Demon’s 17-year Aussie first as Nadal, Osaka make huge returns: Summer of tennis ultimate guide

It’s the peak of summer – which means it’s time for Australia to become the centre of the tennis world.

The men’s and women’s tours have descended down under as the season gets underway with a bigger line-up of events than ever.

The traditional teams event to start the year sees the United Cup featuring some of the sport’s biggest names representing their countries, while two superstars and former Australian Open champions return from huge absences in Brisbane – Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka.

The BBL is back! Watch every match live with no ad breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

Can Nadal claim one last title in what’s likely his final appearance at Melbourne Park? Can Osaka get back to the top of the sport after more than a year on the sidelines? And what about the young guns who finally seem good enough to actually dethrone Novak Djokovic?

It all kicks off on Friday December 29, and with an expanded Australian Open starting one day earlier on Sunday January 14, there’ll be non-stop tennis for a month – almost all of it (United Cup, Brisbane International, Adelaide International and Australian Open) shown on Nine.

Let’s get you caught up in our ultimate guide to the summer of tennis.

UNITED CUP

Dates: Friday December 29 to Sunday January 7

Venue: Sydney (Ken Rosewall Arena) and Perth (RAC Arena)

Category: ATP/WTA international mixed team competition

Draw size: Six groups of three countries, 18 countries in total, six players per country

Highlights: Australia vs Great Britain, 8pm Fri 29 Dec; Australia vs USA, 8pm Mon 1 Jan

The replacement for the much-loved Hopman Cup consolidates into just two cities, Sydney and Perth, for the second edition of the $US10 million teams tournament.

Nine of the world’s top 20 men and five of the world’s top 10 women will represent their nations with the Aussies facing a brutal draw against the USA and Great Britain.

Each rubber is decided in a single session, with each nation’s top men and women facing each other, followed by a potentially decisive mixed doubles.

That means Alex de Minaur is set to face American Taylor Fritz and Brit Cam Norrie – plus his girlfriend Katie Boulter in the mixed doubles – while Ajla Tomljanovic will square off with Boulter and Jessica Pegula.

John Millman, Matt Ebden, Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez make up the rest of the Aussie squad.

The six group winners, plus the best runner-up from both Sydney and Perth, will qualify for the knockout stage creating an eight-team bracket.

If Australia finishes first in group C it will head to Sydney and face the winner of group F – Croatia, Netherlands or Norway – on January 4.

It would then face either the Group A winner (Poland, Spain or Brazil) or the best Perth runner-up in the semi-finals on January 6.

If Australia escapes its group as the best Perth runner-up it would be on the other side of that four-team bracket, facing Poland, Spain or Brazil on January 3 in Perth.

READ: FULL UNITED CUP GUIDE INCLUDING ANALYSIS OF EVERY TEAM

BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

Dates: Sunday December 31 to Sunday January 7

Venue: Brisbane (Queensland Tennis Centre)

Category: WTA 500, ATP 250

Draw size: WTA – 48 singles / 24 doubles; ATP – 32 singles, 24 doubles

A whopping nine grand slam champions will contest a loaded Brisbane International – effectively everyone who couldn’t get into the United Cup – which is finally back at full strength for the first time in five years.

Two huge returns headline the action with Rafael Nadal back on court for the first time since his injury in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open, while dual Aussie champion Naomi Osaka hasn’t played tennis since late 2022 and missed all of this year after giving birth to her first child in July.

On the men’s side young gun Holger Rune plus Aussie Open sensation Ben Shelton are the headliners, plus Aussies Alexei Popyrin, Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.

But it’s the stacked women’s side which will draw the headlines with reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, reigning finalist Elena Rybakina, Karolina Muchova, Madison Keys, Jelena Ostapenko, Victoria Azarenka, Sofia Kenin, Sloane Stephens, Danielle Collins and Aussie Kim Birrell all featuring.

CANBERRA INTERNATIONAL

Dates: Sunday December 31 to Saturday January 6

Venue: Canberra Tennis Centre

Category: ATP Challenger 125, WTA 125

Draw size: ATP – 32 singles, 16 doubles; WTA – 32 singles, 16 doubles

ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

Dates: Monday January 8 to Saturday January 13

Venue: Adelaide (The Drive)

Category: WTA 500, ATP 250

Draw size: WTA – 32 singles, 16 doubles; ATP – 28 singles, 24 doubles

Thirteen of the world’s top-20 women, including Wimbledon singles champion and world No.7 Marketa Vondrousova, have been confirmed for January’s Adelaide International, with Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic also given a wildcard to ramp up her Australian Open preparation.

Hometown hero Thanasi Kokkinaki headlines the men’s field along with fellow Aussie Alexei Popyrin, while three of the world’s top 20 will take part in what looms as a key lead-in event to the first grand slam of the year in Melbourne.

Popyrin is Australia’s No.2-ranked male player behind Alex de Minaur and will hit Adelaide coming off a bumper 2023, which includes rising to a career-high singles ranking of 40.

