The Tour calendar does open with some warm up events in anticipation of the first Grand Slam of the season, but is the Australian Open that most players will be focusing on as they return from the relatively short off-season.
Some players are demanding a change in the overall calendar, but the huge sums picked up to play exhibition events are perhaps meaning there is little sympathy for them- the 'Battle of the Sexes' last month was one that did not captivate quite as much as the participants and organisers would have hoped.
That is not to say there is no room for creative thinking and all credit has to be given to the Australian Open for putting together the concept of the 'One Point Slam', which involved top pros as well as amateur competitors.
Having an amateur win will have gained plenty of headlines and follows the US Open creating a new Mixed Doubles event days before the main Grand Slam got underway.
Bringing in new eyes is a big motivator for any sport and so events like those at those two Grand Slam events have to be respected and the guess is that the French Open and Wimbledon may end up putting their creative teams together to think of a way for further revenue to be created.
New ideas will be discussed, but the Grand Slam tournaments are likely going to be dominated by very familiar names.
After combining to take all four Slams home last season, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are clear favourites in the men's tournament in Melbourne.
The Italian has been the more dominant on the hard courts, but it was Alcaraz who won the US Open.
However, Jannik Sinner is the favourite at Melbourne Park and that is because he is the two time defending Champion.
A potential Third Round match with Joao Fonseca will certainly grab the headlines, but it does feel like men's tennis is lacking a bit of depth with the top two players clear of the rest.
They have faced off in Paris, London and New York City for the biggest prizes and another in Melbourne looks most likely, even if the Australian Open is historically a Grand Slam that throws up plenty of upsets and surprising contenders.
Last season it was Aryna Sabalenka looking for a third straight Australian Open success, but she was upset in the Final and 2025 was a slightly disappointing year for the World Number 1.
She did win the US Open to avoid a year without a Grand Slam being secured, but I think Sabalenka expects more and she will be there or thereabout as usual.
The women's tournaments remain wide open though and a player has not won consecutive Grand Slam titles since the Australian Open in 2021, which may be a trend that means people look elsewhere for a Champion.
Elena Rybakina ended last year in strong form and is very comfortable on the hard courts, but you would consider the first three Grand Slam Champions of last season as upset winners.
Madison Keys is the defending Champion, but she looks unlikely to repeat as Champion, and you can make the case for a number of players to have strong runs.
After the draw was made, it is perhaps surprising that Aryna Sabalenka has hardened as favourite with some dangerous players around her quarter. However, if she can get past a couple of those players with 'potential', Sablenka's business end of the tournament looks much better in the top half compared with whoever is going to come out of the bottom half of the draw.
It feels like a matter of time before Mirra Andreeva makes a big breakthrough by winning a Grand Slam, but her draw looks awkward, while the likes of Iga Swiatek, Amanda Anisimova and Elena Rybakina may have to come through multiple tests, as well as each other, and then hope to have something left in the tank if they are able to reach the Final in two weeks time.
Things can change very quickly with an upset or two littered through the draw, and the women's events have thrown up plenty of those, but you can understand the position of the layers by placing Aryna Sabalenka as the favourtie.
The Australian Open is another Grand Slam that begins on Sunday with the First Round split over the first three days of the tournament.
Opening selections from Day 1 can be read below as the first Grand Slam of the season gets underway in much warmer and sunnier conditions than we are experiencing in the United Kingdom.
Elina Svitolina - 5.5 games v Cristina Bucsa: Throughout her career, Elina Svitolina has been a serial Quarter Finalist at Grand Slam events with a couple of Semi Final runs sprinkled in.
Last year was the third time she has reached the Quarter Final here in Melbourne, but that is where the Svitolina runs have tended to come to a conclusion. The World Number 12 has not been beaten in the First Round at the Australian Open since her debut campaign and Elina Svitolina will enter the 2026 tournament with the confidence of having won a title already in the preparation event in Auckland.
This should give Svitolina the confidence to beat Cristina Bucsa, even if the latter has just entered the top 50 in the Rankings for the first time in her career.
After battling past her opening opponent in Brisbane, Cristina Bucsa was crushed by the current World Number 1 and that means she is just 4-9 in matches against top 50 Ranked opponents on the hard courts over the last twelve months. An upset over Elise Mertens at the US Open has to be respected, but in those nine defeats, five have been suffered by a margin that would see Bucsa fail to cover this spread.
Much of this First Round match could come down to the Elina Svitolina second serve- if she can avoid giving away too many of those or if she can protect it a little better, it should mean Svitolina is in control of this match.
