Tennis fans: Join us for Meet up in Melbourne at 4pm on Sunday 17 January 2016 and also join our live Australian Open fan chat on Periscope (if you want to!) [Read more…]

The Australian Open 2016 Draw was held on Friday 15 January at Melbourne Park.

View the 2016 Australian Open Men’s Singles Draw

View the 2016 Australian Open Women’s Singles Draw

Men’s Draw

Seeding is shown in ().

• Novak Djokovic (1) and Roger Federer (3) are in the same half and Andy Murray (2) and Stan Wawrinka (4) are in the other half. Rafael Nadal (5) is in Stan Wawrinka’s quarter.
• Potential quarter finals are Djokovic v Nishikori, Federer v Berdych, Wawrinka v Nadal and Murray v Ferrer.

Top 8 Men’s Seeds

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB)

2. Andy Murray (GBR)

3. Roger Federer (SUI)

4. Stan Wawrinka (SUI)

5. Rafael Nadal (ESP)

6. Tomas Berdych (CZE)

7. Kei Nishikori (JPN)

8. David Ferrer (ESP)

Round 1 Men’s Matches to Watch

• Djokovic v Chung
• Nadal v Verdasco
• Tsonga v Baghdatis
• Hewitt v Duckworth
• Tomic v Istomin
• Kyrgios v Carreno Busta
• Almagro v Benneteau
• Kohlschreiber v Nishikori
• Isner v Janowicz

Women’s Draw

• Serena Williams (1) is in the top half and Simona Halep (2) is in the bottom half of the draw
• Aga Radwanksa (4) is in Serena Williams’ half and Garbine Muguruza (3) is in Simona Halep’s half
• Potential quarter finals are Serena Williams v Sharapova, Radwanska v Kvitova, Kerber v Muguruza, Venus Williams v Halep

Top 8 Women’s Seeds

1. Serena Williams (USA)

2. Simona Halep (ROU)

3. Garbine Muguruza (ESP)

4. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)

5. Maria Sharapova (RUS)

6. Petra Kvitova (CZE)

7. Angelique Kerber (GER)

8. Venus Williams (USA)

Round 1 Women’s Matches to Watch

• Hantuchova v Kuznetsova
• Mladenovic v Cibulkova
• Venus Williams v Jo Konta
• Gavrilova v Hradeka
• Garcia v Strykova
• Bencic v Riske

GSG’s thoughts and interesting tidbits

Men

• Novak Djokovic has five Australian Open titles and has been ranked world No.1 since July 2014. In 2015 he won had a win-loss record of 82-6, won 11 titles, competed in 15 finals and won $21 million in prize money. Djokovic plays Hyeon Chung, who won the 2015 ATP Most Improved player award, in the first round.
• Andy Murray, 2015 finalist and part of the winning British Davis Cup team, plays German rising star Alexander Zverev in the first round.
• Roger Federer made the Brisbane International final despite being not 100% healthy due to the flu. He lost to Milos Raonic. He plays Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round and potentially Grigor Dimitrov in the third round.
• Stan Wawrinka, 2014 title holder, plays Dimitri Tursunov in the first round and has a potential quarterfinal against Nadal.
• Rafael Nadal, coming in as fifth seed, has a first round match against fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
• Other players to watch: Kei Nishikori, Hyeon Chung, Pablo Carreno Busta, Nicolas Almagro, Dominic Thiem, Jo Wilfried-Tsonga, Omar Jasika.

Women

• World No.1 Serena Williams has six Australian Open titles, a total of 21 Grand Slam titles, and is keen for another one. If Serena wins her 22nd Grand Slam title she’ll tie with Steffi Graf. She was part of the USA team at the Hopman Cup but retired due to a knee inflammation so hasn’t played a match since losing in the US Open semifinal and not being able to complete her calendar Grand Slam.
• Maria Sharpova, with one title and three runner-up trophies, who withdrew from the Brisbane International, plays Nao Hibino first round.
• Simona Halep will play a qualifier. She’s currently in the Sydney semifinals.
• Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza, who withdrew from the Brisbane International, plays Anett Kontaveit in the first round.
• Victoria Azarenka won the Brisbane International and plays Alison van Uytvanck in the first round. 
• Other players to watch: Belinda Bencic from Switzerland (due to play in the Sydney semifinal today), Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys from the USA, Genie Bouchard from Canada and Jo Konta from Britain.

Aussie Watch

• Australia currently has nine men and nine women in the Australian Open main draw.
• I’m sure that everyone in Australia and probably the world is hoping that Australia’s Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt does well in what will be his 20th, and final Australian Open appearance. Hewitt plays Duckworth in the first round which has potential to be a five setter!
• Nick Kyrgios is playing incredibly well, coming off the Hopman Cup win. He withdrew from his match at the Kooyong Classic this week with a soft tissue ankle injury but later confirmed via social media that he’ll be fit for next week. Kyrios, who made the quarterfinals in 2015, plays Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round.
• 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur has had the best lead up to the Australian Open that I can remember, with 1 win in Brisbane and 2 in Sydney. She plays a qualifier in the first round.
• Watch out for Daria Gavrilova, the 2015 WTA Newcomer of the year, fresh off the Hopman Cup win, Alja Tomljanovic, Storm Sanders, Priscilla Hon, Madison Inglis, Kimberly Birrell, Jarmilla Wolfe (formerly Gajdosova) and Tammy Patterson who are the other Aussie women in the draw.
• Bernard Tomic, Newcombe Medallist Sam Groth, James Duckworth, Omar Jasika, Jordan Thompson, Matt Ebden and John Millman are also in the draw.

New this year, the Australian Open festival will fill Birrarung Marr between Melbourne Park and Federation Square. Everyone can enjoy the festival with free entry!

The Australian Open prize money totals $44 million this year. View the allocation.

Stay tuned for loads of Australian Open photos and updates over the next two weeks.

Grand Slam Gal

Have a look at how the 2016 Australian Open prize money, with US dollar equivalents, will be shared around. [Read more…]