All to know about the 2025 Australian Open: Schedule, seeds, prize money
The world’s top tennis players have returned to Australia as the first Grand Slam of the year begins in Melbourne after a brief break in the schedule.
All-time great Novak Djokovic will have his sights set on a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title at his favorite hunting grounds as the next generation of tennis icons includes defending champion Jannik Sinner and champion Carlos Alcaraz, who is currently the reigning champion.
Aryna Sabalenka will look to keep her happy streak in Australia in the women’s draw, but she will face stiff competition from Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, and Qinwen Zheng.
Everything you need to know about the Australian Open 2025 is listed below:
When does the Australian Open 2025 main round begin?
The main draw of the tournament will begin on Sunday, January 12 after six days of qualifying round action.
When are the Australian Open 2025 finals?
Men’s singles: Sunday, January 26 at 7: 30pm (08: 30 GMT)
Women’s singles: Saturday, January 25 at 7: 30pm (08: 30 GMT)
Men’s doubles: Saturday, January 25 (after women’s singles final)
Mixed doubles: Saturday, January 25 (after men’s doubles final)
Women’s doubles: Sunday, January 26 (after men’s singles final)
Where is the Australian Open taking place?
The tournament will be played on the blue-coloured hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.
The three main courts are the Rod Laver Arena, with a capacity of 15, 000, the John Cairn Arena (10, 500) and the Margaret Court Arena (7, 500).
How are the players drawn in the tournament?
The top 32 players in the ATP and WTA rankings are automatically seeded to avoid clashing with other Grand Slam competitors in the earlier rounds of the tournament, just like they do in other Grand Slams.
Most of the remaining participants leave the tournament after qualifying rounds, while some, such as local players and former major winners, receive wild card entries from tournament organizers.
Who are the Australian Open’s current champions?
Men’s singles: Jannik Sinner (Italy)
Women’s singles: Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)
Men’s doubles: Rohan Bopanna (India) and Mathew Ebden (Australia)
Women’s doubles: Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) and Elise Mertens (Belgium)
Mixed doubles: Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) and Jan Zieliński (Poland)
Who are the top seeds?
Men’s singles (top 10):
- Jannik Sinner (Italy)
- Alexander Zverev (Germany)
- Carlos Alcaraz (Spain)
- Taylor Fritz (USA)
- Daniil Medvedev (Russia/no flag)
- Casper Ruud (Norway)
- Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
- Alex de Minaur (Australia)
- Andrey Rublev (Russia/no flag)
- Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
Women’s singles (top 10):
- Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus/no flag)
- Iga Swiatek (Poland)
- Coco Gauff (USA)
- Jasmine Paolini (Italy)
- Qinwen Zheng (China)
- Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
- Jessica Pegula (USA)
- Emma Navarro (USA)
- Daria Kasatkina (Russia/no flag)
- Danielle Collins (USA)
Who will win the Australian Open in 2025 as favorite?
Men’s singles:
Djokovic: Despite failing to win a Grand Slam in 2024 and reaching the 25th singles title record, the 37-year-old won the Olympic gold. The Serb, who has enjoyed enormous success and will now be coached by Andy Murray’s long-awaited rival, is unafraid to be condemned in Australia.
It will be his 100th career title if he wins in Melbourne, joining Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors as the only other player to surpass this milestone in terms of wins in the Open era.
Sinner: The Italian won his first Grand Slam title in Australia last year, and he followed up that success by claiming eight titles in 2024, making it undisputed world number one.
However, the 23-year-old’s season was rocked by doping accusations that he denies.
Sinner will look to begin 2025 in a similar manner down under as he completed 2024 without conceding a set defeat. He became the first player to do so since Federer did so in 2005.
Alcaraz, age 21, has already won four Grand Slam titles in his three previous appearances, including a semifinal defeat to Alexander Zverev in the final eight of the 2024 final against the Spaniard.
If Rafael Nadal wins the Australian Grand Slam, he will become the youngest player to have won a major on all three surfaces, becoming the youngest player to do so. He will also surpass Nadal as the youngest player to have won a major in Australia.
Alcaraz, who has never lost a Grand Slam final, reached the top three in 2024 after claiming four titles and increasing his career total to 16 at the age of 35.
Women’s singles:
Sabalenka: Gunning for her third consecutive Australian Open crown, the Belarusian , is the woman to beat after the best season of her career in 2024, capped by being named WTA Player of the Year last month.
Should Sabalenka go all the way, she will become the first woman to win the Australian Open three years in a row since Martina Hingis in 1999. She also showed that she was up for it at the season-opening Brisbane International, dropping just one set.
The victory continued the 26-year-old’s superb form from 2024 where she reached seven finals and won four tournaments.
Swiatek:  , The world number two is a five-time major champion but she has never shone at Melbourne Park, only progressing beyond the fourth round in 2022.
The Pole, who won four straight singles titles in her 2025 campaign, has since received a one-month doping suspension after testing positive for a banned substance she claimed came from a contaminated supplement.
Swiatek has won five Grand Slam titles, four of which were won at the French Open, and has played and won four of them.
Gauff, age 20, has a remarkable recovery, winning the WTA 1000 in Beijing and the WTA Tour Finals to close out 2024.
The three-time world champion has high confidence ahead of Melbourne as she once again showed she is in top form when she led the US to victory over Poland in the mixed-teams competition of the United Cup.
In Melbourne, the American will aim to win her second Grand Slam.
Queens are arriving in Melbourne to win the crown. twitter.com/XnmfdZlixT
What’s the prize money?
The total prize money is $59.8m, a 12 percent increase from 2024.
The US Open will award a $ 2.16 million reward to singles champion teams, along with $ 510, 000 to men’s and women’s doubles champion teams.
The breakdown in the singles category (men and women) is:
Champions: $2.16m
Runners-up: $1.17m
Semifinalists: $0.68m
Quarterfinalists: $412, 242
Round of 16: $260, 363
Third round: $179, 759
Second round: $123, 974
First round: $81, 822
The Australian Open tennis grand prix is available where?
The men’s and women’s singles finals will be broadcast live on Al Jazeera with live text and photo feeds.
The Australian Open’s official broadcasters are:
- Africa: beIN Sports and SuperSport.
- Europe: Eurosport, SRG SSR.
- Asia Pacific &, 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 &, subcontinent: Sony Sports Network.
- Latin America &, Caribbean: ESPN International.
- Middle East: beIN Sports.
- North America: ESPN, TSN, RDS and Tennis Channel.
- Central Asia: Sony Sports Network and Eurosport.
Source: Aljazeera
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