The beginning of a New Year is always exciting. People make resolutions and commit to bettering themselves, and for the world’s top tennis players, a fresh start and a blank slate presents itself as a new season begins.

And that new season begins in the land down under at the Australian Open, the first of the tour’s four majors. Last year’s event played host to a new champion on the men’s side and a repeat champion on the women’s side, with Italy’s Jannik Sinner capturing the first major of his career, while Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka defended her 2023 title.

To preview the 2025 Australian Open, Long Island Tennis Magazine examined the contenders, pretenders and sleepers for the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events:

Men’s Singles 

Contenders

Jannik Sinner

The current world number one had one of the best seasons in recent memory in 2024, and it all began at the Australian Open for the Italian. In a remarkable run, he knocked off Novak Djokovic, who had not lost in Melbourne since 2018, in the semifinals before coming back from two-sets-to-love down against Daniil Medvedev in the finals. That triumph kicked off a year where Sinner would win 73 matches, losing just six, and won eight titles, including the U.S. Open, the ATP Finals in his home country of Italy, and leading his nation to its second consecutive Davis Cup title. Sinner is the betting favorite to repeat as Australian Open champion.

Tommy Paul  

2024 was an exciting year of tennis and especially so for the Americans, with Tommy Paul being a crucial part of the success on the men’s side. Paul won three titles last year and finished the season ranked 12th in the world, his career-high ranking, and begins the new year in a spot where he has found success before. The lone major semifinal of his career was at the Australian Open, in 2023, and he will look to build on that at this year’s Aussie Open. Paul is one of the most athletic players on tour and has shown he is capable of beating the best players in the world, with wins over Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, among others, which makes him a threat to win the title Down Under in 2025.

Novak Djokovic

The most dominant player in Australian Open history returns to the site where he has lifted 10 titles in his career, and coming off of a rather unsuccessful season, by his standards, is eager to reclaim his throne. When Novak Djokovic has been asked over the last couple of years how he remains motivated with all he has achieved over, he has been clear: winning majors. That is what keeps him going, and he plans his scheduling and training around that desire. With Andy Murray joining his coaching team, and a restful end to 2024, Djokovic could be fresher than he has been in recent years to begin a season. The key will be can his 37-year-old body hold up over the course of a two-week Grand Slam event, especially when most of his opponents are a decade younger than he is. But if anyone can do it, it’s Djokovic, and the Australian Open has been the major where he has found the most success over the courts of his career.

Pretenders

Carlos Alcaraz 

There is no disputing Carlos Alcaraz status among the world’s best, however, there is one thing missing from his resume, and that is an Australian Open title. It’s the one major that Alcaraz has not yet won, and the Spaniard has never made it out of the quarterfinals Down Under. Other than that one quarterfinal result, Alcaraz has been eliminated in the second round and the third round in his other trips to the Aussie Open. While he is the No. 3 ranked player in the world and has the second shortest odds to win the title, he has yet to prove that is able to lift the trophy in Melbourne.

Casper Ruud

Casper Ruud enjoyed a return to form in 2024 following an injury-rattled season the year prior, and the Norwegian finished the year as the sixth ranked player in the world. He won 51 matches and reached the semifinals of the French Open, a place where he reached the finals the previous two seasons. But his lack of success on hard courts continued, which included a third-round exit at the Australian Open to begin the year and a fourth-round exit at the U.S. Open in September. Before he won a couple of round-robin matches at the ATP Finals, Ruud had lost seven of eight hard-court matches at the end of the season, a slump that could continue in the new year. Ruud has never made it past the fourth-round in Melbourne, and with his struggles on hard court still persisting, that may continue at the 2025 Australian Open.

Andrey Rublev

If you have ever played video games, you know how frustrating it is when you reach a level that you just can’t beat and get past. No matter what you do, it seems like you are doing something wrong or there is something you just aren’t able to figure out. That’s what it feels like with Andrey Rublev and major quarterfinals. He has reached that stage 10 times in his career and has been in the final eight at all four of the majors, but he has not been able to move past that point and play in a semifinal. Rublev has been mainstay in the Top 10 for years and currently sits at eighth in the world; but until Rublev shows he has figured out how to beat the quarterfinal level, he won’t be considered a serious contender to win a major title.

Sleepers

Jack Draper

It was a breakthrough year for Jack Draper of Great Britain, one he aims to use as a stepping stone entering 2025. Draper won two titles and posted a record of 39-22, finishing the season with a career-high ranking of 15th in the world. He really came into his own in the second half of the year which was highlighted by a run to the U.S. Open semifinals before he lost to the eventual champion Sinner. Draper followed that up with a title in Vienna, and had multiple wins over Top 10 players in the latter stages of the year. While his previous two trips to Melbourne did not yield great results, after proving he can make a deep run at a major with his performance in New York, Draper is a threat to do the same Down Under.

Jakub Mensik

The youngest player inside the Top 50? Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic. Still just a teenager, Mensik burst onto the scene in 2024, winning 25 tour-level matches after entering the year with just three tour-level victories in his career. He has a massive serve and plays extremely aggressively from the baseline, and thrives on putting pressure on his opponents. Mensik has the style of play that is built for the hard-courts, and two years ago, he reached the finals of the 2022 Australian Open junior singles final. At last year’s U.S. Open, Mensik won two matches to reach the third-round, and with a year of professional tennis under his belt, the Australian Open could be his coming out party on the international stage.

