville, Ajla Tomljanovic, Maya Joint, Talia Gibson, and Emerson Jones) received wildcard entries and two players (Kimberly Birrell and Destanee Aiava) won three matches to qualify through last week’s qualification tournament. None of the Aussies in the women’s draw are seeded.
Teenage stars Maya Joint and Emerson Jones face daunting tasks in the opening round. 16-year-old Jones, who finished last year as the world’s top-ranked junior, will play sixth-seed Elena Rybakina. 18-year-old Joint will play 2024 U.S. Open finalist and seventh seed Jessica Pegula.
How to watch
You can catch the tennis action on Channel 9. Coverage from all courts will be streamed on 9Now and Stan Sport.
