Often dubbed the 'Happy Slam', the Australian Open is the first big event of the 2024 ATP and WTA seasons and the hard-court event is the first of four Grand Slam tournaments throughout the year.
As well as singles, doubles and junior championships, there are also wheelchair, legends, and exhibition events.
We have compiled a list of questions about the 2024 edition of the Australian Open to tell you all you need to know about the competition.
What: | 2024 Australian Open |
Where: | Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia |
When: | January 2024 |
How to watch: | Eurosport or bet365's Sports Live Streaming |
Odds: | Men's Outright: Novak Djokovic 5/4, Carlos Alcaraz 7/2, Daniil Medvedev 9/2 Women's Outright: Iga Swiatek 3/1, Aryna Sabalenka 5/1, Elena Rybakina 6/1 |
Having been home to the event since 1988, Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia will host the 2024 Australian Open, which is the first Grand Slam of the calendar year.
The venue's most famous courts are the Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena.
The 2024 Australian Open is set to begin in January 2024.
The 2024 Australian Open is scheduled to be broadcast on Eurosport in the UK, while action can also be followed via our Sports Live Streaming service.
The men's singles tournament typically features 128 competitors including 16 qualifiers and eight wildcards and the same goes for the women's singles tournament.
Novak Djokovic is 5/4 favourite to win the first men's singles Grand Slam of 2024, having won the Australian Open on a record 10 occasions already.
His first win in Melbourne came in 2008 and the Australian Open also represented one of three Grand Slam titles he secured in 2021. He is also defending champion, having beaten Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final in 2023.
Carlos Alcaraz, meanwhile, is 7/2 to win the Grand Slam, while Daniil Medvedev is 9/2 and Rafael Nadal is 12/1.
As for the women's 2024 Australian Open, Iga Swiatek leads the way in the betting at 3/1.
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, meanwhile, is 5/1 to go all the way again, while 2023 runner-up Elena Rybakina is 6/1 to lift the trophy.
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In the men's singles tournament, players compete in four rounds with the players divided into two halves. The top players are seeded appropriately.
Eight players then progress to the quarter finals which lead into the semi-finals and then the final. Each match is a best of five sets encounter.
As for the women's singles, the structure of the tournament is exactly the same as in the men's but players compete in best of three sets matches.
All three forms of doubles tournaments follow the same kind of format and are played as best of three sets matches.
Usual suspects such as Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev are expected to be involved in the men's singles event.
In the women's draw, meanwhile, you can expect to see the likes of Swiatek and Sabalenka as well as British talent Emma Raducanu.
The overall prize money for the 2023 Australian Open was in the region of $76.5 million with an estimated $2,975,000 for the singles winners and the 2024 prize money is expected to be about the same.
Since 2011, only three other male players have won the Australian Open besides Djokovic - Stan Wawrinka back in 2014, Roger Federer in 2017 and 2018 and Nadal in 2022.
The women's singles competition at the Australian Open has been more competitive - Naomi Osaka won it in both 2019 and 2021, while Sofia Kenin, Ashleigh Barty and Sabalenka are the other players to have won it in the last five years.
Australian pair Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler won the men's doubles in 2023 with the women's doubles title going to Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, while Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos came out on top in the mixed doubles.
In the Open era, Serena Williams remains the most successful female player with seven Australian Open titles.
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