Preview | 2026 Australian Open
Alcaraz and Swiatek chase career grand slams in Melbourne
How things can change in twelve months.
When I wrote my reflection on last year’s event: Jannik Sinner won while nervously awaiting his CAS hearing, Madison Keys was imperious, Iga Swiatek’s game was unmoored, and little known Joao Fonseca broke out with a victory over Andrey Rublev.
As I write this preview, for the first time from Melbourne, those issues are distant memories for Sinner and Swiatek while Keys and Fonseca have endured more challenges than joy since those peaks.
The champion in 2024 and 2025, Sinner will look to become the first man since Novak Djokovic (2019-21) to win three consecutive Australian Opens this coming fortnight. As usual, it will be up to world no.1 Carlos Alcaraz to stop him though the Serb will still hope to make an impression on his favourite event at 38.
This will be the first grand slam for Alcaraz without the guidance of Juan Carlos Ferrero after their surprising split at the end of last season. How will the absence of a man who has coached him since the age of 15 affect the Spaniard? And beyond the top two, can anyone even mildly disrupt the duopoly? The last eight majors have gone to either Alcaraz or Sinner.
On the women’s side, with the nonsense of her Battle of the Sexes match out of the way, world no.1 Aryna Sabalenka will attempt to make a fourth straight final at Melbourne Park, and earn a third championship ideally. Now on four majors overall, the 27-year-old can join the likes of Martina Hingis, Althea Gibson and Maria Sharapova on five with a victory.
After a period of disarray, Iga Swiatek made a statement with her unlikely run to the Wimbledon title last summer and like Alcaraz, only needs an Aussie Open title to complete the career grand slam.
Unlike the men’s side, we absolutely could see a challenge from beyond the top two with Wimbledon and US Open finalist Amanda Anisimova, two-time major winner Coco Gauff, and 2023 finalist Elena Rybakina the likeliest contenders. The jury is out on Madison Keys’ chances to retain her title given recent struggles.
For 2026, there has been a huge 15% jump in prize money for the field with the singles champions due to earn €2.4 million apiece.
Men's Draw
While we now have a Ferrero-less Carlos Alcaraz, that shouldn’t be much of an issue early on.
After that spectacular US Open triumph, the 22-year-old closed out his 2025 campaign with a run to the last day of the ATP Finals where he was narrowly beaten by Sinner. The world no.1 starts against the world no.79 Adam Walton and will be pretty happy with a section that also includes Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Tommy Paul.
The Australian Open is statistically Alcaraz’s worst major as he is yet to make it past the last eight in Melbourne. As mentioned earlier, if the Spaniard lifts the title in a fortnight, he would become the youngest male to complete the career grand slam.
The second section of the top half sees two form players duke it out to (presumably) meet Alcaraz in the quarters.
Alexander Bublik finally found the right code to unlock his game in 2025 and had by far the best year of his career with 37 wins and four titles. The Kazakh starts against Jensen Brooksby and will hope to correct a wretched record in Melbourne where he is yet to make the third round.
Alongside Bublik we find the home favourite, Alex de Minaur. At the peak of his powers, the 26-year-old sits comfortably in the top 10 after a colossal 2025 season where he recorded 56 match wins and made the ATP Finals for the first time. He will fancy his chances of getting another crack at a quarter-final, but there are easier starts than Matteo Berretini. Meanwhile, Wimbledon quarter-finalist Flavio Cobolli is an interesting lurker in this section.
Moving to the second quarter, you could rudely call this the ‘sandwich section’ as we find Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev residing.
While a finalist last year, the gulf in quality between Zverev and a good, rather than exceptional, Sinner seems to have left a mark. It’s not a surprise that the 28-year-old is searching for direction with two younger guys far ahead of him. As for Rublev, the Russian was stunned this time last year by the emerging Fonseca and will hope to avoid that fate once more.
That said, you would still fancy Zverev and Rublev to progress here though I am interested to see if the revitalised Cam Norrie can act as a spoiler.
Finally in the top half, we get the refreshed pair of Daniil Medvedev and Felix Auger-Aliassime. They will probably meet in the fourth round though the impressive 20-year-old Learner Tien could disrupt proceedings.
