After a short break in the tennis calendar, the world’s top stars have arrived in Australia as the first Grand Slam tournament of the year gets underway in Melbourne.

Surrounded by the next generation of tennis icons, including defending champion Jannik Sinner and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, the great Novak Djokovic will have his eyes set on a record 25th Grand Slam title in his favorite hunting ground.

In the women’s draw, Aryna Sabalenka will look to continue her happy run in Australia, but she will face stiff competition from Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Kenwen Zeng.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 Australian Open:

When does the main round of the Australian Open 2025 start?

After six days of qualifying, the main draw for the tournament will begin on Sunday, January 12.

When is the 2025 Australian Open finals?

Men’s Singles: Sunday, January 26, 7:30 pm (08:30 GMT)

Women’s Singles: Saturday, January 25, 7:30 pm (08:30 GMT)

Men’s doubles: Saturday, January 25 (after women’s singles final)

Mixed doubles: Saturday, January 25 (after the men’s doubles final)

Women’s Doubles: Sunday, January 26 (after the men’s singles final)

Where is the Australian Open headquarters?

The tournament will be held on the blue hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.

The three main arenas are Rod Laver Arena, with a capacity of 15,000, John Cairn Arena (10,500) and Margaret Court Arena (7,500).

How are players selected in the tournament?

As in other Grand Slams, the top 32 players in the ATP and WTA rankings automatically enter the main draw and are seeded to ensure they do not meet in the earlier rounds of the tournament.

Most of the remaining participants enter the Main Tour after playing the qualifying rounds, while some – local players and former Major winners who have been downgraded – receive wild card entries from tournament organizers.

Who are the defending champions at the Australian Open?

Men’s singles: Jannik Sinner (Italy)

Women’s Singles: Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)

Men’s doubles: Rohan Bopanna (India) and Matthew Ebden (Australia).

Women’s doubles: Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) and Elise Mertens (Belgium).

Mixed doubles: Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) and Jan Zielinski (Poland)

Who are the top seeds?

Men’s singles (top 10):

1. Yannick Siner (Italy)
2. Alexander Zverev (Germany)
3. Carlos Alcaraz (Spain)
4. Taylor Fritz (USA)
5. Daniil Medvedev (Russia/unknown)
6. Casper Ruud (Norway)
7. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
8. Alex de Minaur (Australia)
9. Andrey Rublev (Russia/Unknown)
10. Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)

Women’s singles (top 10):

1. Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus/Unknown)
2. Iga Swiatek (Poland)
3. Coco Gauff (USA)
4. Yasmine Paolini (Italy)
5. Qinwen Zheng (China)
6. Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
7. Jessica Pegula (USA)
8. Emma Navarro (USA)
9. Daria Kasatkina (Russia/Unknown)
10. Danielle Collins (USA)

Who are the favorites to win the 2025 Australian Open?

Men’s singles:

Djokovic: Despite failing to win a Grand Slam title in 2024 and reaching a record 25th singles title, the 37-year-old won Olympic gold. The Serbian can never be left out in Australia, where he has enjoyed massive success and will now be coached by his long-time rival Andy Murray.

If he wins in Melbourne, it will be his 100th career title, and he is only the third man in the Open Era to reach the milestone behind Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103).

sin: The Italian won his first Grand Slam title in Australia last year, and continues to cement his place as the undisputed world number one by winning eight titles in 2024, leading Italy to a successful defense of the Davis Cup.

However, the 23-year-old’s season has been rocked by doping accusations, which he denies.

Sinner went through 2024 unbeaten in straight sets, becoming the first player since Federer in 2005 to do so, and will look to start 2025 in similar fashion.

Alcaraz: Still just 21 years old, the Spaniard already has four Grand Slam titles to his name since bursting onto the scene with his US Open win in 2022, but he has yet to get past the quarter-finals in Melbourne on his previous three visits, where he fell… In the quarter-finals in 2024, to reach Alexander Zverev.

He has already become the youngest player to win major titles on all three surfaces – clay, hard and grass – and would overtake compatriot Rafael Nadal as the youngest player to complete a career Grand Slam if he wins in Australia.

Alcaraz, who has never lost in a Grand Slam final, ended an injury-plagued 2024 ranked third in the world after winning four titles to take his tally to 16 titles in his career.

Women’s singles:

Sabalenka: The Belarusian is bidding to win her third consecutive Australian Open title and is the woman to beat after the best season of her career in 2024. She was crowned WTA Player of the Year last month.

Sabalenka will be the first woman to win the Australian Open three years in a row since Martina Hingis in 1999 if she continues that run, and she showed she is in a good mood with her title win at the Brisbane International that opened the season. Drop only one group.

The win continued the 26-year-old’s impressive form since 2024, where she has reached seven finals and won four tournaments.

Swiatek: The world number two has won the Grand Slam title five times, but has never excelled at Melbourne Park, only qualifying beyond the fourth round in 2022.

The Polish player began her career in 2025 with four consecutive victories in singles, but she is competing after being suspended for a month due to doping due to her taking a banned substance that she said came from a contaminated supplement.

Swiatek played and won in all four Grand Slam finals, four of them at the French Open.

Jove: The 20-year-old bounced back impressively from her split from coach Brad Gilbert to win the WTA 1000 in Beijing and the final tournament on the WTA Tour until the end of 2024.

The world number three looked at her best again, inspiring the United States to victory over Poland in the Fed Cup Mixed Team Championships, and is brimming with confidence before heading to Melbourne.

The American player is looking forward to her second Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

The queens are coming to claim the Melbourne crown pic.twitter.com/XnmfdZlixT

– #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 8, 2025

What is the financial prize?

The total value of the prizes is $59.8 million, an increase of 12 percent from 2024.

The US Open will offer a $2.16 million bonus to the singles champions, and the winning teams in men’s and women’s doubles will receive $502,000.

The distribution in the singles category (men and women) is:

Champions: $2.16 million
Second place: $1.17 million
Semifinalists: $0.68 million
Quarterfinalists: $412,242
Round of 16: $260,363
Round 3: $179,759
Round 2: $123,974
Round 1: $81,822

Where can I watch, follow and broadcast the Australian Open Grand Slam Tennis Championship?

Al Jazeera will provide live text and photo coverage of the men’s and women’s singles finals.

The official broadcasters for the Australian Open are:

• Africa: beIN Sports and SuperSport.
• Europe: Eurosport, SRG SSR.
• Asia Pacific and Oceania: ESPN, Tennis Channel, beIN Sports, CCTV, iQIYI, GDTV, WOWOW, Nine, Stan Sport, Digicel, CJ ENM, TDM, ESPN International, SKY, Sportcast and K-Plus.
• India and Indian Subcontinent: Sony Sports Network.
• Latin America and the Caribbean: ESPN International.
• Middle East: beIN Sports.
• North America: ESPN, TSN, RDS and Tennis Channel.
• Central Asia: Sony Sports Network and Eurosport.