MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Get ready for the 2026 Australian Open with a guide that tells you everything you need to know about how to watch the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season on TV, who the defending champions are, what the schedule is and more:
Opening day at Melbourne Park
Singles play begins Sunday at 11 a.m. local time (7 p.m. Saturday EST) around the grounds, with the first match in Rod Laver Arena scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m. Saturday EST).
Where to watch the Australian Open on TV
— In the U.S.: ESPN and Tennis Channel
— Other countries are listed here
Defending champions at the Australian Open
Madison Keys of the United States and Jannik Sinner of Italy won the 2025 singles trophies. Keys beat No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 for her first Grand Slam trophy. Sinner beat Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to successfully defend his title at Melbourne Park.
Top seeds
in Melbourne
Sabalenka will be the top-seeded woman and Carlos Alcaraz the top-seeded man. They currently are ranked No. 1, and the tournament seedings usually follow the WTA and ATP rankings. The draw was held Thursday. Sabalenka and Alcaraz will play back-to-back in the night session at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday’s opening day.
Who are the betting favorites at the 2026 Australian Open?
Sabalenka is the money-line favorite to win the women’s singles trophy, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. The two-time champion is listed at +175, with Iga Swiatek next at +450. Coco Gauff is the third choice at +600. Sinner is the favorite to grab a third consecutive men’s championship at -140, ahead of Alcaraz (+175), with a big drop-off to third choice Novak Djokovic (+1000).
More about the year’s first Grand Slam tournament
The Australian Open is played outdoors on hard courts at Melbourne Park, located along the Yarra River near downtown Melbourne. There are retractable roofs at Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena. Women play best-of-three-set matches with a first-to-10, win-by-two tiebreaker at 6-all in the third; men play best-of-five with a tiebreaker at 6-all in the fifth. Like at the U.S. Open and French Open, there are night sessions. The tournament is staged each year around the last two weeks of January, during the school summer break Down Under.
What’s new this year
The Australian Open is introducing “opening week” where the Melbourne Park precinct is open to the public from the start of the qualifying tournament, and live music will be staged every night at Grand Slam Oval. Fans can watch open practice sessions in Rod Laver Arena to see some of the sport’s biggest names preparing for the first major of the year. Tennis Australia says a crowd of 29,261 attended on Monday — last year, 7,543 fans attended the first day of qualifying. On Wednesday, as part of the pre-tournament activities, a little-known local amateur player beat Jannik Sinner and went on to make himself a millionaire in Australian dollars after winning the 1 Point Slam.
Who’s back this year
Venus Williams is set to become the oldest woman at 45 to compete in an Australian Open main draw, surpassing the record previously held by Japan’s Kimiko Date, who was 44 when she lost in the first round at Melbourne Park in 2015. Williams, who received a wild-card entry, plays her first match Sunday night against Olga Danilovic. And another familiar face is back, but not playing — Roger Federer. He’s part of Saturday night’s opening ceremony but on Friday, Federer returned to a packed-out Rod Laver Arena for the first time since 2020 for a practice session with Casper Rudd. The 44-year-old Federer, who retired in 2022, clinched six of his 20 Grand Slam singles titles at Melbourne Park.
Singles schedule at the Australian Open
— Jan. 18-19-20: First Round (Women and Men)
— Jan. 21-22: Second Round (Women and Men)
— Jan. 23-24: Third Round (Women and Men)
— Jan. 25-26: Fourth Round (Women and Men)
— Jan. 27-28: Quarterfinals (Women and Men)
— Jan. 29: Women’s Semifinals
— Jan. 30: Men’s Semifinals
— Jan. 31: Women’s Final
— Feb. 1: Men’s Final
Stories to read before Australian Open play begins
— Alcaraz, Sinner and Swiatek head to Australian Open in search of a career Grand Slam
— Alcaraz, Sinner, Djokovic, Shelton lead the 2026 Australian Open men’s field
— Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, Keys and Venus Williams highlight the 2026 Australian Open women’s field
— Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka describes the season schedule as ‘insane’
— Coco Gauff adds some context on the ‘worst’ fans
— Novak Djokovic is cutting ties with the Professional Tennis Players Association
— Venus Williams gets a wild-card entry for the Australian Open, at age 45
— Carlos Alcaraz ends his 7-year partnership with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero
— The ATP is adding a heat rule like the one the women have had for 30 years
— Nick Kyrgios will play doubles but not singles at the Australian Open
2026 prize money
at the Australian Open
Australian Open prize money has increased by 16% from last year to a record total in local currency of 111.5 million Australian dollars ($75 million). That was up from 96.5 million Australian dollars in 2025. The women’s and men’s singles champions will win 4.15 million Australian dollars ($2.8 million), a 19% increase from last year.
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