You do have to note that Elina Svitolina is not someone who avoids upsets as regularly as some of the top names on the WTA Tour, but she is 10-5 on the hard courts over the last twelve months when facing players outside of the top 20 in the World Rankings.
Two of those defeats have been to former Grand Slam Champions making their way back onto the Tour, but overall the numbers suggest the Ukrainian does protect her second serve well enough to beat a player like Cristina Bucsa.
The Bucsa second serve has proven to be very vulnerable against the better players on the Tour over the last twelve months and that may see Svitolina surpass this big spread.
Maria Sakkari - 4.5 games v Leolia Jeanjean: The first thing you have to state is that Maria Sakkari is unlikely to get back to the level that once took her to two Grand Slam Semi Finals.
That was back in 2021 and Sakkari enters the 2026 Australian Open as the World Number 52 at 30 years old.
She finished last year with a losing record on the hard courts and has opened 2026 with a 2-2 record, which suggests Maria Sakkari is not going to have a long journey in Melbourne.
However, she is going to be well backed by the crowd and has been given a very strong scheduling spot to underline the kind of support she is expected to receive.
It also helps that the First Round draw has seen Sakkari drawn to face Leolia Jeanjean who has lost both matches played this year and is now 2-11 in hard court matches against top 100 Ranked opponents over the last twelve months.
The Frenchwoman has really struggled with her return of serve in those matches and that has to give Maria Sakkari an edge, even if the Greek player is not the most trustworthy player on the Tour as the form has dipped significantly from her best.
In the last twelve months, Maria Sakkari is 9-4 on the hard courts when facing players Ranked lower than herself and there should still be enough in the tank to secure relatively safe passage through this First Round match.
The last time these players met in 2022 was on a grass court, but it was a match that Maria Sakkari won with a little room to spare and that may be the case again in the First Round of the Australian Open in January 2026.
Sebastian Korda - 1.5 sets v Michael Zheng: Over the last several years, there have been a number of players who have successfully chosen to play the North American College circuit before moving onto the Tour. Instead of starting very young and potentially burning out, those players have tended to be a bit more mature and able to handle the next step, while also getting plenty of competitive tennis under their belts.
Michael Zheng looks to be the latest to come through that route and has won three Qualifiers to take his place in the main draw at the opening Grand Slam of the season.
He was beaten in the Qualifiers for the US Open back in August, but Michael Zheng has won multiple titles on the Challenger circuit in 2025, while also reaching Finals in others.
That all means Michael Zheng will be entering the tournament at a career high World Ranking mark and could soon be progressing that further.
His opponent in the First Round should be familiar to Zheng and Sebastian Korda is likely to be well aware of the talent that is standing on the other side of the net.
Eighteen months ago, Sebastian Korda was firmly inside the top 20 of the World Rankings, but he enters the Australian Open as the World Number 51 as injury and a loss of form has just slowed the momentum. There is clearly a very good player here, but Korda has yet to put it all together as effectively as he would have liked and that means he has only reached the second week of a Grand Slam three times with one of those ending in a Quarter Final appearance.
That final eight appearance was right here in Melbourne three years ago, but it has been a disappointing time for Sebastian Korda for much of the time since and especially when it comes to the Grand Slam events.
He has tended to be a consistent player on the hard courts, but there is room for improvement on the return of serve, which would also spark a bit of momentum in his tennis.
In the last twelve months, Sebastian Korda has an 11-3 record on the hard courts when facing an opponent outside of the top 50 and you have to believe that at this stage of his career that he still has the edge over a very strong College player, but one that is yet to face a player of the quality of Korda on the professional Tour.
Michael Zheng may win a set, but you have to believe Sebastian Korda has enough about him to secure passage in four sets at least.
Frances Tiafoe - 4.5 games v Jason Kubler: It may feel like he has been around on the Tour forever, but Frances Tiafoe is 'only' turning 28 years old later this month and you have to feel there is still more to come from the American. He has slipped back to World Number 31 ahead of this tournament having failed to reach the Fourth Round in three of the four Grand Slam events played in 2025 and so the American can turn things back around with some strong efforts at the top tournaments.
In reality it has long felt like Frances Tiafoe has not really pushed onto the next level and hsi numbers have been steady, rather than spectacular.
There are 'x factors' that have helped him overcome some of those numbers and win the tight matches, but that somewhat deserted him in 2025 when finishing with a really disappointing 14-14 record on the hard courts.
One of the reasons for that record is the drop in the service numbers and Frances Tiafoe will know there is room for improvement.
