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 searching for to win a record-extending eleventh title in Melbourne and can be doing so with longtime rival Andy Murray by his facet after he turned 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 boys’s and girls’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 underneath.”
This is every part you must know concerning the event.
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)
Methods to watch: The Australian Open can be broadcast stay on Eurosport within the UK. Subscribers can stream the motion on-line on the Eurosport web site or with the invention+ app. You may also observe stay 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 remaining
Ladies’s doubles semifinals
Combined doubles remaining
Jan. 25
Ladies’s singles remaining
Males’s doubles remaining
Combined doubles remaining
Jan. 26
Males’s singles remaining
Ladies’s doubles remaining
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 manner.
British girls’s No. 1 Boulter can be trying to take extra strides following her spectacular 2024 season wherein she gained three ATP titles and broke into the highest 25 on this planet rankings for the primary time in her profession.
Raducanu’s event 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 numerous 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.
Prime international 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 occasions, he mentioned forward of this yr’s occasion that he nonetheless experiences trauma at any time when 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 up to now. The Spaniard has by no means made it previous the quarterfinal stage in Melbourne.
In the meantime, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner is the event’s defending champion and he’s trying to show he can turn out to be the game’s pre-eminent star because it strikes past its “Huge Three” period. The 23-year-old can be taking part in underneath the cloud of a potential doping ban after he examined constructive 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 kind 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, count on the likes of Jasmine Paolini, Qinwen Zheng and Elena Rybakina to fancy their possibilities 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. Change charges right as of Jan. 6.
Stats
Emma Raducanu has participated within the Australian Open 3 times. She reached the Spherical of 64 on every event. Two of her three losses have been towards unseeded opponents (different was vs. seventh seed Coco Gauff)
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)
Katie Boulter has by no means progressed additional than the Spherical of 32 at a Grand Slam (2023 US Open and 2023 Wimbledon)
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 supplied 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 remaining.
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 remaining of his profession. Sinner adopted up his success in Australia with victory within the US Open in September.
Sabalenka justified her tag as event favorite when she beat Zheng to retain the ladies’s singles title in final yr’s event.
The Belarusian’s 6-3, 6-2 triumph noticed her turn out to be the primary girl to say 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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