We might solely be a matter of days into 2025, however it’s already time for the primary Grand Slam of the yr. Tennis’ largest stars have descended on Melbourne Park to compete for an Australian Open title which might kick their new yr off in fashion.
Novak Djokovic is looking for to win a record-extending eleventh title in Melbourne and can be doing so with longtime rival Andy Murray by his aspect after he grew to become the Serbian’s new coach in November.
Final yr’s winners — Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka — will hope to retain the titles they earned this time final yr within the the lads’s and ladies’s singles finals, respectively.
In the meantime, British stars together with 2024 US Open semifinalist Jack Draper, Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu will all be aiming to impress “down beneath.”
Here is all the pieces you want to know concerning the match.
Key particulars
Dates: Sunday, Jan. 12 to Sunday, Jan. 26
Venue: Melbourne Park
Draw: Thursday, Jan. 9 at 3.30 a.m. GMT (2.30 p.m. native time)
Tips on how to watch: The Australian Open can be broadcast dwell on Eurosport within the UK. Subscribers can stream the motion on-line on the Eurosport web site or with the invention+ app. You may as well comply with dwell updates on ESPN.
Schedule
Males’s singles bracket | Ladies’s singles bracket
Schedule for semifinals and championship matches:
Jan. 23
Ladies’s singles semifinals
Males’s doubles semifinals
Jan. 24
Males’s singles semifinals
Males’s doubles last
Ladies’s doubles semifinals
Blended doubles last
Jan. 25
Ladies’s singles last
Males’s doubles last
Blended doubles last
Jan. 26
Males’s singles last
Ladies’s doubles last
Brit watch
Draper is aiming to construct on his run to the US Open semifinals, however he can be hoping the hip harm that compelled him to skip the opening occasion of the 2025 ATP season doesn’t stand in his means.
British girls’s No. 1 Boulter can be trying to take extra strides following her spectacular 2024 season during which she gained three ATP titles and broke into the highest 25 on this planet rankings for the primary time in her profession.
Raducanu’s match hopes are more durable to guage after she was compelled to withdraw from the Auckland Open with harm on Dec. 31. She has begun her season in a frustratingly acquainted method after spending a lot of the previous few years struggling with varied accidents which have affected her wrists, ankles and again.
Harriet Dart and Billy Harris require yet another win to safe their respective locations within the occasion as they battle by the qualifying rounds.
High world stars
Djokovic is chasing a document twenty fifth Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne and his new partnership with Murray has added an additional layer of curiosity to the Serbian’s quest. Djokovic has a love-hate relationship with the Australian Open. Though he has gained the Slam a exceptional 10 instances, he mentioned forward of this yr’s occasion that he nonetheless experiences trauma every time he visits Melbourne, three years after he was deported for a breach of Australia’s COVID-19 guidelines.
Carlos Alcaraz is trying to win the one main that has evaded him in his profession to this point. The Spaniard has by no means made it previous the quarterfinal stage in Melbourne.
In the meantime, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner is the match’s defending champion and he’s trying to show he can change into the game’s pre-eminent star because it strikes past its “Large Three” period. The 23-year-old can be enjoying beneath the cloud of a attainable doping ban after he examined optimistic for clostebol in March.
Sabalenka has dominated this occasion over the previous couple of years and appears primed to take action once more after profitable the Brisbane Worldwide on Jan. 5. She rallied from a set down towards qualifier Polina Kudermetova to sharpen her tilt for a third-straight Australian Open title.
Coco Gauff will look to translate her spectacular current type right into a second main of her profession, whereas the always-capable Iga Swiatek can be trying to put her doping case behind her and focus on occasions on-court.
Elsewhere, anticipate the likes of Jasmine Paolini, Qinwen Zheng and Elena Rybakina to fancy their probabilities in Melbourne.
Prize cash
Winner: $3.5 million (£1.75m)
Runner-up: $1.9m (£950,000)
Semifinals: $1.1m (£550,000)
Quarterfinals: $665,000 (£332,000)
Fourth spherical: $420,000 (£210,000)
Third spherical: $290,000 (£145,000)
Second spherical: $200,000 (£100,000)
First spherical: $132,000 (£66,000)
Qualifying third spherical: $72,000 (£36,000)
Qualifying second spherical: $49,000 (£24,500)
Qualifying first spherical: $35,000 (£17,500)
Values in AUD. Alternate charges right as of Jan. 6.
Stats
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Emma Raducanu has participated within the Australian Open 3 times. She reached the Spherical of 64 on every event. Two of her three losses had been towards unseeded opponents (different was vs. seventh seed Coco Gauff)
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Since profitable the U.S. Open in 2021, Raducanu has solely progressed additional than the Spherical of 64 in a Grand Slam as soon as in eight makes an attempt (Spherical of 16 at Wimbledon 2023)
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Katie Boulter has by no means progressed additional than the Spherical of 32 at a Grand Slam (2023 US Open and 2023 Wimbledon)
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British males have amassed 142 wins all-time within the Australian Open, which ranks eleventh amongst all nationalities within the Slam (most is U.S. males with 1,011 and Australian males at 886)
Stats offered by ESPN International Analysis.
Final yr’s champions
Sinner gained the primary Grand Slam title of his profession when he beat Daniil Medvedev in final yr’s males’s singles last.
The Italian got here again from two units right down to win 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in a contest that lasted nearly 4 hours.
He knocked out 10-time champion Djokovic within the semifinals to achieve the primary main last of his profession. Sinner adopted up his success in Australia with victory within the US Open in September.
Sabalenka justified her tag as match favorite when she beat Zheng to retain the ladies’s singles title in final yr’s match.
The Belarusian’s 6-3, 6-2 triumph noticed her change into the primary girl to assert back-to-back titles since Victoria Azarenka in 2013.
The 25-year-old matched Sinner’s exploits by profitable the US Open. She beat sixth seed Jessica Pegula in straight units at Flushing Meadows.
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