Australian Open 2025: Schedule, how to watch, top seeds, prize money | Tennis news

After a brief break in the tennis calendar, the world's best stars have descended on Australia as the first Grand Slam of the year gets underway in Melbourne.

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

On the women's side, Aryna Sabalenka will look to continue her lucky streak in Australia, but she will face stiff competition from Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Qinwen Zheng.

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

When does the Australian Open 2025 main round start?

After six days of qualifying round action, the main draw of the tournament kicks off on Sunday, January 12.

When is the 2025 Australian Open final?

Men's Singles: Sunday January 26 at 7:30 PM (08:30 GMT)

Women's Singles: Saturday January 25 at 7:30 PM (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 location of the Australian Open?

The tournament is played on the blue colored 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?

As with 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 will advance to the main round after playing qualifying rounds, while some local players and former major winners who have fallen in the rankings will be given wildcard entries by tournament organizers.

Who are the defending champions of the Australian Open?

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 Zieliski (Poland)

Who are the top seeds?

Men's singles (top 10):

1. Jannik Sinner (Italy)
2. Alexander Zverev (Germany)
3. Carlos Alcaraz (Spain)
4. Taylor Fritz (US)
5. Daniil Medvedev (Russia / no flag)
6. Casper Ruud (Norway)
7. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
8. Alex de Minaur (Australia)
9. Andrey Rublev (Russia / no flag)
10. Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)

Women's singles (top 10):

1. Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus / no flag)
2. Iga Swiatek (Poland)
3. Coco Gauff (USA)
4. Jasmine Paolini (Italy)
5. Qinwen Zheng (China)
6. Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)
7. Jessica Pegula (USA)
8. Emma Navarro (USA)
9. Daria Kasatkina (Russia / no flag)
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 in 2024 and achieve a record 25th singles title, the 37-year-old won Olympic gold. The Serbian can never be written off in Australia, where he has had huge success and is now coached by old rival Andy Murray.

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

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

However, the season for the 23-year-olds was rocked by doping accusations that he denies.

Sinner went through 2024 without defeat in straight sets, becoming the first player since Federer in 2005 to do so, and is expected to start 2025 in similar fashion.

Alcaraz: Still just 21, the Spaniard already owns four Grand Slam singles titles since bursting onto the scene with victory at the 2022 US Open, but has yet to progress beyond the quarter-finals in Melbourne on his three previous visits, reaching in 2024 Alexander Zverev crashed in the last eight.

He is already the youngest man to achieve majors on all three surfaces: clay, hard and grass. He will surpass compatriot Rafael Nadal as the youngest to complete a Grand Slam career if he triumphs in Australia.

Alcaraz, who has never lost a Grand Slam final, ended an injury-marred 2024 as world number three after winning four titles to take his career tally to 16.

Women's singles:

Sabalenka: Chasing her third consecutive Australian Open crown, the Belarusian is the one to beat after the best season of her career in 2024, highlighted by being named 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 goes all the way, and she showed she was in the mood with a romp to the trophy at the season-opening Brisbane International, only dropped one set.

The victory continued the 26-year-old's excellent form from 2024, where she reached seven finals and won four tournaments.

Swiatek:The world number two is a five-time Major League champion, but she never shone at Melbourne Park and only advanced beyond the fourth round in 2022.

The Pole started her 2025 campaign with four consecutive singles victories, but entered after serving a one-month doping ban after testing positive for a banned substance that she said came from a contaminated supplement.

Swiatek has played in and won all five of her Grand Slam finals, including four at the French Open.

Great: The 20-year-old has bounced back impressively from coach Brad Gilbert's retirement to win the WTA 1000 in Beijing and the WTA Tour Finals until the end of 2024.

The world number three looked in top form again as she inspired the US to victory over Poland in the United Cup mixed team event, and her confidence is high heading into Melbourne.

The American will try to win her second Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

Queens come for Melbourne's crown pic.twitter.com/XnmfdZlixT

#AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 8, 2025

What is the prize money?

The total prize money is $59.8 million, an increase of 12 percent from 2024.

The US Open will award $2.16 million to singles champions, while men's and women's doubles champion teams will receive $502,000.

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

Champions: $2.16 million
Runner-up: $1.17 million
Semifinalists: $0.68 million
Quarterfinalists: $412,242
Round of 16: $260,363
Third round: $179,759
Second round: $123,974
First round: $81,822

Where can you watch, follow and stream the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam?

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

The official broadcasters of 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 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.