Alexei Popyrin

The last time an Australian man won the Australian Open? Mark Edmondson in 1976. Could that change in 2025? The Aussies have three men ranked inside the Top 26, with Alexei Popyrin being one of those three and checking in at 24th in the world. The big-serving Popyrin powered his way into the U.S. Open fourth round a year ago which was highlighted by a win over defending champion Novak Djokovic. Popyrin has the game to upend anyone on hard courts and he demonstrated that fact in New York last year. With the Aussie crowd getting behind him, Popyrin will have home-court advantage in his matches, and if he can channel the consistency he had at the U.S. Open, could be due for a big run in his home country.

Women’s Singles

Contenders

Aryna Sabalenka 

Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka will arrive in Australia as the two-time defending Australian Open champion and will be in pursuit of a third consecutive title, something that has not been done on the women’s side since Martina Hingis in the late 1990s. Sabalenka established herself as the best player in the world in 2024 and is firmly entrenched atop the WTA Rankings. She bookended her season last year with the U.S. Open title to add a third major to her resume, and is the favorite to win her fourth to kick off 2025.

Qinwen Zheng

2024 was the best season of Zheng’s career and it sets up what could be an even bigger one this year. Zheng was the runner-up at the Australian Open, losing to Sabalenka in the finals, and while she did not compile great results at the French Open or Wimbledon, still had a successful summer. Zheng captured the Olympic Gold Medal in Paris, becoming the first Asian player to win an Olympic Gold Medal in a singles event. At the U.S. Open, she reached the quarterfinals for the second straight season before falling to Sabalenka once again, and made a run to the WTA Finals championship match to wrap up her season. Another deep run at the Australian Open could be in the cards for Zheng.

Coco Gauff

While the young American was unable to repeat as the U.S. Open champion last year, Coco Gauff still finished her year in a strong manner. Gauff won the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia in a thrilling three-set match over Qinwen Zheng, and concluded the season as the third-ranked player in the world. Gauff has continued to make strides to fine-tune her game, which includes shoring up her forehand and ridding her service games of double-faults, and the more consistent she gets, the more dangerous it is for her competition. Gauff reached the semifinals at the Australian Open in 2024, and has her sights set on returning to that spot and hopefully beyond at this year’s installment of the tournament.

Pretenders

Jasmine Paolini

The 28-year-old Jasmine Paolini was a revelation in 2024. She began the season ranked 29th in the world and had never made it past the second round at any of the four majors. But that quickly changed as Paolini put together the best year of her career, reaching the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon, and concluded the year as the fourth-ranked player in the world. While she was great last year, it could just be a flash in the pan. Before reaching the fourth round in Melbourne last year, she had never won a match at the event. Paolini will have to show she is ready to back up her 2024 season before being considered a contender.

Iga Swiatek

While the aforementioned Paolini enjoyed the best year of her career, 2024 was a strange year for Poland’s Iga Swiatek. Yes, she did repeat as the French Open champion, winning the event for the third consecutive time, but did not find much success at the other three majors. That was coupled by the fact that she was handed a one-month suspension by the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme for a test that she had failed back in August. The Australian Open has never been Swiatek’s best major and she has lost in Melbourne in the third-round and fourth-round, respectively, the last two seasons. When you factor that alongside this recent suspension, Swiatek could be set up for an early exit at the year’s first major.

Daria Kasatkina

The ninth-ranked player in the world Daria Kasatkina is been a consistent player atop the WTA Rankings, yet has been unable to translate that into meaningful success at the majors. Each of the last two seasons, Kasatkina did not make it out of the fourth round out at any of the majors, and in her career, she has never advanced past the third-round at the Australian Open. Kasatkina has a crafty game that utilizes a lot of variety, which makes her a difficult opponent on clay and grass surfaces, but does not have the same power as some of the other women inside the Top 10. While Kasatkina is one of the more consistent players on tour, her struggles at the Australian Open could continue in 2025.

Sleepers

Donna Vekic

At the Paris Olympics last summer, Donna Vekic became the first woman from her native Croatia to reach even the medal stage, before winning her semifinal match and ultimately earning the Silver Medal. That result came on the heels of a run to the Wimbledon semifinals, and it proved to be one of the best summers of Vekic’s career. Vekic had ambitions of making a deep U.S. Open run, but ran into Qinwen Zheng in the fourth round, falling in a hard-fought three-set match. Vekic has reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open before, in 2023, and brought in Sascha Bajin to be her new coach heading into the new season. Bajin was previously the hitting partner for Serena Williams during some of her dominant years, and coached Naomi Osaka while she was winning two of her Grand Slam titles, and Vekic hopes he can have a similar effect on her results in 2025.

Madison Keys

When the American arrives in Melbourne it will make the 10th anniversary of her surprise run to the Australian Open semifinals. Keys was just 19 at the time and shocked everyone by reaching the final four. While injuries have slowed her down in recent years, Keys has refound the form that made her a top player in the world, and she is a dark horse to make another deep run at the year’s first major. Few players possess more power than Keys from the baseline, and she has demonstrated the ability to go deep into the Grand Slams, evidenced by two Australian Open semifinals, a Wimbledon semifinal, and a U.S. Open runner-up finish. If Keys is healthy, look for her to potentially be one of the last women standing.

Leylah Fernandez

It seems like a lifetime ago that Leylah Fernandez came out of nowhere to reach the finals of the U.S. Open in 2021. Since then, the road has been a bit bumpy for the left-handed Canadian who now finds herself ranked 31st in the world, but 2025 could be a springboard to the next stage of her career. Fernandez won seven of her final 10 matches of the season so she should be feeling good about her tennis as we head into the new year. She has shown she is capable of making a deep run at the majors, with also a Wimbledon quarterfinal result to her name, and could be a sneaky pick to make the second week at the Australian Open.