From January 18th, the tennis elite will be in Melbourne when the first Grand Slam title of the year will be played at the 114th Australian Open. In the women’s field, four players from Germany are chasing the title.
With Eva Lys, Laura Siegemund, Tatjana Maria and Ella Seidel, four German tennis players are in the main field of the Australian Open 2026. None of the DTB representatives are considered title contenders in advance, even making it to the round of 16 would be a real success. These are the chances of the German stars Down Under.
Eva Lys: On the trail of “Lucky Lys”?
The 24-year-old starts the tournament as number 39 in the world rankings and therefore as German number one. At the same time, the Hamburg native, who caused a sensation in 2025 as “Lucky Lys” when she reached the round of 16 as a lucky loser, has the most to lose, as her winning streak last year earned her 240 points in the WTA ranking.
If Lys wants to defend this rich yield, she will have to stretch hard in 2026. At the start, the Romanian Sorana Cirstea (WR 41), a player who is breathing down Lys’s neck in the rankings and who made a very strong impression in her first appearances in Brisbane in 2026, is waiting. If Lys prevails, there is a threat of a duel with four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka from Japan in the second round.
In the round of 32, the Russian Ljudmila Samsonova (WR 18) is the most likely opponent, and a duel with Siegemund would also be possible. If Lys repeats her coup from last year and reaches the round of 16, Iga Swiatek (WR 2) would probably be waiting there like in 2025. Lys recently showed a very strong performance against the Pole at the United Cup, but she has never been able to beat the six-time Grand Slam winner in four attempts.
Tatjana Maria: Rocky road to a sensation
Anyone who thought that the 38-year-old’s career was finally coming to an end after a rather weak year in 2024 was proven wrong in 2025. In June in London on her favorite grass surface, Maria became the oldest player to ever win a WTA 500 tournament. At that time, Maria defeated, among others, Australian Open defending champion Madison Keys.
In addition, it was enough to reach the final in Newport in July and the semi-finals in Suzhou in autumn 2025. However, there are numerous early bankruptcies.
This also happened to Maria at the start of 2026, when she lost 3:6 and 3:6 to the young Australian Emerson Jones (WR 147) in Brisbane. A win against US icon Venus Williams followed in Hobart, but in the round of 16 the Hungarian Anna Bondar (WR 75) proved to be too high a hurdle.
However, Maria (WR 42) only got going in her long career on the biggest possible stage in tennis: in 2022 she surprisingly reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon. The right-hander never made it past round two at any other major.
In order to top this result in Melbourne in 2026, there would have to be at least one surprise. Petra Marcinko (WR 77), who is 18 years younger, seems quite beatable at the start, even if two victories in larger ITF tournaments at the end of 2025 may well have given the Croatian a tailwind. From round two onwards, however, very large chunks are likely to ask Maria to a duel. Sofia Kenin (WR 28) from the USA is the most likely option in round two, Kenin’s compatriot Amanda Anisimova (WR 4) should wait in round three in the event of a Maria coup.
Laura Siegemund: The experienced surprise bag
The doubles specialist is an absolute surprise. On good days, Siegemund is at least a very unpleasant challenge for the best of the best, which was felt by the young Russian Mirra Andreeva (WR 8) in Siegemund’s last appearance to date as a single player on the WTA tour in Wuhan in October 2025 in the Germans’ 6:7-6:3-6:3 victory.
In 2026, however, Siegemund has only appeared in doubles so far, where she was rather disappointing at the United Cup alongside Alexander Zverev. In Adelaide, Siegemund also recently lost her opening match in a doubles match with Amanda Anisimova.
In Melbourne, the 37-year-old also caught a difficult opening draw: the Russian Ljudmila Samsonova (WR 18). However, the number 47 in the world rankings was able to win the last two duels with the 27-year-old. If this succeeds again, round two against Kimberly Birrell (WR 107) or Maddison Inglis (WR 167) (both Australia) seems quite feasible.
From the third round onwards, Siegemund and Lys’ paths are the same. There could be a direct duel or a match against Osaka.
Ella Seidel: DTB talent with a tough draw
The 20-year-old’s form certainly gives cause for concern. After strong results in late summer, number 78 in the world rankings dropped noticeably from the end of October. The start of 2026 also went badly wrong. After a win against the Australian outsider Monique Barry (WR 726), Seidel lost 3:6 and 1:6 against the British Sonay Kartal in Auckland. In Hobart, the DTB hopeful moved into the main field as a lucky loser and was literally demonstrated by Anna Bondar from Hungary. The number 75 in the WTA ranking won 6:0 and 6:1.
In any case, it is noticeable that Seidel has simply had to give up too many sentences without much resistance in defeats in recent months.
On top of that, the draw isn’t exactly a walk in the park for the DTB talent: Seidel is still the favorite against the recently weak Russian Oksana Selekhmetova (WR 98), but in the second round Seidel would probably meet last year’s semi-finalist Paula Badosa (WR 26), in the third round against Jessica Pegula (WR 6), in the round of 16 defending champion Madison Keys (WR 9) could ask to dance. So Seidel would need more than a big surprise.
