The Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slams to take place on the tennis calendar each season. Played at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, the action always gets underway in mid-January each year and runs for a fortnight. As well as men’s and women’s singles events, there are also men’s and women’s doubles, mixed doubles, junior championships and more played during the Australian Open.
After being founded in 1905, the Australian Open was originally played on a grass surface before being converted to a hard-court tournament in 1987. This has made the action more fast-paced and exciting, which is arguably why the Australian Open is also the highest attended of all the Grand Slams.
The most successful Australian Open men’s singles winner is Novak Djokovic, who has won the competition on ten occasions, while the current defending champion is Jannik Sinner. Margaret Court has won the women’s singles event the most (11), and the current defending champion is Aryna Sabalenka, who hails from Belarus.
When is the Australian Open?
The Australian Open is always the first Grand Slam of the year, and it begins in the middle of January and runs across two weeks, which also sees it take in the Australia Day holiday. The 2025 Australian Open will start on Sunday, January 12, 2025, and it will end on Sunday, January 26, 2025.
The final two dates, Saturday, January 25, 2025 and Sunday, January 26, 2025, are the two most important. On the Saturday, the Women’s Singles Final and the Men’s Doubles Final will take place. The following day, the Sunday, will see both the Men’s Singles Final and the Women’s Doubles Final play out.
When is the Australian Open Draw?
The provisional draw for the 2025 Australian Open was made in November. But it’s not the official draw and the draw that everyone is waiting for. The provisional draw presents the skeleton for what’s to come in terms of qualifying rounds, rounds, and the knockout stages that come after.
The main draw, which will determine who is playing who and when, usually happens several days before the tournament begins. This time, the draw will be made on Thursday, January 10, 2024, at the Margaret Court Arena in a special ceremony.
Current favourites for the Australian Open Men’s Singles
It’s very difficult to look past the defending champion and the most successful men’s singles player the Australian Open has ever seen ahead of the tournament in 2024. Novak Djokovic is at the top of the Australian Open odds list, and he deserves to be marked as favourite. The Serb loves the competition, and he knows that victory in Melbourne would not only see him break his own record for Australian Open successes, but it would also strengthen his position as world number one.
Of course, while Djokovic is odds-on with some sports betting operators, it’s not a done deal. The thirty-six-year-old headed into Wimbledon, and everyone expected that he’d come out on top, but he lost in the final to Carlos Alcaraz. Alcaraz is another favourite to win the Australian Open, which would be something, as in his only ever appearance previously, he made it as far as the third round. Reigning champion Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev also feature high on the odds list and will be expected to put in a challenge and at least make it into the later rounds of the competition.
Current favourites for the Australian Open Women’s Singles
As you’d expect, defending Australian Open Women’s Singles champion Aryna Sabalenka is one of the favourites to win the tournament. Having won the Australian Open for the past two years, she’s enjoyed a fantastic run and will be looking to continue that form through to 2025. The Belarusian is also the world number one, so you can see why she’s at the top where the tennis odds for this competition are concerned.
Iga Swiatek is another front runner for the Women’s Singles Australian Open title. Her best finish in Melbourne was the semi-finals in 2022, and she’ll be desperate to go one better. Elena Rybakina is also fancied to have a good tournament, and she’s another player who will seek to go one better. She was the beaten finalist in 2023 and did win the first set before losing out to Sabalenka.
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