“I can’t wait to be competing back in Adelaide. You cannot underestimate the motivation of being able to play in front of our Aussie fans,” Popyrin said.

“I have had a great 2023 and I am looking forward to this form continuing and having an even bigger year in 2024.”

South Australian Kokkinakis, who at 65 is one of eight Australian males in the world’s top 75, has been given a wildcard into the event now set to feature a host of the world’s best female players, including No.4 Elena Rybakina and world No.5 Jessica Pegula.

“I’m looking forward to returning to Adelaide,” Rybakina said.

“Adelaide as a city that knows how to make us feel welcome and bring out our best tennis.”

Wimbledon winner Vondrousova also features along with grand slam champions world No.10 Barbora Krejcikova and world No.13 Jelena Ostapenko.

Australian tennis great Alicia Molik, the newly appointed Adelaide International tournament director, said it was uplifting to see the quality of entrants, including the next generation of “superstars” in tennis.

“It is really pleasing that the calibre of both the ATP and WTA players entered to compete at the Adelaide International means that tennis fans are going to see high-quality tennis in a world-class venue,” Molik said.

“There are two very strong fields across both the men’s and women’s competition. We know the Adelaide International provides the best player experiences and cannot wait to welcome the next generation of superstars to centre court.”

American Tommy Paul, the world No.13, will be the highest-ranked male in the tournament, which begins on January 8.

– NCA Newswire

HOBART INTERNATIONAL

Dates: Monday January 8 to Saturday January 13

Venue: Hobart (Domain Tennis Centre)

Category: WTA 250

Draw size: 32 singles, 16 doubles

AUSTRALIAN OPEN QUALIFYING

Dates: Monday January 8 to Friday January 12

Venue: Melbourne Park

Category: Grand Slam qualifying

Draw size: Q128 singles

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Dates: Sunday January 14 to Sunday January 28

Venue: Melbourne Park

Category: Grand Slam

Draw size: 128 singles, 64 doubles

The big one.

For the men, the question is simple, but the answer isn’t – can anyone stop Novak Djokovic?

The 10-time champion can claim the all-time tennis record of a 25th grand slam title if he continues his Open Era record 28-match winning streak all the way until the final Sunday yet again.

But – and we’ve been bitten writing about this before – there finally seem to be young superstars good enough to dethrone him.

Firstly there’s Carlos Alcaraz, who was the world No.1 heading into last year’s tournament before having to withdraw due to a leg injury. Now ranked No.2, Alcaraz has a hard court slam under his belt (US Open 2022) and most impressively beat Djokovic for the Wimbledon crown in an epic.

He has only played the Australian Open twice, before his surge into the sport’s elite, only ever reaching the third round. Though it took then-No.7 seed Matteo Berrettini five sets and a match tiebreak to knock him off in 2022 – Alcaraz coming from two sets down to force it, signalling his intent for the year ahead.

Alcaraz is the second-favourite in betting markets thanks to the two slams under his belt. And Daniil Medvedev will be thereabouts once again, having made five hard-court slam finals including the 2021 and 2022 Aussie Opens (losing to Djokovic in three, and Rafael Nadal in a famous five).

But the most intriguing name is Jannik Sinner, after the Italian beat Djokovic not once but twice in November – first in the ATP Finals round-robin (a win Djokovic avenged in the tournament final), and then in the Davis Cup semis.

Of course, that means Sinner has never beaten Djokovic in a five-setter, with their solitary slam meeting in the semi-finals of this year’s Wimbledon (won by the Serb in straights). He has also only made it to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open once, losing there to Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2022, then again to Tsitsipas in the fourth round last time out.

Yet there’s a first for everything. And thanks to his excellent 2023, including a first Masters 1000 title in Canada – beating Alex de Minaur in the final – Sinner is seeded fourth meaning he’ll avoid Djokovic, Alcaraz or Medvedev until the semis. His first true deep run at the tournament looms, and we know he can beat the best.

The usual assortment of dangerous but without-a-resume young prospects make up the rest of the top 10, including perennial contender Tsitsipas, two-time quarter-finalist Andrey Rublev, and Alex Zverev – who comes down under with a growing dark cloud of abuse allegations from ex-partners.

Oh, and then there’s some Spanish bloke you might’ve heard of. Rafael Nadal.

It seemed like Craig Tiley was just talking up Nadal like he talks up every star under an injury cloud, but then the 22-time Slam champion confirmed not only was he playing the Australian Open, but he’d be ready for a warm-up at the Brisbane International too.

We haven’t seen Nadal in action since his heartbreaking hip injury in the second round last year at Melbourne Park, so he’ll be hoping for as much of a warm-up as possible before getting into the thick of things. But he would love nothing more to prove he can win one last Aussie Open before his likely retirement, after the famous 2022 triumph… which was a tournament without Djokovic, of course.

