Preview of the 2019 Australian Open Grand Slam from January 14th, 2019 to January 27th, 2019
The Australian Open is the first Grand Slam of the year and the one tournament that all the players want to win to get their season off to a flying start.
Many of the greatest players in the history of tennis have won the the Australian Open and recent history shows that you’ve got to be on your game to be able to lift this famous trophy.
Always played in Melbourne, the tournament has moved venue several times but is now firmly established at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Stanisla Wawrinka, Marat Safin and Andre Agassi have all won the Men’s singles in recent years. Caroline Wozniacki, Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, Li Na, Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin-Hardenne have all held aloft the Ladies Singles trophy at the Australian Open in recent years.
The main talking points for the 2019 Australian Open
This year is set up to be one of the most exciting Australian Open tournaments for many years. In the men’s singles there is the mouthwatering prospect of the ‘Big 4’ all competing for a Grand Slam title again. This hasn’t happened for a while, so to have Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray (plus Stan Warwrinka and Alexander Zverev) all in the same draw is brilliant news for tennis fans.
Unfortunately the ‘Big 4’ won’t be seeded to meet in the semi finals as Murray has a low ranking of 240 due to his injury absence. This throws up the possibility of a huge ‘head to head’ encounter early on in the tournament. But Tennishead expects to see at least 3 of the ‘Big 4’ progress to the later stages of the tournament and one of the ‘Big 4’ is most likely to win this event.
The other possibility is that World number 4 Alexander Zverev continues to break new ground like he did when winning the ATP World Finals in London in November. His recent record in Grand Slams is worse than it should be and we can only assume that this will get better as he gains more experience at playing in the later stages of the these 2 week, 5 set marathons.
Rafael Nadal’s ability to last for 2 weeks and 7 matches on a hard court is also in question. Last season he had to pull out of the late stages of 2 Grand Slams on hard courts because of injury and he isn’t getting any younger.
All these factors lead Tennishead to predict a Federer vs Djokovic men’s singles final with Djokovic winning.
In the Ladies Singles there is equally as much excitement as the Men’s with many past champions in the draw and a wide open field. Serena Williams is probably the favourite but she will face a stiff challenge from current World No.1 Simona Halep. The other issue for Serena is that her World Ranking is low at 16 so she faces the prospect of meeting one of the top seeds in the Last 16 therefore making her route to the final much more difficult.
Maria Sharapova is also a dangerous floater in the draw with a low raking that will frighten a lot of the top seeds.
Naomi Osaka beat Serena Williams in that unforgettable US Open final in September 2018 and few would bet against Osaka doing well again. She will have the confidence that she can beat the best on the biggest stages.
Tennishead would love for Caroline Wozniacki to repeat her success of last year as she was one of the most popular winners of recent times.
The change of rules to introduce a final set tie break will also be discussed at length. It seems like player power has brought about this change especially as Wimbledon has recently changed its rules due to the comments made by the players after that Kevin Anderson victory in the semi finals of the Wimbledon mens singles last year.
Where is the tournament held?
The Australian Open is competed for at the Melbourne Park Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia
What dates does the tournament run?
January 14th, 2019 to January 27th 2019
What court surface is the tournament played on?
The surface is outdoor hard courts with the availability of a roof over the show courts in case of bad weather or excessive heat
How many players and how many seeds are in the tournament?
There are a total of 128 men and 128 women in the singles and there will be 32 seeded players in the Men’s draw and the Women’s draw
What is the prize money and how many ATP & WTA ranking points are available?
The tournament is a Grand Slam which means that the winner receives 2000 ATP or WTA World Ranking points, with the complete breakdown of points and prize money awarded as follows:
Men’s and Women’s singles (Australian $)
Winner – $4,100,000
Runner-up – $2,050,000
Semifinal – $920,000
Quarterfinal – $460,000
Round 4 – $260,000
Round 3 – $155,000
Round 2 – $105,000
Round 1 – $75,000
ATP Ranking Points, Singles:
Winner – 2000 points
Runner up – 1200 points
Semi final – 720 points
Quarter final – 360 points
Last 16 – 180 points
Last 32 – 90 points
Last 64 – 45 points
Last 128 – 10 points
WTA Ranking Points, Singles:
Winner – 2000 points
Runner up – 1300 points
Semi final – 780 points
Quarter final – 430 points
Last 16 – 240 points
Last 32 – 130 points
Last 64 – 70 points
Last 128 – 10 points
Who are the reigning Champions?
In the 2018 Men’s Singles, Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
In the 2018 Ladies Singles, Caroline Wozniacki defeated Simona Halep 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4
Where can I buy tickets for the tournament?
You can buy tickets online by clicking here
How can I follow the tournament without going there?
To watch the live scores of every match in this tournament as they happen you can use the Tennishead exclusive Live Scores service here.
