The Australian Open begins on Sunday, the first major tournament on the calendar and the unofficial kick-off of the 2025 tennis season. Let the bright sunshine and electric blue courts of Melbourne transport you to the other side of the world, where it’s summer instead of the dreary winter.
Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner will look to defend their 2024 titles, but they will each have strong competition to win the 2025 women’s and men’s singles trophies.
Top male stories
Novak Djokovic may be the 7th seed, but their previous success in Melbourne cannot be ignored. Now 37, he had an off year in 2024, failing to win a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2017. All things considered, an “off year” for Djokovic would be the peak of other players – in 2024 he won the Olympic gold medal. I continued his entire career. Armed with new coach Andy Murray (yes, that Andy Murray), Djokovic now looks to win his 11th career Australian Open trophy and record 25th Grand Slam.
Jannik sinner is the reigning Australian Open men’s singles champion. His 2024 trophy was his first Grand Slam victory, and it kicked off an electric year that saw him earn world No. 1, win his first US Open, lead Italy to victory in Davis Cup and win the ATP Finals. In 2024, he also tested positive for a banned substance which he believes entered his system through a spray used by his massage therapist. He avoided a suspension after an independent International Tennis Integrity Agency tribunal ruled in August that he was not responsible. The Australian Open will be our first chance to see Sinner in 2025 since he has yet to play this year.
World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz will look to regain some glory after his 2024 season roughly ends. He won his first French Open and second Wimbledon last year, but after that his game dropped off considerably. He lost in the first round of the Cincinnati Open and the second round of the US Open, which he won in 2022, and was unable to advance out of the group stage of the ATP Finals. Like Sinner, he’s yet to play in 2025, but prepare for him to come out in top form (both literally and metaphorically) – the Australian Open is the only Grand Slam he needs to win his career slam.
American Taylor Fritz has made huge strides in 2024. He is now ranked No. 4 in the world and was fantastic at the United Cup, where he outplayed Hubert Hurkacz to help the United States claim victory. We are long past the time to wonder if his escape is real. He showed us that this was the case. If Fritz is at the top of his game and everything goes well, he has a real chance of being the first American to win the Australian Open since Andre Agassi in 2003.
Top women’s stories
It is Aryna Sabalenka world, and we all live in it. After winning the 2023 Australian Open and reaching the US Open final, she started 2024 by winning the Australian Open again and finally took home the US Open trophy in September. And when Iga Swiatek, the former world number one, struggled to maintain her high level of play last year, Sabalenka stepped in and started racking up wins. She is now world number 1 and, given her previous dominance in Melbourne, it seems unlikely she will give it up any time soon.
Coco Gauffwho had a disappointing 2024 season, ended the year with a coaching change that has already borne fruit. Not only did she win the WTA Finals, in which she defeated Sabalenka in the semifinals to end the year, but she also started 2025 with a victory over Iga Swiatek to lead Team USA to victory in the United Cup. She looks reinvigorated and, as if to prove it, she was named United Cup MVP. Gauff has already won a major tournament and is considered one of the brightest stars in women’s tennis, but if she continues to play like she did at the United Cup, this could be the year she adds more other major trophies in his case and will fully enter the light. .
Iga Swiatekthe world number 2, will be in Melbourne with a new coach and will try to qualify for the late rounds again. She reached the semifinals in 2022, but was eliminated in the third round in 2023 and 2024. She is looking to get back to solid ground on hard courts, but like Sinner, she remains in the shadow of her positive PED test from last year.
Gauff is the highest-ranked American woman, but she’s not the only one in the top 10. Jessica Pegula is the No. 7 seed, Emma Navarro is the No. 8 seed and Danielle Collins is the No. 10 seed.
Top 10 men’s seeds
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Jannik sinner
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Alexander Zverev
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Carlos Alcaraz
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Taylor Fritz
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Daniel Medvedev
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Casper Ruud
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Novak Djokovic
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Alex de Minaur
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Andrei Rublev
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Grigor Dimitrov
Top 10 women
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Aryna Sabalenka
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Iga Swiatek
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Coco Gauff
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Jasmine Paolini
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Qin Wen Zheng
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Elena Rybakina
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Jessica Pegula
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Emma Navarro
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Daria Kasatkina
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Danielle Collins
