Preview of the 2019 Australian Open Grand Slam from January 14th, 2019 to January 27th, 2019

 

The Australian Open is the first Grand Slam of the year and the one tournament that all the players want to win to get their season off to a flying start. 

 

Many of the greatest players in the history of tennis have won the the Australian Open and recent history shows that you’ve got to be on your game to be able to lift this famous trophy.

Always played in Melbourne, the tournament has moved venue several times but is now firmly established at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Stanisla Wawrinka, Marat Safin and Andre Agassi have all won the Men’s singles in recent years. Caroline Wozniacki, Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, Li Na, Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin-Hardenne have all held aloft the Ladies Singles trophy at the Australian Open in recent years.

 

The main talking points for the 2019 Australian Open

This year is set up to be one of the most exciting Australian Open tournaments for many years. In the men’s singles there is the mouthwatering prospect of the ‘Big 4’ all competing for a Grand Slam title again. This hasn’t happened for a while, so to have Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray (plus Stan Warwrinka and Alexander Zverev) all in the same draw is brilliant news for tennis fans.

Unfortunately the ‘Big 4’ won’t be seeded to meet in the semi finals as Murray has a low ranking of 240 due to his injury absence. This throws up the possibility of a huge ‘head to head’ encounter early on in the tournament. But Tennishead expects to see at least 3 of the ‘Big 4’ progress to the later stages of the tournament and one of the ‘Big 4’ is most likely to win this event.

The other possibility is that World number 4 Alexander Zverev continues to break new ground like he did when winning the ATP World Finals in London in November. His recent record in Grand Slams is worse than it should be and we can only assume that this will get better as he gains more experience at playing in the later stages of the these 2 week, 5 set marathons.

Rafael Nadal’s ability to last for 2 weeks and 7 matches on a hard court is also in question. Last season he had to pull out of the late stages of 2 Grand Slams on hard courts because of injury and he isn’t getting any younger.

All these factors lead Tennishead to predict a Federer vs Djokovic men’s singles final with Djokovic winning.

In the Ladies Singles there is equally as much excitement as the Men’s with many past champions in the draw and a wide open field. Serena Williams is probably the favourite but she will face a stiff challenge from current World No.1 Simona Halep. The other issue for Serena is that her World Ranking is low at 16 so she faces the prospect of meeting one of the top seeds in the Last 16 therefore making her route to the final much more difficult.

Maria Sharapova is also a dangerous floater in the draw with a low raking that will frighten a lot of the top seeds.

Naomi Osaka beat Serena Williams in that unforgettable US Open final in September 2018 and few would bet against Osaka doing well again. She will have the confidence that she can beat the best on the biggest stages.

Tennishead would love for Caroline Wozniacki to repeat her success of last year as she was one of the most popular winners of recent times.

The change of rules to introduce a final set tie break will also be discussed at length. It seems like player power has brought about this change especially as Wimbledon has recently changed its rules due to the comments made by the players after that Kevin Anderson victory in the semi finals of the Wimbledon mens singles last year.

 

Where is the tournament held?

The Australian Open is competed for at the Melbourne Park Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia

 

What dates does the tournament run?

January 14th, 2019 to January 27th 2019

 

What court surface is the tournament played on?

The surface is outdoor hard courts with the availability of a roof over the show courts in case of bad weather or excessive heat

 

 

How many players and how many seeds are in the tournament?

There are a total of 128 men and 128 women in the singles and there will be 32 seeded players in the Men’s draw and the Women’s draw

 

What is the prize money and how many ATP & WTA ranking points are available?