On the Aussie side, Alex de Minaur is set to be seeded 12th, the best for any local man since Lleyton Hewitt back in 2006. That’ll help him with his draw, as he typically squeezes the most out of his tournament possible until running into a clearly-better opponent – as seen with his fourth-round losses to Sinner (2022) and Djokovic (2023).

Unfortunately Nick Kyrgios won’t be in action, missing a second consecutive Australian Open due to his ongoing injury woes.

For the women, the typical question heading into any recent slam has been ‘if not Iga Swiatek, then who?’

The world No.1 did briefly lose the spot to reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, and exited 2023’s two hard court slams in the fourth round, but dominated in the WTA finals with a staggering 6-1 6-0 final win over Jessie Pegula to show just how unstoppable she is at her best.

But Swiatek has only made the last eight of the Melbourne Park tournament once – her semi-final appearance in 2022, losing to Danielle Collins in the semis – and if we know anything about women’s tennis, it’s that we don’t know a lot.

So Sabalenka or Elena Rybakina, last year’s finalists, along with back-to-back-tob-back quarter-finalist Pegula are clear contenders while Coco Gauff is coming in off the high of her breakthrough US Open title – which propelled her into the American mainstream sporting consciousness. All eyes will be on the 19-year-old as she tries to do the hard-court double, though she has never made even the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park.

Any other seeded woman winning the event would be a major surprise, but there’s one name all eyes will flock to during the tournament draw – two-time champion Naomi Osaka.

The Japanese superstar, who was amongst the top-10 earners in women’s sport last year without playing a match, returns from her injury and baby break in Brisbane early in the summer. She’ll hope she goes deep enough to shake off any rust, and avoids a brutal early draw in Melbourne too.

But we’ve seen what the 26-year-old can do; her power is almost unmatched amongst the sport’s elite. With four hard-court slam titles under her belt, clearly at her best Osaka can win this tournament – but even when she was a full-time player, she was beatable here, knocked out in the third round of the 2020 and 2022 events. And now she has to recover from over a year on the sidelines.

It’s unlikely any Aussies will advance into the second week though Ajla Tomljanovic’s long-awaited return will be closely tracked. The former world No.32 has never made it out of the second round at Melbourne Park but since her last appearance has made two slam quarter-finals, at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2022, before injuries cruelled her 2023 campaign.

With a kind draw and some upsets a third or fourth-round berth isn’t out of the question at all.

HOW CAN I WATCH THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN?

Nine will broadcast the Australian Open with streaming via 9Now.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN SEEDS

The rankings and thus the seeds can change up until a week before the Australian Open, but based on the entry lists and as of December 7, these are the 32 men’s and women’s seeds for the tournament.

Men’s Australian Open seeds

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB)

2. Carlos Alcaraz (ESP)

3. Daniil Medvedev (RUS)

4. Jannik Sinner (ITA)

5. Andrey Rublev (RUS)

6. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)

7. Alexander Zverev (GER)

8. Holger Rune (DEN)

9. Hubert Hurkacz (POL)

10. Taylor Fritz (USA)

11. Casper Ruud (NOR)

12. Alex de Minaur (AUS)

13. Tommy Paul (USA)

14. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)

15. Karen Khachanov (RUS)

16. Frances Tiafoe (USA)

17. Ben Shelton (USA)

18. Cam Norrie (GBR)

19. Nicolas Jarry (CHI)

20. Ugo Humbert (FRA)

21. Francisco Cerundolo (ARG)

22. Adrian Mannarino (FRA)

23. Tallon Griekspoor (NED)

24. Seb Korda (USA)

25. Jan Lennard Struff (GER)

26. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP)

27. Lorenzo Musetti (ITA)

28. Sebastian Baez (ARG)

29. Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)

30. Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG)

31. Jiri Lehecka (CZE)

32. Alexander Bublik (KAZ)

Women’s Australian Open seeds

1. Iga Swiatek (POL)

2. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR)

3. Coco Gauff (USA)

4. Elena Rybakina (KAZ)

5. Jessica Pegula (USA)

6. Ons Jabeur (TUN)

7. Marketa Vondrousova (CZE)

8. Karolina Muchova (CZE)

9. Maria Sakkari (GRE)

10. Barbora Krejcikova (CZE)

11. Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA)

12. Madison Keys (USA)

13. Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)

14. Petra Kvitova (CZE)

15. Qinwen Zheng (CHN)

16. Ludmilla Samsonova (RUS)

17. Belinda Bencic (SUI)

18. Daria Kasatkina (RUS)

19. Veronika Kudermetova (RUS)

20. Carolina Garcia (FRA)

21. Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS)

22. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)

23. Donna Vekic (CRO)

24. Magda Linette (POL)

25. Elina Svitolina (UKR)

26. Sorana Cirstea (ROU)

27. Anhelina Kalinina (UKR)

28. Anastasia Potapova (RUS)

29. Elise Mertens (BEL)

30. Jasmine Paolini (ITA)

31. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR)

32. Emma Navarro (USA)