The Australian Open starts Sunday, the first major tournament on the calendar and the unofficial kickoff for the 2025 tennis season. Let the bright sun and electric blue courts of Melbourne transport you to the other side of the world, where it’s summer instead of dreary winter.
Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner will be seeking to defend their 2024 titles, but they will each have heavy competition to claim the 2025 women’s and men’s singles trophies.
Top men’s storylines
Novak Djokovic may be the seventh seed, but his previous success in Melbourne can’t be ignored. Now 37, he had an off year in 2024, winning no Grand Slams for the first time since 2017. All things considered, an “off year” for Djokovic would be other players’ apex — in 2024 he won the Olympic gold medal he’d been chasing his entire career. Armed with new coach Andy Murray (yes, that Andy Murray), Djokovic now seeks to win his 11th career Australian Open trophy and his record 25th Grand Slam.
Jannik Sinner is the Aussie Open defending champion in men’s singles. His 2024 trophy was his first Grand Slam win, and it kicked off an electric year that saw him claim the world No. 1, win his first US Open, lead Italy to victory in the Davis Cup, and win the ATP Finals. 2024 also saw him test positive for a banned substance, which he says entered his system through a spray used by his massage therapist. He avoided a suspension after an independent tribunal of the International Tennis Integrity Agency ruled in August he was not to blame. The Australian Open will be our first chance to see Sinner in 2025 as he has not yet played this year.
World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz will be looking to reclaim some glory after his 2024 season ended roughly. He won his first French Open and second Wimbledon last year, but after that his play took a mighty dip. He lost in the first round of the Cincinnati Open and the second round of the US Open, which he won in 2022, and couldn’t advance out of the group stage at the ATP Finals. He, like Sinner, hasn’t yet played in 2025, but prepare for him to come out swinging (both literally and metaphorically) — the Aussie Open is the only Grand Slam he needs to win to complete the career slam.
American Taylor Fritz made enormous strides in 2024. He’s now ranked No. 4 in the world and looked fantastic at the United Cup, where he out-served Hubert Hurkacz to help the USA to victory. We’re long past the time of asking whether his breakout is for real. He’s shown us that it is. If Fritz is at the top of his game and everything breaks right, he has a real chance of being the first U.S. man to win the Australian Open since Andre Agassi in 2003.
Top women’s storylines
It’s Aryna Sabalenka’s world, and we’re all just living in it. After winning the 2023 Australian Open and making the US Open final, she began 2024 by winning the Aussie Open again, and finally brought home the US Open trophy in September. And when Iga Swiatek, the former world No. 1, uncharacteristically struggled to maintain her high level of play last year, Sabalenka swooped in and began racking up wins. She’s now the world No. 1, and with her previous dominance in Melbourne, seems unlikely to give it up anytime soon.
Coco Gauff, who had a disappointing 2024 season, ended the year with a coaching change that has already paid dividends. Not only did she win the WTA Finals, in which she beat Sabalenka in the semifinals to end the year, she began 2025 with a win over Iga Swiatek to lead Team USA to victory in the United Cup. She looks revived, and as if to prove it she was named the United Cup MVP. Gauff has already won a major and is considered one of the brightest stars of women’s tennis, but if she keeps playing like she did at the United Cup, this could be the year she adds more major trophies to her case and fully steps into the light.
Iga Swiatek, the world No. 2, will be in Melbourne with a new coach, and will be trying to make it to the late rounds again. She made it to the semifinals in 2022, but went out in the third round in 2023 and 2024. She’s looking to get back on solid ground on hard courts, but like Sinner, remains under 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.
Men’s top 10 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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Daniil Medvedev
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Casper Ruud
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Novak Djokovic
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Alex de Minaur
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Andrey Rublev
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Grigor Dimitrov
Women’s top 10 seeds
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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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Qinwen 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