The tournament is a Grand Slam which means that the winner receives 2000 ATP or WTA World Ranking points, with the complete breakdown of points and prize money awarded as follows:

 

Men’s and Women’s singles (Australian $)

Winner – $4,100,000

Runner-up – $2,050,000

Semifinal – $920,000

Quarterfinal – $460,000

Round 4 – $260,000

Round 3 – $155,000

Round 2 – $105,000

Round 1 – $75,000

 

ATP Ranking Points, Singles:

Winner – 2000 points

Runner up – 1200 points

Semi final – 720 points

Quarter final – 360 points

Last 16 – 180 points

Last 32 – 90 points

Last 64 – 45 points

Last 128 – 10 points

 

WTA Ranking Points, Singles:

Winner – 2000 points

Runner up – 1300 points

Semi final – 780 points

Quarter final – 430 points

Last 16 – 240 points

Last 32 – 130 points

Last 64 – 70 points

Last 128 – 10 points

 

Who are the reigning Champions?

In the 2018 Men’s Singles, Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1

In the 2018 Ladies Singles, Caroline Wozniacki defeated Simona Halep 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4

Where can I buy tickets for the tournament?

You can buy tickets online by clicking here

 

How can I follow the tournament without going there?

To watch the live scores of every match in this tournament as they happen you can use the Tennishead exclusive Live Scores service here.

You can also follow this tournament on their official Twitter here

Alternatively you can watch the tennis live on television and full details of how to do this can be found here

 

Who has entered the 2019 tournament draw? (This may change nearer the time depending on injuries)

So far the Men’s singles tournament entries are as follows:

1. Albot, Radu
2. Anderson, Kevin
3. Andreozzi, Guido
4. Andujar, Pablo
5. Basic, Mirza
6. Basilashvili, Nikoloz
7. Bautista Agut, Roberto
8. Bedene, Aljaz
9. Berdych, Tomas
10. Berrettini, Matteo
11. Carballes Baena, Roberto
12. Carreno Busta, Pablo
13. Cecchinato, Marco
14. Chardy, Jeremy
15. Chung, Hyeon
16. Cilic, Marin
17. Copil, Marius
18. Coric, Borna
19. Cuevas, Pablo
20. Daniel, Taro
21. de Minaur, Alex
22. del Potro, Juan Martin
23. Delbonis, Federico
24. Dimitrov, Grigor
25. Djere, Laslo
26. Djokovic, Novak
27. Donskoy, Evgeny
28. Dzumhur, Damir
29. Ebden, Matthew
30. Edmund, Kyle
31. Federer, Roger
32. Fognini, Fabio
33. Fritz, Taylor
34. Fucsovics, Marton
35. Garin, Christian
36. Gasquet, Richard
37. Goffin, David
38. Gojowczyk, Peter
39. Granollers, Marcel
40. Gulbis, Ernests
41. Haase, Robin
42. Harrison, Ryan
43. Herbert, Pierre-Hugues
44. Hurkacz, Hubert
45. Isner, John
46. Istomin, Denis
47. Ivashka, Ilya
48. Jarry, Nicolas
49. Jaziri, Malek
50. Johnson, Steve
51. Karlovic, Ivo
52. Khachanov, Karen
53. Klahn, Bradley
54. Klizan, Martin
55. Kohlschreiber, Philipp
56. Kovalik, Jozef
57. Krajinovic, Filip
58. Kudla, Denis
59. Kukushkin, Mikhail
60. Kyrgios, Nick
61. Lajovic, Dusan
62. Lopez, Feliciano
63. Mannarino, Adrian
64. Marterer, Maximilian
65. Mayer, Leonardo
66. McDonald, Mackenzie
67. Medvedev, Daniil
68. Millman, John
69. Monfils, Gael
70. Munar, Jaume
71. Nadal, Rafael
72. Nishikori, Kei
73. Nishioka, Yoshihito
74. Norrie, Cameron
75. Opelka, Reilly
76. Paire, Benoit
77. Pella, Guido
78. Pospisil, Vasek
79. Pouille, Lucas
80. Querrey, Sam
81. Ramos-Vinolas, Albert
82. Raonic, Milos
83. Rublev, Andrey
84. Sandgren, Tennys
85. Schwartzman, Diego
86. Seppi, Andreas
87. Shapovalov, Denis
88. Simon, Gilles
89. Sousa, Joao
90. Struff, Jan-Lennard
91. Thiem, Dominic
92. Thompson, Jordan
93. Tiafoe, Frances
94. Tomic, Bernard
95. Tsitsipas, Stefanos
96. Verdasco, Fernando
97. Vesely, Jiri
98. Wawrinka, Stan
99. Zverev, Mischa
100. Zverev, Alexander

