The first Grand Slam of the year takes place at Australian Open in Melbourne as Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka look to defend their titles.
There are a number of questions surrounding the fitness of Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper, while Andy Murray is back in Melbourne – but this time in the corner of record-chasing Novak Djokovic.
The top-ranked players in the world enter the tournament automatically at the main draw stage, with 104 ranked players going directly into the singles draws alongside eight wildcard entries and 16 qualifiers.
The main tournament (singles) starts on January 12, with the women’s final on January 25 and the men’s final on January 26.
The Australian Open takes place at Melbourne Park, Melbourne – home to the Grand Slam event since 1988.
Melbourne Park has three show courts – the Rod Laver Arena (the second largest indoor sports venue in Australia with a capacity of 15,000), as well as the John Cain Arena (capacity: 10,500) and Margaret Court Arena (capacity: 7,500).
The tournament takes place every day from midnight UK time each day on the outside courts and 1am on the show courts. Night sessions will start at 8am for UK viewers.
Jan 12-14: First round
Jan 15-16: Second round
Jan 17-18: Third round
Jan 19-20: Fourth round
Jan 21-22: Quarter-finals
Jan 23: Women’s semi-finals
Jan 24: Men’s semi-finals
Jan 25: Women’s final (8.30am UK time)
Jan 26: Men’s final (8.30am UK time)
The Australian Open schedule also includes:
1. Aryna Sabalenka
2. Iga Swiatek (POL)
3. Coco Gauff (USA)
4. Jasmine Paolini (ITA)
5. Qinwen Zheng (CHN)
6. Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
7. Jessica Pegula (USA)
8. Emma Navarro (USA)
9. Daria Kasatkina
10. Danielle Collins (USA)
1. Jannik Sinner (ITA)
2. Alexander Zverev (GER)
3. Carlos Alcaraz (ESP)
4. Taylor Fritz (USA)
5. Daniil Medvedev
6. Casper Ruud (NOR)
7. Novak Djokovic (SRB)
8. Alex de Minaur (AUS)
9. Andrey Rublev
10. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)
There are four British players with main draw entry into the women’s singles.
Katie Boulter will be seeded in Melbourne this year after her best season to date – winning two WTA titles (San Diego and Nottingham) and making another final in Hong Kong.
Emma Raducanu has made the second round in each of the last three seasons and will be hoping to push on further in 2025.
She was forced to withdraw from the ASB Classic in Auckland last week with a back problem but will be hoping to be ready for the Grand Slam after hiring renowned fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura to help end her litany of fitness issues since winning the US Open in 2021.
Jodie Burrage is in on protected ranking and made it through to the second round on Monday, while Sonay Kartal made the main draw for the first time but lost to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on the opening day.
British No 1 Jack Draper leads the line-up in the men’s singles off the back of reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open and has risen up to a career-high world No 15.
Draper comes in this year having skipped the United Cup team event in Sydney because of a hip injury and is playing competitively for the first time since losing at the Paris Masters at the end of October.
The 23-year-old came through a five-set battle in the first round for the second year in a row.
Cameron Norrie and rising star Jacob Fearnley both have direct entry into the main draw with Scot Fearnley defeating hope hope Nick Kyrgios with an emphatic display in the first round.
The 2024 tennis season had a late plot twist in store when Djokovic announced he had hired one of his biggest rivals to guide him in Melbourne.
Murray and Djokovic spent more than a week together during pre-season and one of the biggest intrigues of the tournament will be how the partnership fares.
Britain’s two-time Wimbledon champion Murray ended his playing career following the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in August.
But the 37-year-old decided to take on his first coaching role in Djokovic’s team in a blockbuster link-up with the Serb targeting a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and historic 25th Grand Slam crown.
Djokovic failed to win a Grand Slam title last year and dropped out of the top five, so can Murray help him overhaul his young rivals once again? And how will the Scot respond if Djokovic directs on-court frustrations towards him?
The total prize money for the Australian Open has increased by 11.56 per cent year on year and the singles winners of this year’s tournament will go home with a A$3.5m (about £1.74m) cheque.
Full 2025 prize money breakdown:
Champion: A$3,500,000
Runner-up: A$1,900,000
Semi-finalists: A$1,100,000
Quarter-finalists: A$665,000
Fourth round: A$420,000
Third round: A$290,000
Second round: A$200,000
First round: A$132,000
Qualifying
Third round: $72,000
Second round: $49,000
First round: $35,000
3 – Aryna Sabalenka will be attempting to win a third consecutive women’s singles title at Melbourne Park, something last accomplished by Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999.
24 – The number of Grand Slam singles championship won by Novak Djokovic, tied with Margaret Court for the most by anyone in the history of tennis. One more will give Djokovic sole possession of the record.
