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A New Year, A New Chase: Tennis Returns Down Under Ahead Of Australian Open
A New Year, A New Chase: Tennis Returns Down Under Ahead Of Australian Open
With the new year comes the serious tennis season Down Under.
Just over six weeks after the ATP and WTA concluded their 2025 Finals, players from both tours have arrived in Australia and New Zealand for a packed two-week schedule of tournaments leading up to the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the year starting on January 18 in Melbourne.
The United Cup, a mixed teams event, will kick off in Perth and Sydney on Friday and conclude on January 11. This tournament will feature four of the world's top 10 men and women, including Coco Gauff, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Iga Swiątek, Alexander Zverev, Jasmine Paolini, and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
During the first full week of 2026, the Brisbane International will see defending champion Aryna Sabalenka headlining the event, fresh from her Battle of the Sexes exhibition against Nick Kyrgios in Dubai.
Notably absent from the pre-Australian Open tournaments are the top two men's players: No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and second-ranked Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz and Sinner, who have secured nine of the last 10 Grand Slam singles titles with Sinner winning the 2025 Australian Open, will participate in an exhibition in Incheon, South Korea, on January 10. They are expected to travel to Australia afterward to prepare at Melbourne Park.
Alcaraz will compete in his first major without coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, following their recent split. Alcaraz has yet to announce a replacement.
Other notable players at the United Cup include Emma Raducanu, Naomi Osaka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Stan Wawrinka, who has declared that 2026 will be his final year on tour. The 40-year-old, three-time major winner Wawrinka hopes to improve his current ranking of 157 and break back into the top 100 before retiring. His highest ranking was No. 3, achieved when he won the Australian Open in 2014.
“I'm happy with the decision to retire and feel at peace with it," Wawrinka said upon arriving in Perth earlier this week.
Joining Sabalenka at the 500-level Brisbane International will be two-time major finalist Amanda Anisimova, WTA Finals champion Elena Rybakina, reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula, and Mirra Andreeva.
Andreeva, 18, is tipped to be the next big star in women's tennis and might renew her rivalry with Sabalenka in Brisbane. Sabalenka leads their head-to-head 4-2, though world No. 9 Andreeva secured a three-set victory against Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final in 2025.
The Russian also reached the quarterfinals at last year's French Open and Wimbledon, and the semifinals at Roland Garros in 2024, becoming the youngest to reach a major's final four since Martina Hingis at the 1997 U.S. Open.
“Maybe the rivalry with Sabalenka is a little bit there, but she is leading… unfortunately… for now," Andreeva told Australian Associated Press this week.
Andreeva was defeated by Sabalenka in the Brisbane semifinals in 2025 and again in the fourth round at the Australian Open before her victory at Indian Wells, where she became the youngest winner since Serena Williams.
“That gave me a lot of confidence. Winning Indian Wells is a milestone of my career so far," she said.
The second week of warm-up events will feature the joint ATP-WTA Adelaide International, including 24-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic, from January 12-17, as well as a WTA 250 tournament in Hobart, Australia.
Auckland, New Zealand, will host a WTA tournament from January 5-11, followed by an ATP event at the same venue from January 12-17. Kyrgios and Frances Tiafoe are set to play in an exhibition tournament at Kooyong in Melbourne several days before the Australian Open begins.
Hong Kong will host an ATP event from January 5-11, the only warm-up tournament outside Australia or New Zealand.
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The ATP events will adhere to a new rule in 2026 to address extreme heat during men's matches, allowing for 10-minute breaks during best-of-three-sets singles matches, similar to a rule introduced by the WTA over 30 years ago.
With AP Inputs
Source: News18
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