Australian Open: Date, venue, history, odds & more

Often dubbed the 'Happy Slam', the Australian Open is the first big event of the ATP and WTA seasons and the hardcourt 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, with Jannik Sinner the defending men's singles champion and Aryna Sabalenka the current women's title-holder.

Here's all you need to know about the Australian Open ahead of the highly-anticipated first Grand Slam event of 2025.

Australian Open dates

The 2025 Australian Open starts on Sunday 12th January and finishes on Sunday 26th January and will be the 113th staging.

Australian Open venue

Having been home to the event since 1988, Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria will host the 2025 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.

In 2025 the Rod Laver Arena will host 27 sessions, the Margaret Court Arena will host 16 sessions and John Cain 15.

Australian Open how to watch, TV channel and live streaming

The 2025 Australian Open is scheduled to be broadcast on the Nine Network, while it will also be available to stream on 9Now and Stan Sport.

Australian Open prize money

The 2025 Australian Open has a record prize pot of A$86,500,000, with the men’s and women’s singles champions taking home A$3,150,000.

Australian Open history

Since 2011, only four other male players have won the Australian Open besides ten-time champion Novak Djokovic - Stan Wawrinka (2014), Roger Federer (2017, 2018), Rafael Nadal (2022) and current champion Sinner.

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, home favourite Ashleigh Barty and Sabalenka, twice, are the other players to have won it in the last six years.

Home success in 2024 arrived in the men's doubles, as Aussie Matthew Ebden partnered 43-year-old Rohan Bopanna to the title.

The women's doubles title went to Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens, with Hsieh completing a notable double as she won the mixed doubles alongside Jan Zielinski.

Australia continues to endure a long wait to see a home player win the men's singles, with Mark Edmondson the last such champion all the way back in 1976.

Since then, John Marks, Kim Warwick, Pat Cash (twice) and Lleyton Hewitt have all been beaten in the final.

Barty in 2022 ended the wait for an Australian women's champion which stretched back to 1978, when Chris O'Neil defeated Betsy Nagelsen 6-3 7-6 to make it ten home successes in 11 events.

Australian Open odds

Italian Sinner dethroned Djokovic in Melbourne and is available at 2.75 to successfully defend his Australian Open title in 2025.

Djokovic is 4.00 to claim an 11th title in Melbourne, while Carlos Alcaraz is priced at 3.40 and Daniil Medvedev is available at 8.00.

Medvedev has now lost three times in the Melbourne final, with his losses to Nadal in 2022 and Sinner in 2024 both coming after he won the first two sets, only to be downed in five-set thrillers.

Meanwhile, the leading home hope in the market is Alex De Minaur at 51.00.

As for the women's singles, Sabalenka not surprisingly leads the way at 3.50 to complete a hat-trick of successes.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek is 4.50 to secure a first Australian Open title, having fallen in the third round in Melbourne in 2024.

Coco Gauff is a 5.50 shot, with the American having reached the semi-finals in Melbourne in 2024, before losing in straight sets to a dominant Sabalenka.

Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.