Australian Open

What is the Australian Open?

The Australian Open is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, which issue a joint rule book as Grand Slam Tennis, described in the 2026 edition of that book as “the collaboration between the four Grand Slam tournaments”.^[6] The tournament’s own site calls it “the season’s first Grand Slam tournament”, played at Melbourne Park in January.^[4] Men’s and women’s singles are each played as a 128-player main draw under the rule book, alongside doubles and further events: in 2026 Tennis Australia counted 27 draws in all.^[10]

Who organizes the Australian Open?

Tennis Australia runs the tournament. Its chief executive, Craig Tiley, announced the 2026 prize pool, and Tennis Australia publishes the tournament’s own attendance and broadcast figures.^[11][10] The rules on entry, seeding and the make-up of the draws are not the tournament’s alone: they are set in the Official Grand Slam Rule Book, common to the four majors.^[6] The ranking points a result earns are fixed by the two tours, the ATP for men and the WTA for women, under their own ranking rules.^[7][8]

When and where is it held?

The tournament is played over the second half of January, finishing at the start of February in some years; the 2021 edition was played from 8 to 21 February, as the ATP results archive records it.^[5] Its venue has been Melbourne Park since 1988: the organiser’s history records that the 1988 tournament was the first staged at the new facility at Flinders Park, renamed Melbourne Park in 1996, and that earlier editions were played in Melbourne, Christchurch, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Hastings, New Zealand.^[3] The 2027 edition is set for Melbourne Park from 11 to 31 January, with main-draw play beginning on 17 January and the singles finals on 30 and 31 January.^[4]

Men’s (M) and women’s (W) singles champions, as the Australian Open honour rolls print them; main-draw dates as the ATP Tour results archive prints them; all editions at Melbourne Park, Melbourne.^[1][2]

Since when does it exist?

The men’s singles honour roll begins in 1905, and the organiser’s history places that first championship at the Warehouseman’s Cricket Ground in Melbourne, under the name Australasian Championships.^[1][3] The same history dates two renamings: to the Australian Championships in 1927, the first year run without New Zealand’s organisational involvement, and to the Australian Open in 1969, when the event began “welcoming both amateur and professional players”.^[3] The women’s singles honour roll begins in 1922; it marks no competition from 1941 to 1945 and in 1986, and lists two women’s champions in 1977, one for a January and one for a December tournament.^[2]

How do players qualify?

Entry follows the 2026 Official Grand Slam Rule Book. Unless otherwise agreed, a 128-player singles main draw is made up of direct acceptances, “accepted directly in the draw by virtue of their singles ranking”; qualifiers, 16, 12 or 8 of them, who come through a qualifying competition; and 8 wild cards, players “included in the draw at the sole discretion of the individual Grand Slam Tournament”.^[6] The ranking used is the one dated approximately 42 days before the tournament starts, and entries close 42 days before its first Monday. A 128-player qualifying competition takes 119 direct acceptances and 9 wild cards, and the main draw has at least 16 seeds.^[6] The rule book’s routes are therefore rankings, qualifying results and wild cards; see wildcards and universality places and world rankings.

Why does it matter?

Ranking points are the measurable proxy. The ATP awards 2,000 points to a Grand Slam singles champion, 1,300 to the runner-up, 800 to a semi-finalist and 400 to a quarter-finalist, and counts four Grand Slams among the 18 tournaments in its ranking breakdown.^[7] The WTA’s Grand Slam scale also starts at 2,000 for the champion and 1,300 for the runner-up.^[8] For 2026 the tournament announced a prize pool of $111.5 million, which it called “the largest in the tournament’s history”, with $4.15 million to each singles champion.^[9] Tennis Australia reported 1,368,043 fans through the gates over three weeks in 2026.^[10]

Who competes?

Tennis Australia counted 833 players from 75 nations across the 27 draws of the 2026 tournament.^[10] Entry is individual: the rule book’s acceptance criteria are singles rankings, qualifying results and wild cards.^[6] On nationality, the honour rolls print a country code beside most champions and runners-up, but none beside Aryna Sabalenka or Daniil Medvedev in any of the finals they have played there.^[1][2] The table above prints no nationality for anyone; see national suspensions and neutral athletes.