The 2025 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament in international tennis this season, will be held in Melbourne, Australia, for two weeks from the 12th. The Australian Open, which is held every January, is a stage where you can predict the global tennis landscape of that year, especially when players come out of a two-month off-season with the desire to improve their competitive form, so fans have a greater sense of anticipation.

Djokovic training under the watchful eye of Murray (right).

The biggest attraction of this year's tournament is Novak Djokovic (world No. 7, Serbia) in the men's singles. Djokovic won the singles gold medal at the Paris Olympics last year, achieving the "Golden Slam of his career", but failed to win the title in the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Djokovic has won 24 Grand Slam singles titles so far, equalling Australian legend Margaret Court, who is tied for the most Grand Slam titles of all era. For Djokovic, this Australian Open is a good opportunity to win 25 Grand Slam titles. Djokovic has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open. Between 2019 and 2023, he won the championship every year, except for 2022, when he was absent due to not being vaccinated against Covid.

How Djokovic plays

For Djokovic, who was born in 1987, the Australian Open, which has been going strong, is his best chance to win 25 Grand Slam titles before the years go by. His most recent major title was the 2023 US Open.

Especially before this Australian Open, Djokovic hired Andy Murray, a British star who was in competition during the current season, as coach, which was even more eye-catching. Djokovic has met Murray four times in the Australian Open final during his active career, winning all four matches.

Djokovic was held back by 2000s-born players Yannick Sinner (world number one, Italy) and Carlos Alcaraz (number three, Spain).

Alcaraz for training

Sinner, who won the tournament last year with a win over Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, will challenge for a second consecutive title, with Alcaraz the only Australian Open in the four Grand Slam tournaments who has not tasted it. If Alcaraz wins the tournament, he will become the youngest professional Grand Slam player in history since 1968, when he was allowed to compete in a Grand Slam tournament. The record in the field is that of Rafael Nadal (retired, Spain) in 2010 when he was 24 years old. Alcaraz, who was born in May 2003, is now 21 years old.

If the scope is expanded to women, at the age of 19, there is Steffi Graff (retired Germany), who has swept four Grand Slam tournaments, and Serena Williams (retired America) has also completed the collection of four Grand Slam championship trophies at the age of 21.

Sabalenka (left) and Swiatek

In the women's singles, Sabalenka (world No. 1, Belarus) will challenge for the title for the third year in a row. Martina Hingis (retired, Switzerland) in 1999 is the latest example of a triple Australian Open women's singles title. Swiatek (second, Poland) is somewhat mentally shaken after being banned for one month last year for being involved in a doping scandal, and Gauff (third, USA) is likely to be Sabalenka's opponent. Last year's gold medallist Zheng Qinwen (No. 5, China), who finished second at the tournament last year, is also a highlight.

The men's and women's singles champions at this year's Australian Open will receive 3.5 million Australian dollars (about 16.28 million yuan) in prize money, and even if they lose the first round of the singles main draw, they can still collect 132,000 Australian dollars (about 610,000 yuan).