In the bottom half, there’s a spicy fifth section with world no.5 Lorenzo Musetti, Taylor Fritz, a fit again Grigor Dimitrov, Jiri Lehecka, Tomas Machac, Stefanos Tsitsipas and in his last outing Down Under, Stan Wawrinka. This section could be a lot of fun with the victor likely to face a 24-time major winner in the last eight.
In his 22nd appearance at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic can earn his 100th match win at Melbourne Park by seeing off Pedro Martinez in round one. The 38-year-old will have designs beyond that though as he has landed in an inviting section alongside Jakub Mensik and Hubert Hurkacz.
If Djokovic’s level remains similar to last season, he is still perfectly capable of steaming through the first week. Problems arise in the second when fatigue and age start to catch up with him.
In the penultimate section, we have another cracker with Casper Ruud, Ben Shelton, Marin Cilic and Denis Shapovalov fighting for the unfortunate privilege of facing Jannik Sinner in the last eight.
The two-time defending champion will begin against Hugo Gaston and it may well be a procession through the early rounds unless something extraordinary happens. Unfortunately for the boisterous Brazilian fans on-site and around the world, Joao Fonseca is projected to meet Sinner in the third round.
Women's Draw
Aryna Sabalenka could not have asked for a better warm up for the Open than her surge to the Brisbane title. The Belarusian did not drop a set all week and saw off the challenges of Madison Keys, Karolina Muchova and Marta Kostyuk.
She may need some of that panache here as the 27-year-old has been given a decent, rather than great, draw. Sabalenka should overcome French wild card Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah comfortably before a potentially interesting run of matches.
The world no.1 could face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (2nd), Emma Raducanu (3rd) and then Victoria Mboko/Clara Tauson (4th) to get out of the section. Sabalenka is clearly favourite to get through but there could be some dicey moments.
In the last eight, Sabalenka will more than likely face Jasmine Paolini or Brisbane finalist Marta Kostyuk as they emerge from the weakest section of the draw.
In the third section of the top half we find Coco Gauff. After the American pulled off that shock Roland Garros win last season, she enjoyed a decent end to 2025 with a deep run in Beijing followed by the title at Wuhan.
As always with Coco, it’s a case of keeping the technical issues at bay so that she can rely on her supreme movement, competitiveness and backhand. She will need those qualities as the 21-year-old has been given very tricky company in Marketa Vondrousova, Karolina Muchova and the rising Alexandra Eala.
The fourth section is led by Mirra Andreeva, who looked superb in the Adelaide final as she dismissed Victoria Mboko in straights. The 18-year-old is joined by a motley crew that includes Barbora Krejcikova, Elina Svitolina and Diana Schnaider.
Moving to the bottom half, there is a distinctly North American flavour to the fifth section with defending champ Madison Keys there with Jessica Pegula and Leylah Fernandez.
While Keys has had a mixed time of it since her maiden grand slam, she should really get through the early rounds here. Fernandez is one to watch after two hardcourt titles in 2025 brought her back to the attention of the tennis world after a dormant stretch.
The winner of this section will probably face another North American in Amanda Anisimova. The Wimbledon and US Open finalist has been handed a very appetising path through to the quarters with Linda Noskova and Jelena Ostapenko the only players with real pedigree around her.
The penultimate section contains two stellar competitors in Elena Rybakina and Belinda Bencic. The Kazakh finished 2025 superbly as she claimed the title in Ningbo before taking the WTA Finals by storm, winning all her matches in Riyadh to return to the world’s top five. Bencic also enjoyed a brilliant comeback season with two titles and a run to the last four at Wimbledon.
You would expect Rybakina and Bencic to take control of the section and compete for the chance to (presumably) face Iga Swiatek in the last eight.
The Pole is of course in the bottom section and will be encouraged by her path. There isn’t really anyone in the early rounds to trouble the world no.2 unless Swiatek is really off. A blockbuster clash could potentially happen in the fourth round with two-time champion Naomi Osaka a potential opponent.
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