Australian Open Men’s & Women’s Preview 2024
On a 28-match winning streak at Melbourne Park, Novak Djokovic has triumphed in his past four Australian Open campaigns and in 2024 will target an extraordinary 11th AO title.
But will somebody finally stop the rampaging world No.1 on his favorite court in the world?
The top four women have separated themselves from the pack and all have started the new season brilliantly, making it tough to pick a winner from that quartet.
For the first time ever, the 2024 Australian Open will begin on a Sunday, a shift from its traditional 14-day schedule to 15 days.
Novak Djokovic enters as the reigning champion, looking to win his 25th career Grand Slam and his 11th at the Australian Open.
The Serbian No. 1 seed has won the Australian Open in four of the last five years, with his sole loss at the 2022 Australian Open, a tournament he was unable to play in due to his COVID-19 vaccination status.
With Rafael Nadal’s sudden withdrawal due to injury, former world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka is the only other Australian Open champion in the men’s draw.
On the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka enters as the reigning champion, as just a year ago she earned her best ever result on a magical run, winning her first ever Grand Slam while dropping just one set.
While Sabalenka enters with hopes of winning her second title and defending her points, this is a draw highlighted by experience that includes six Australian Open champions; three were not playing here last year, namely Angelique Kerber (2016), Caroline Wozniacki (2018), and Naomi Osaka (2019, 2021).
Whether Sabalenka is able to defend her points or a former champion takes us down memory lane, should Sabalenka advance to the quarterfinal, she will join Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati as the only women this century to reach the quarterfinal in six straight Grand Slam tournaments.
With the tournament set to begin this weekend, here’s everything you need to know for the men’s and women’s draws.
Dates: Jan. 14-28
Site: Melbourne Park
TV: ESPN and ESPN2
Live Stream: ESPN+ and ESPN App
Despite his historic success in Melbourne, top seed Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title and 11th at the Australian Open is expected to be anything but easy.
Potential challengers looming include Andy Murray in the third round, No. 16 seed Ben Shelton in the fourth round, No. 7 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinal—a rematch of the 2023 Australian Open final—and then, to top it all off, No. 4 seed Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.
Djokovic should be able to push his way through Murray, Shelton, and Tstisipas, but it is Sinner who can pose the problem.
While the 24-time grand slam champion does hold the edge over Sinner 2-0 in Grand Slam matches and has come back down two sets to the Italian, he’s lost two of his last three matches against Sinner, who enters with warranted confidence and momentum after beginning the year as the world No. 4, a career-best ranking.
Sinner has elevated his game to a point that has troubled Djokovic in recent months and will likely do so again.
In the bottom half of the draw, Carlos Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed, is the headliner.
However, the Spaniard faces a tricky test in possible matchups with No. 14 seed Tommy Paul and No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev before even reaching the semifinal, where he could take on No. 3 seed and hard-court specialist Daniil Medvedev.
While there’s no denying Alcaraz’s brilliance on the court, he endured struggles on hard-court surfraces towards the end of 2023, where he has looked beatable.
This half of the draw favors Daniil Medvedev, who, though stunningly upset by Sebastian Korda in the third round of the 2023 Australian Open, had reached the final the previous two years and favors these court conditions.
Since winning the 2023 Australian Open, Aryna Sabalenka has been on quite the run, making at least the semifinals at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.
Sabalenka has quite the favorable draw until the quarterfinal, where she would face tougher opponents in No. 6 seed Ons Jabeur, whom she holds a 4-2 career record against, and No. 4 seed Coco Gauff, who defeated Sabalenka just months ago at the 2023 US Open Women’s Final.
In the top half of the draw, it is Iga Swiatek whose name draws all the attention, but she has quite a difficult draw.
After encountering former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round, Swiatek will then potentially face another challenging opponent—either former champion Angelique Kerber or former runner-up Danielle Collins.
Swiatek, who is likely to advance these tricky tests, will again have to face a pair of difficult players in the two most recent Wimbledon champions, Marketa Vondrousova and Elena Rybakina.
Swiatek has won all three career matches against Vondrousova in straight sets and is expected to narrowly get by again.
Though the Rybakina match poses much more concern, Rybakina has won two of their three completed career matches and defeated the Pole just a year ago in the Australian Open 2022 Round of 16.
A rematch between Rybakina and Sabalenka in the finals wouldn’t be surprising, though this time the victor might be different.