You can also follow this tournament on their official Twitter here
Alternatively you can watch the tennis live on television and full details of how to do this can be found here
Who has entered the 2019 tournament draw? (This may change nearer the time depending on injuries)
So far the Men’s singles tournament entries are as follows:
- Albot, Radu
- Anderson, Kevin
- Andreozzi, Guido
- Andujar, Pablo
- Basic, Mirza
- Basilashvili, Nikoloz
- Bautista Agut, Roberto
- Bedene, Aljaz
- Berdych, Tomas
- Berrettini, Matteo
- Carballes Baena, Roberto
- Carreno Busta, Pablo
- Cecchinato, Marco
- Chardy, Jeremy
- Chung, Hyeon
- Cilic, Marin
- Copil, Marius
- Coric, Borna
- Cuevas, Pablo
- Daniel, Taro
- de Minaur, Alex
- del Potro, Juan Martin
- Delbonis, Federico
- Dimitrov, Grigor
- Djere, Laslo
- Djokovic, Novak
- Donskoy, Evgeny
- Dzumhur, Damir
- Ebden, Matthew
- Edmund, Kyle
- Federer, Roger
- Fognini, Fabio
- Fritz, Taylor
- Fucsovics, Marton
- Garin, Christian
- Gasquet, Richard
- Goffin, David
- Gojowczyk, Peter
- Granollers, Marcel
- Gulbis, Ernests
- Haase, Robin
- Harrison, Ryan
- Herbert, Pierre-Hugues
- Hurkacz, Hubert
- Isner, John
- Istomin, Denis
- Ivashka, Ilya
- Jarry, Nicolas
- Jaziri, Malek
- Johnson, Steve
- Karlovic, Ivo
- Khachanov, Karen
- Klahn, Bradley
- Klizan, Martin
- Kohlschreiber, Philipp
- Kovalik, Jozef
- Krajinovic, Filip
- Kudla, Denis
- Kukushkin, Mikhail
- Kyrgios, Nick
- Lajovic, Dusan
- Lopez, Feliciano
- Mannarino, Adrian
- Marterer, Maximilian
- Mayer, Leonardo
- McDonald, Mackenzie
- Medvedev, Daniil
- Millman, John
- Monfils, Gael
- Munar, Jaume
- Nadal, Rafael
- Nishikori, Kei
- Nishioka, Yoshihito
- Norrie, Cameron
- Opelka, Reilly
- Paire, Benoit
- Pella, Guido
- Pospisil, Vasek
- Pouille, Lucas
- Querrey, Sam
- Ramos-Vinolas, Albert
- Raonic, Milos
- Rublev, Andrey
- Sandgren, Tennys
- Schwartzman, Diego
- Seppi, Andreas
- Shapovalov, Denis
- Simon, Gilles
- Sousa, Joao
- Struff, Jan-Lennard
- Thiem, Dominic
- Thompson, Jordan
- Tiafoe, Frances
- Tomic, Bernard
- Tsitsipas, Stefanos
- Verdasco, Fernando
- Vesely, Jiri
- Wawrinka, Stan
- Zverev, Mischa
- Zverev, Alexander
So far the Ladies singles tournament entries are as follows:
- Alexandrova, Ekaterina
- Anisimova, Amanda
- Arruabarrena, Lara
- Azarenka, Victoria
- Babos, Timea
- Barthel, Mona
- Barty, Ashleigh
- Begu, Irina-Camelia
- Bencic, Belinda
- Bertens, Kiki
- Blinkova, Anna
- Bogdan, Ana
- Bouchard, Eugenie
- Boulter, Katie
- Brengle, Madison
- Buzarnescu, Mihaela
- Cibulkova, Dominika
- Cirstea, Sorana
- Collins, Danielle
- Cornet, Alizé
- Diyas, Zarina
- Flipkens, Kirsten
- Garcia, Caroline
- Gasparyan, Margarita
- Gavrilova, Daria
- Giorgi, Camila
- Goerges, Julia
- Halep, Simona
- Hercog, Polona
- Hsieh, Su-Wei
- Jabeur, Ons
- Jakupovic, Dalila
- Kanepi, Kaia
- Kasatkina, Daria
- Kenin, Sofia
- Kerber, Angelique
- Keys, Madison
- Konta, Johanna
- Kontaveit, Anett
- Kozlova, Kateryna
- Krunic, Aleksandra
- Kumkhum, Luksika
- Kuzmova, Viktoria
- Kvitova, Petra
- Lapko, Vera
- Larsson, Johanna
- Linette, Magda
- Makarova, Ekaterina
- Maria, Tatjana
- Martic, Petra
- Mertens, Elise
- Mladenovic, Kristina
- Muguruza, Garbiñe
- Niculescu, Monica
- Osaka, Naomi
- Ostapenko, Jelena
- Parmentier, Pauline
- Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia
- Pera, Bernarda
- Peterson, Rebecca
- Petkovic, Andrea
- Pliskova, Karolina
- Pliskova, Kristyna
- Potapova, Anastasia
- Puig, Monica
- Putintseva, Yulia
- Radwanska, Agnieszka
- Riske, Alison
- Rodina, Evgeniya
- Rybarikova, Magdalena
- Sabalenka, Aryna
- Sakkari, Maria
- Sasnovich, Aliaksandra
- Schmiedlova, Anna Karolina
- Sevastova, Anastasija
- Sharapova, Maria
- Siniakova, Katerina
- Sorribes Tormo, Sara
- Stephens, Sloane
- Stosur, Samantha
- Strycova, Barbora
- Suárez Navarro, Carla
- Svitolina, Elina
- Tomljanovic, Ajla
- Townsend, Taylor
- Tsurenko, Lesia
- Van Uytvanck, Alison
- Vandeweghe, CoCo
- Vekic, Donna
- Voegele, Stefanie
- Vondrousova, Marketa
- Wang, Qiang
- Wang, Yafan
- Watson, Heather
- Williams, Venus
- Williams, Serena
- Wozniacki, Caroline
- Yastremska, Dayana
- Zhang, Shuai
- Zheng, Saisai
- Zidansek, Tamara
Past Champions – Men’s Singles
Past Champions – Ladies Singles
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