It’s time to start the professional tennis season anew with the first major of the year — the Australian Open — when hundreds of the world’s top tennis players will gather in Melbourne to test their chances on the hard courts — and in the Aussie summer heat.

The main draw kicks off at 7:00 pm ET on Saturday, January 11, 2025. The tournament will close with the men’s singles final and women’s doubles final on Saturday, January 28, 2024, at 3:30 am ET.

Here’s a preview of this year’s Australian Open, with a look at some of the big questions and fine details so you can get the most out of the next two weeks of action from Melbourne Park.

How to Watch the Australian Open

In the U.S., ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN+ are the main avenues for catching matches throughout the next two weeks of the Australian Open. ABC will pick up a pocket or two of coverage, and Tennis Channel will host a program before coverage begins each day, as well as replays.

The Australian Open has the full rundown of its broadcast partners around the globe.

Three Big Questions

1) Can Jannik Sinner defend his title? Sinner has settled into the Grand Slam landscape so seamlessly that it’s easy to forget that he won his first major only one year ago. Still, the young Italian is number one in the world by more than four thousand points, and he won the most recent major. But defending titles is a whole different thing from collecting them (just ask Daniil Medvedev), especially when it comes to majors — something Sinner will experience for the first time in Melbourne. Perhaps the more significant factor than the pressure of defending his title is the uncertainty hanging over his head with the World Anti-Doping Agency appealing his case.

2) Can anybody stop Aryna Sabalenka? Not only is Sabalenka number one in the world, the defending Australian Open champion, and the winner of the most recent major, she’s also the player coming into the first slam event of the year with virtually no questions up in the air. There are no significant injuries. Her team is locked in. No off-court drama spilling into the public eye distracting her. And, unlike some of her fellow competitors who chose to skip an Australian Open warm-up event, we witnessed Sabalenka’s sharp form when she took the title in Brisbane last week. In short, this is Sabalenka’s title to lose. Will she?

3) Will Novak Djokovic take the Australian Open once again? Now number seven in the world, Djokovic hasn’t won a major since the 2023 U.S. Open. But with 10 Australian Open titles under his belt, it wouldn’t be wise to count him out. Still, two big questions loom large. Can he get past the first-round threat of a fresh, hungry (not to mention the mirror image game of) Nishesh Basavareddy? And, how much impact will Andy Murray have in their first outing together as coach-charge?

The Draws

It’s rare that all the top 8 seeds make it to the quarterfinals of a major, but — who knows? — maybe we can make Australian Open history this year. And if that happens, here are the projected quarterfinal match-ups based on seedings.

Women’s quarterfinals:
1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. 5 Qinwen Zheng
3 Coco Gauff vs. 7 Jessica Pegula
6 Elena Rybakina vs. 4 Jasmine Paolini
8 Emma Navarro vs. 1 Iga Swiatek

Men’s quarterfinals:
1 Jannik Sinner vs 8 Alex de Minaur
4 Taylor Fritz vs. 5 Daniil Medvedev
7 Novak Djokovic vs. 3 Carlos Alcaraz
6 Casper Ruud vs. 2 Alex Zverev

Take a look at the full up-to-date women’s draw and the men’s draw on the Australian Open site.

Unfortunate First Rounds

Whether it’s fellow country people or fan favorites facing off — or just the unluckiest of draws — here are some first-round matches that we simply wish weren’t happening.

Women’s Draw

  • Aryna Sabalenka vs. Sloane Stephens
  • Coco Gauff vs. Sofia Kenin
  • Naomi Osaka vs. Caroline Garcia
  • Maya Joint vs. Jessica Pegula
  • Madison Keys vs. Ann Li
  • Emma Navarro vs. Peyton Stearns

Men’s Draw

  • Hubert Hurkacz vs. Tallon Griekspoor
  • Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Alex Michelsen
  • Taylor Fritz vs. Jenson Brooksby
  • Gael Monfils vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
  • Ben Shelton vs. Brandon Nakashima
  • Novak Djokovic vs. Nishesh Basavareddy

Who Got the Australian Open Wild Cards?

Eight men and eight women received wild cards into the Australian Open. A mix of big names, scrappy upstarts, and college and junior stars have made their way onto the list.

Men’s Singles Wild Cards
Nishesh Basavareddy, Omar Jasika, James McCabe, Lucas Pouille, Kasidit Samrej, Tristan Schoolkate, Li Tu, Stan Wawrinka

Women’s Singles Wild Cards
Talia Gibson, Maya Joint, Emerson Jones, Iva Jovic, Chloe Paquet, Daria Seville, Zhang Shuai, Ajla Tomljanovic

Read, Watch, Listen

A few things to get you in the mood:

  • Harper’s Bazaar Australia has a trio of insightful feature articles on Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka, and Anna Kalinskaya, complete with stunning photographs.
  • Novak Djokovic goes deep with GQ Sports and finds some truly fascinating details (including what he says really happened to him at the Australian Open in quarantine).
  • The Australian Open offers up an incredible behind-the-scenes look at the kind of drama that unfolds at the first major of the year in this short film.

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