He will need to handle the crowd in this opening match at the Australian Open against an Australian Qualifier and Jason Kubler is very comfortable on the hard courts, which makes him potentially dangerous.
Three wins on the board will mean Jason Kubler has a lot of confidence ahead of the main draw beginning and he only dropped a single set.
However, this is just the fifth match he will have had on the hard courts against a top 100 Ranked opponent over the last twelve months and you cannot dismiss the step up against a former top ten Ranked opponent.
Jason Kubler can return well enough to hurt Frances Tiafoe, especially with the service issues the American had in 2025, but this has been a tough match up for him in the past and the home hope may struggle to stick with the current World Number 31 in a best of five set format.
They have not faced one another since 2023, but Frances Tiafoe has won all three pro matches between these two players.
In the two previous hard court matches, Frances Tiafoe has proven to be the much more effective server and you have to feel that is going to be the outcome of this one.
Even if he drops a set, Frances Tiafoe may still have enough to eventually overcome this spread line set and he can be backed to do that this Sunday.
Alexander Zverev - 5.5 games v Gabriel Diallo: It would be harsh to suggest the window has closed for Alexander Zverev in his bid to win a maiden Grand Slam title, but the World Number 3 feels like he is a big step behind the top two players in the world.
Plenty of Semi Final runs and a few Final appearances scattered in would represent a hugely successful season for some, but Alexander Zverev has long been spoken about a potential Major winner and has come up short. That includes twelve months ago here in Melbourne when he was beaten in straight sets by Jannik Sinner in the Final, and Zverev will be very disappointed that the rest of 2025 ended with just one more Major Quarter Final run.
Some thoughts will already have turned to the potential showdowns with Carlos Alcaraz and/or Jannik Sinner, but Alexander Zverev has to make sure he does not overlook any opponent.
First up is a match against Gabriel Diallo, who is the World Number 41 and represents about as stiff a challenge as any Seeded player could have had in the opening Round.
A few months ago Gabriel Diallo would have been close to being a Seeded player, but his form has dropped off and he is 1-2 on the hard courts to open this season.
The serve is going to be the key for the Canadian- he will need to serve well and see if he can put some pressure on Alexander Zverev, although the problem for Gabriel Diallo is that he does not have the most productive of return games on this surface.
It has built up some pressure on Gabriel Diallo when facing top 50 Ranked opponents on the hard courts over the last twelve months and contributed to the 4-11 record.
This becomes 0-8 when only considering matches against top 20 Ranked opponents and Gabriel Diallo has held 71% of service games played in those and broken in just shy of 10% of return games. As you can imagine, that has led to some very one-sided defeats and Gabriel Diallo will have to begin fast to build confidence in his bid to at least give Alexander Zverev something to think about.
Alexander Zverev has won eighteen of the last twenty hard court matches against players Ranked outside of the top 20 and he has held 91% of service games played in those twenty matches.
It has allowed the World Number 3 to play with a bit more aggression on the return and the feeling is that he can find the breaks of serve to clear this spread after perhaps needing to come through some early difficulties.
Francisco Cerundolo - 1.5 sets v Zhizhen Zhang: He is still Ranked in the top 20, but it feels like Francisco Cerundolo has struggled to find the consistency to really kick on.
He is a solid hard court player and there is plenty of talent that means Francisco Cerundolo can be a threat when bringing his best on the court. The numbers are nothing to write home about on this surface and the World Number 20 is at his best on the clay courts, but he has not been beaten in the First Round at the Australian Open in the three previous main draw appearances.
The draw looks to be a kind one on paper.
Zhizhen Zhang was the World Number 31 as recently as July 2024, but injury has been a large part of this player's career and it means he enters the Australian Open mired well outside the top 300.
He has lost four of six matches played since returning to the Tour after the US Open and Zhang was second best in a loss to Felix Auger-Aliassime in the United Cup in the build up to the tournament.
Much like his opponent, Zhizhen Zhang has not really been able to put some consistency into his hard court performances and you do have to wonder if he can stay with Francisco Cerundolo under the Grand Slam format.
Zhizhen Zhang may feel his opponent produces enough inconsistency to earn a set, but anything more would be a surprise and the higher Ranked player should do enough to clear this set handicap.
MY PICKS: Elina Svitolina - 5.5 Games @ 2.10 Bet365 (2 Units)
Maria Sakkari - 4.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet365 (2 Units)
Sebastian Korda - 1.5 Sets @ 1.61 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Frances Tiafoe - 4.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Alexander Zverev - 5.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet Fred (2 Units)
Francisco Cerundolo - 1.5 Sets @ 1.80 Coral (2 Units)
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