 

 

So far the Ladies singles tournament entries are as follows:

1. Alexandrova, Ekaterina
2. Anisimova, Amanda
3. Arruabarrena, Lara
4. Azarenka, Victoria
5. Babos, Timea
6. Barthel, Mona
7. Barty, Ashleigh
8. Begu, Irina-Camelia
9. Bencic, Belinda
10. Bertens, Kiki
11. Blinkova, Anna
12. Bogdan, Ana
13. Bouchard, Eugenie
14. Boulter, Katie
15. Brengle, Madison
16. Buzarnescu, Mihaela
17. Cibulkova, Dominika
18. Cirstea, Sorana
19. Collins, Danielle
20. Cornet, Alizé
21. Diyas, Zarina
22. Flipkens, Kirsten
23. Garcia, Caroline
24. Gasparyan, Margarita
25. Gavrilova, Daria
26. Giorgi, Camila
27. Goerges, Julia
28. Halep, Simona
29. Hercog, Polona
30. Hsieh, Su-Wei
31. Jabeur, Ons
32. Jakupovic, Dalila
33. Kanepi, Kaia
34. Kasatkina, Daria
35. Kenin, Sofia
36. Kerber, Angelique
37. Keys, Madison
38. Konta, Johanna
39. Kontaveit, Anett
40. Kozlova, Kateryna
41. Krunic, Aleksandra
42. Kumkhum, Luksika
43. Kuzmova, Viktoria
44. Kvitova, Petra
45. Lapko, Vera
46. Larsson, Johanna
47. Linette, Magda
48. Makarova, Ekaterina
49. Maria, Tatjana
50. Martic, Petra
51. Mertens, Elise
52. Mladenovic, Kristina
53. Muguruza, Garbiñe
54. Niculescu, Monica
55. Osaka, Naomi
56. Ostapenko, Jelena
57. Parmentier, Pauline
58. Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia
59. Pera, Bernarda
60. Peterson, Rebecca
61. Petkovic, Andrea
62. Pliskova, Karolina
63. Pliskova, Kristyna
64. Potapova, Anastasia
65. Puig, Monica
66. Putintseva, Yulia
67. Radwanska, Agnieszka
68. Riske, Alison
69. Rodina, Evgeniya
70. Rybarikova, Magdalena
71. Sabalenka, Aryna
72. Sakkari, Maria
73. Sasnovich, Aliaksandra
74. Schmiedlova, Anna Karolina
75. Sevastova, Anastasija
76. Sharapova, Maria
77. Siniakova, Katerina
78. Sorribes Tormo, Sara
79. Stephens, Sloane
80. Stosur, Samantha
81. Strycova, Barbora
82. Suárez Navarro, Carla
83. Svitolina, Elina
84. Tomljanovic, Ajla
85. Townsend, Taylor
86. Tsurenko, Lesia
87. Van Uytvanck, Alison
88. Vandeweghe, CoCo
89. Vekic, Donna
90. Voegele, Stefanie
91. Vondrousova, Marketa
92. Wang, Qiang
93. Wang, Yafan
94. Watson, Heather
95. Williams, Venus
96. Williams, Serena
97. Wozniacki, Caroline
98. Yastremska, Dayana
99. Zhang, Shuai
100. Zheng, Saisai
101. Zidansek, Tamara

 

Past Champions – Men’s Singles

Past Champions – Ladies Singles

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