Australian Open

January 18, 2026 11:38 AM

Australia’s great hope Alex de Minaur balances ‘noise’ and perks at home Slam

Alex de Minaur knows there is no hiding at the Australian Open, especially as the home nation’s biggest hope of ending a 50-year drought for a men's champion. The sixth seed has grown accustomed to the attention that comes with playing in Melbourne, while finding the buzz a double-edged sword as he tries to balance expectations, obligations and his own competitive needs. “There's definitely a lot more off-court activities, off-court noise, stuff that you've got to deal with and handle that...

January 18, 2026 11:38 AM

Aryna Sabalenka primed for Australian Open after exhibition experiments

Aryna Sabalenka's off-season featured a string of exhibition matches and the world number one said on Friday they had given her the ideal platform to experiment and refine her game ahead of her push for a third Australian Open title. While the majority of players chose to wind down after a gruelling 11-month campaign, Sabalenka played exhibition matches in Atlanta and New York last month before facing Nick Kyrgios in a controversial "Battle of the Sexes" showdown in Dubai. She began the 2026 s...

January 18, 2026 11:36 AM

Stefanos Tsitsipas seeks the joy of competition ahead of Melbourne Park return

Stefanos Tsitsipas returns to Grand Slam tennis following a back injury that derailed the second half of his 2025 campaign and the former Australian Open runner-up said on Friday he was only focused on enjoying himself at Melbourne Park. The former world number three played two singles matches for Greece in the Davis Cup in September after his second-round exit at the U.S. Open a month earlier, before taking time off to recover from the niggling issue.Ahead of the year's opening major, where he...

January 18, 2026 11:53 AM

Djokovic hunts Grand Slam record, Gauff and Swiatek in action at Australian Open

The first round of the Australian Open continues on Monday with Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek beginning their campaigns and Novak Djokovic resuming his quest for a record 25th Grand Slam title. TOP MEN'S MATCH: DJOKOVIC V MARTINEZ Djokovic has been stuck on 24 Grand Slam titles since winning the U.S. Open in 2023 but the Serb will see Melbourne Park as his best chance to win another major and move past Margaret Court to take sole possession of the record. A 10-times Australian Open champion, Djo...

January 18, 2026 12:45 PM

‘Fully Australian’ Daria Kasatkina ready to embrace home expectations at Melbourne Park

Russian-born Daria Kasatkina said she is ready to embrace the "good pressure" of a home Grand Slam when she steps onto the Melbourne Park court as an Australian citizen for the first time. The 28-year-old played on the tour as a neutral athlete after Russian players were banned from competing under their own flag following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Having found herself thrust into the political spotlight, Kasatkina became one of the few Russian-born players to publicly criticise th...

January 18, 2026 12:43 PM

Venus Williams grateful for Australian Open wildcard

Seven-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams thanked Australian Open organisers on Saturday for giving her a wildcard that will see the 45-year-old American become the oldest woman ever to compete in the singles main draw. Williams returned to tennis last season after a 16-month break, winning one of her four tour-level matches before starting 2026 with a first-round defeat by 53rd-ranked Pole Magda Linette as a wildcard at the Auckland Classic last week. Granted another wildcard for the Hob...

January 16, 2026 11:46 PM

Madison Keys ready to soak up ‘pinch-me moments’ as defending Australian Open champion

Madison Keys is soaking up the fun parts of returning to the Australian Open as defending champion and the American said on Friday she is eager to get a photo with her name in the champions' tunnel to send to her mother. Keys, who captured her first Grand Slam title at the tournament last year, said she was still getting used to the surreal experience of seeing herself immortalised around Melbourne Park. "There's a really cool photo of me holding the trophy. Getting to see those, it's somethin...

January 16, 2026 2:57 PM

Players welcome Grand Slam prize money boost but vow to push for more

The Australian Open will offer a record A$111.5 million ($74.73 million) in prize money this year and while players welcomed the increase, top names like Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka said the push for a bigger payout must continue across the Grand Slams. The world's top players wrote a letter to the Grand Slams calling for significant improvements in prize money in April last year. The French Open ($65.42 million) and Wimbledon ($71.60 million) boosted their prize pots last year, although th...

January 16, 2026 2:56 PM

Iga Swiatek blocks out career slam chatter, refuses draw spoilers at Australian Open

Iga Swiatek has dismissed suggestions the career slam is driving her Australian Open campaign this year, with the world number two saying on Friday that she tries to block out outside noise and focus only on "grinding match by match". A six-times major winner with titles at the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Swiatek has yet to clear the semi-final hurdle at Melbourne Park. Although the Polish 24-year-old acknowledged the milestone would be special, she refused to make it her primary...

January 15, 2026 10:47 PM

‘Sincaraz’ rivalry set to dominate Australian Open men’s draw

Defending champion Jannik Sinner is the bookmakers' favourite to win a third successive Australian Open crown as another title showdown looms with world number one Carlos Alcaraz. The "Sincaraz" duopoly swept all four Grand Slam titles in 2025 and their dominance is expected to continue at Melbourne Park where few in the men's draw appear equipped to challenge, let alone beat them. A Sinner victory would mean a fifth Grand Slam title for the 24-year-old Italian and make him the first to lift t...