How to watch the 2026 Australian Open on TV, the schedule, seedings and more

MELBOURNE, Australia — Get ready for the 2026 Australian Open with a guide that tells you everything you need to know about how to watch the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season on TV, who the defending champions are, what the schedule is and more:

Opening day at Melbourne Park

Singles play begins Sunday at 11 a.m. local time (6 p.m. Saturday CST) around the grounds, with the first match in Rod Laver Arena scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. Saturday CST).

Where to watch the Australian Open on TV

— ESPN and Tennis Channel

Defending champions at the Australian Open

Madison Keys of the United States and Jannik Sinner of Italy won the 2025 singles trophies. Keys beat No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 for her first Grand Slam trophy. Sinner beat Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to successfully defend his title at Melbourne Park.

Sunday's Australian Open schedule

Seventh-seeded Jasmine Paolini will play Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena, followed by men's No. 3 Alexander Zverev against Gabriel Diallo. The center court night session will feature Sabalenka against Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah followed by Carlos Alcaraz against Adam Walton. Emma Raducanu has the closing match on Margaret Court Arena against Mananchaya Sawangkaew. Venus Williams has the last match on John Cain Arena on Day 1 against Olga Danilovic.

Top seeds

at Melbourne Park

Sabalenka will be the top-seeded woman and Alcaraz the top-seeded man. The draw was held Thursday.

Australian Open betting favorites

Sabalenka is the money-line favorite to win the women’s singles trophy, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. The two-time champion is listed at +190, with Iga Swiatek next at +550. Sinner is the favorite to win a third consecutive men’s championship at -120, ahead of Alcaraz (+175), with a big drop-off to third choice Novak Djokovic (+1200).

More about the year’s first Grand Slam tournament

The Australian Open is played outdoors on hard courts at Melbourne Park, located along the Yarra River near downtown Melbourne. There are retractable roofs at Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena. Women play best-of-three-set matches with a first-to-10, win-by-two tiebreaker at 6-all in the third; men play best-of-five with a tiebreaker at 6-all in the fifth. Like at the U.S. Open and French Open, there are night sessions. The tournament is staged each year around the last two weeks of January, during the school summer break Down Under.

What's new at this year's Australian Open

The Australian Open has introduced “opening week” where the Melbourne Park precinct is open to the public from the start of the qualifying tournament, and live music was staged every night at Grand Slam Oval. Fans were able to watch open practice sessions in Rod Laver Arena to see some of the sport's biggest names preparing for the first major of the year. Tennis Australia says more than 175,000 fans attended across Monday to Friday. On Wednesday, as part of the pre-tournament activities, a little-known local amateur player beat Jannik Sinner and went on to make himself a millionaire in Australian dollars after winning the 1 Point Slam.

Who's back this year at Melbourne Park

Williams is set to become the oldest woman at 45 to compete in an Australian Open main draw, surpassing the record previously held by Japan's Kimiko Date, who was 44 when she lost in the first round at Melbourne Park in 2015. Williams received a wild-card entry. And another familiar face is back but not playing competitively — Roger Federer. He was part of Saturday night's opening ceremony. On Friday, Federer returned to a packed-out Rod Laver Arena for the first time since 2020 for a practice session with Casper Rudd.

Who's missing at the Australian Open

Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, withdrew from the Australian Open just before the start of the tournament, citing an oblique injury. He was supposed to face No. 6 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia in the first round. Mackenzie McDonald, an American who lost in qualifying, was moved into the main draw to replace Berrettini and will play de Minaur.

Singles schedule at the Australian Open

— Jan. 18-19-20: First Round (Women and Men)

— Jan. 21-22: Second Round (Women and Men)

— Jan. 23-24: Third Round (Women and Men)

— Jan. 25-26: Fourth Round (Women and Men)

— Jan. 27-28: Quarterfinals (Women and Men)

— Jan. 29: Women’s Semifinals

— Jan. 30: Men’s Semifinals

— Jan. 31: Women’s Final

— Feb. 1: Men’s Final

Get caught up before the Australian Open begins

— Alcaraz, Sinner and Swiatek head to Australian Open in search of a career Grand Slam

— Novak Djokovic is taking a new approach to Grand Slam appearances

— Venus Williams is excited to be back at Melbourne Park after a 5-year absence

— What to know about the 2026 Australian Open

— Madison Keys pictures herself as a champion again in Australia

— The 1 Point Slam isn’t likely to be a one-hit wonder

— Alcaraz, Sinner, Djokovic, Shelton lead the 2026 Australian Open men’s field

— Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, Keys and Venus Williams highlight the 2026 Australian Open women’s field

— Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka describes the season schedule as ‘insane’

— Coco Gauff adds some context on the 'worst' fans

— The ATP is adding a heat rule like the one the women have had for 30 years

— Nick Kyrgios will play doubles but not singles at the Australian Open

2026 prize money

at the Australian Open

Australian Open prize money has increased by 16% from last year to a record total in local currency of 111.5 million Australian dollars ($75 million). That was up from 96.5 million Australian dollars in 2025. The women’s and men’s singles champions will win 4.15 million Australian dollars ($2.8 million), a 19% increase from last year.