![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765088290_713_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s another star-studded field heading to Melbourne, where world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz will attempt to complete a career Grand Slam.<\/p>\n
Standing the way of Spaniard Alcaraz \u2013 who is yet to progress past the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park \u2013 will be world No.2, Italy\u2019s Jannik Sinner, who will bid for a third successive Australian Open title.<\/p>\n
Holger Rune will miss next month\u2019s Australian Open. Picture: Mark StewartSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s field will also include 10-time Australian Open champion, 38-year-old Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s field is similarly strong, with it including 98 of the world\u2019s top 100 female players.<\/p>\n
The only players missing from the women\u2019s top 100 will be world 64th-ranked Danielle Collins and world.No 76th-ranked Ons Jabeur, who is on maternity leave.<\/p>\n
Two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka heads the women\u2019s field that also includes defending champion Madison Keys and world No.2 Iga Swiatek.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s contingent currently consists of 12 players, including two wildcards with more to be announced over the coming month.<\/p>\n
They will be headed in the respective men\u2019s and women\u2019s fields by projected No.7 seed Alex de Minaur and projected No.32 seed Maya Joint, while Thanasi Kokkinakis has entered the tournament using a protected ranking.<\/p>\n
Should she hold onto her ranking, Joint will be seeded at a grand slam for the first time, after a strong 2025 season including two titles (Rabat and Eastbourne) and wins over the likes of world No.12 Clara Tauson, world No.21 Diana Schnaider, former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin (twice) and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.<\/p>\n
Being seeded would allow her to avoid a fellow seed until at least the third round – by comparison, last year her opening match was against reigning US Open finalist Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n
Joint, who grew up in the US before moving to Brisbane aged 16, has previously won just two grand slam singles matches, both first-rounders at the US Open.<\/p>\n
Alex de Minaur and Maya Joint are set to be the only seeded Aussies at the 2026 Australian Open while 2025 tournament villain Danielle Collins won\u2019t be there.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Australian star Alex de Minaur has no intention of slowing down before the new season after claiming a $964,000 pay cheque for his Ultimate Tennis Showdown victory.<\/p>\n
De Minaur is in good form, having won the Ultimate Tennis Showdown final on Monday (AEDT) in London over Norway\u2019s Casper Ruud.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had some tough matches here this week and playing Casper in the final was always going to be difficult,\u201d de Minaur said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is amazing to come through. There is no rest for me now. I might take (Tuesday) off, but then it\u2019s back on court practicing for the new season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian Open starts on Sunday January 18, with the qualifying competition also taking place at Melbourne Park from January 12-15.<\/p>\n
AUSSIES IN THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN MAIN DRAW<\/p>\n
Men<\/p>\n
7. Alex de Minaur<\/p>\n
54. Alexei Popyrin<\/p>\n
78. Adam Walton<\/p>\n
82. Aleksandar Vukic<\/p>\n
84 (PR). Thanasi Kokkinakis<\/p>\n
100. Tristan Schoolkate<\/p>\n
Wildcard: James Duckworth (more TBA)<\/p>\n
Women<\/p>\n
32. Maya Joint<\/p>\n
37. Daria Kasatkina<\/p>\n
80. Ajla Tomljanovic<\/p>\n
98. Kim Birrell<\/p>\n
Wildcard: Emerson Jones (more TBA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Injured Danish star Holger Rune will be the only notable absentee from the 2026 Australian Open men\u2019s field,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-338926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}