The two defending champions, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, enter the 2025 Australian Open as favorites to win in Melbourne again.

Jannik Sinner will try to put a doping scandal behind him when he kicks off his Australian Open defence against Nicolas Jarry, while Aryna Sabalenka's bid for a hat-trick of titles starts on Sunday against Sloane Stephens.

Plus: How much tickets are likely to cost, the longest final in tournament’s history and who are the defending champions

The rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz is now the greatest show in tennis and fans of the sport must be pinching themselves that the legend has hung around long enough to engage in another great conquest against a champion.

Defending champion Jannik Sinner and 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic have landed in opposite sides of the draw for the season’s first major, ruling out a replay of last year’s semifinal encounter.

Naomi Osaka, a two-time champion in Australia, stopped playing because of a strained abdominal muscle after dropping the first set of her match against Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic.

The fact that both players had a rather successful 2024, ending the year at the top in the men’s and women’s rankings, respectively, have made them favourites to win the Australian Open — dubbed the H

The 2025 Australian Open runs from Sunday, Jan. 12 to Sunday, Jan. 26. However, due to the time difference in The Land Down Under, match start times will be a bit wonky for U.S. viewers, meaning the first major tennis tournament of the year will start airing coverage at 7 p.m. ET on Jan. 11 in U.S. timezones.

Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek were both subject to doping cases last year, which has overshadowed their participation at the Australian Open.

In a new Daily Dose of Social Media, we see how players take advantage of moments off-court to have fun and share time with those close to them. Coco Gauff

Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a third consecutive Australian Open championship will continue after she got past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a surprisingly difficult quarterfinal.