[The Epoch Times, January 17, 2026](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Li Rongshi) The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the 2026 new season, will be held at Melbourne Park from January 18 to February 1. The “opening week” event before the start of this year’s tournament was turned into a tennis “carnival”, which made the organizers a lot of money; the players also benefited, and the total prize money of the tournament set a new record. This year’s Australian Open is expected to be the busiest in history.
Australian Open “Opening Week” turned into a carnival
The four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis include the Australian Open, Wimbledon, French Open and US Open, with the Australian Open taking the lead in Melbourne every January. This year, before the start of the official competition, the organizers packaged the qualifying matches and player training together with a dazzling variety of other activities into an “opening week.” As a result, this “business” model was quite successful, with record attendance.
Compared with the main draw, the qualifying matches of the Australian Open did not attract much attention from the outside world in the past. Fans used to be able to enter for free, but under the “opening week” package, viewers now need to purchase tickets to enter, which cost 10 Australian dollars for children, 15 Australian dollars for teenagers, and 20 Australian dollars for adults.
At the opening ceremony of the “opening week”, the organizers arranged for appearances by superstars such as Federer, as well as various tennis activities, children’s activities, and live performances by well-known singers and bands. The week before the main game, which was originally unattended, turned into a grand “carnival” and made the tournament a lot of money.
Among them, the “One Goal to Win” challenge attracted a lot of attention. In addition to many top star players, there were also entertainment stars, Internet celebrities and many non-professional players. Even Chinese singer Jay Chou also participated. As a result, Jay Chou received an ace from his opponent and suffered a “first-round defeat”; while Alcaraz, Sinner and other masters also failed to persist to the end.
In addition, retired Swiss golf champion Roger Federer and Norwegian star Casper Ruud, currently ranked 13th in the world, held a 40-minute public training session, with tickets starting at AU$149. Afterwards, the 44-year-old Federer played a doubles exhibition match called “The World’s No. 1 Showdown” with three tennis legends Agassi, Rafter and Hewitt. It was also hard to get a ticket.
In the “opening week”, some purely entertaining exhibition games attracted full audiences, and the attendance even exceeded many of the main games in previous years. Last year, the “opening week” of the Australian Open attracted more than 116,000 spectators; in the first four days of this year alone, the number of spectators exceeded 130,000, setting a record high and 17% higher than the number of spectators in the entire “opening week” in 2025.
Last year, Tennis Australia’s annual revenue increased by A$67 million to A$460 million. It is expected that the total attendance and revenue of the Australian Open this year will hit a record high again. As income increases, player bonuses will also increase. The total prize money of this year’s Australian Open has soared to AU$111.5 million, becoming the largest increase in prize money in the history of the tournament. The prize money for the singles champion reached a record-breaking A$4.15 million.
Men compete for supremacy and women compete for beauty
In the past two seasons, the Spanish genius Carlos Alcaraz and the Italian star Jannik Sinner have won all eight Grand Slam championships, completely dominating the men’s tennis world, and a “two heroes competing for hegemony” pattern has been formed. The 38-year-old Serbian golf king Novak Djokovic plays the role of spoiler and continues to strive for his 25th Grand Slam championship.
Sinner, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, has dominated the Australian Open for the past two years and won consecutive singles championships. He currently has 4 Grand Slam championships and is still the favorite to win this year. The 22-year-old Alcaraz has won six Grand Slams, but has failed to win the Australian Open championship trophy. If he can top this year’s Australian Open, he will be able to break Nadal’s record as the youngest male player to win a “Grand Slam”.
In this year’s Australian Open men’s singles draw, Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic are in different quarters, which means that they will not meet each other before the semi-finals. The outside world believes that Djokovic has received the “highest lottery”. If he performs normally, he can go straight to the “final four” and meet the defending champion Sinner in the semi-finals.
In the past five Grand Slam tournaments, Sinner has reached the finals in all of them, with a record of three championships and two runner-ups; he is expected to become the second male player to achieve “three consecutive championships” in Melbourne after Djokovic. Djokovic has lost all five of his recent matches against Sinner, which can be described as a mixed bag.
Alcaraz, the world’s No. 1 and top seed, will have a difficult path to advance. The half of the zone where the Spaniard is located is full of strong players, and it is inevitable that there will be some tough battles. But it would not be a surprise if Sinner and Aka finally meet in the men’s singles final. After all, the two have shared the past eight Grand Slam titles.
In contrast, the women’s tennis world is full of girls competing for beauty, and the competition is open and fierce. The 27-year-old Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is currently firmly ranked as the “world number one” and has 4 Grand Slam titles. Although she performed well last season, she failed to successfully defend the Australian Open title. The second seed, Polish star Iga Świątek, made a breakthrough last season. He reached the top for the first time on the grass court where he is least good at – Wimbledon, and won his 6th Grand Slam.
The 21-year-old American teenager Coco Gauff reversed Sabalenka in the French Open final last year and won her second Grand Slam. She is currently ranked third in the world. The 24-year-old American Amanda Anisimova reached back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, and her strength cannot be underestimated. The 30-year-old American Madison Keys won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last year and is looking forward to playing the role of “dark horse” again this year.
Editor in charge: Zheng Huang#
