Australian Open 2023: Tournament Schedule, Standings, Favorites & Betting Odds

From 16 to 29 January 2023, Melbourne Park courts will host the Australian Open. Bookmakers believe Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev to be the favorites of the men's tournament and Iga Świątek and Aryna Sabalenka - of the women's tournament. The probability of Djokovic's triumph is estimated at 54%, while Świątek's is 32%.

History of the Australian Open

The upcoming Australian Open draw will be the 111th in history and the 55th during the open era. The Australian Open has historically been played in six cities and two countries. In addition to our usual Melbourne, the Australian Open has been hosted 17 times by Sydney, 14 times by Adelaide, seven times by Brisbane, three times by Perth, and twice by New Zealand. New Zealand hosted tournaments in 1906 and 1912.

Timing of Australian Open 2023

According to the schedule, the Australian Open 2023 will begin on January 16 with matches in the Round of 128 and end on Sunday, January 29, with the men's final. The women's final is scheduled for January 28.

Tournament draw

Nadal and Medvedev’s draw

Djokovic and Rublev's draw

Australian Open format

The Australian Open 2023 will feature five different events: singles for men and women and three doubles events: women, men, and mixed pairs. As in previous seasons, there will be 128 participants in the main draw singles and 64 in the doubles events. In all divisions, the so-called Olympic system is applied, i.e. an athlete (a pair) is eliminated from the draw after losing.

To win a singles tournament, a player must win seven matches, and six wins is enough to win the doubles competition. The seeding is performed according to the ATP and WTA rankings - the first four strongest athletes (pairs) are separated, and the tournament's first and second best (pairs) will definitely not meet until the final.

Participants

The Australian Open men's singles tournament will not be attended by the world's first ranked player, Carlos Alcaraz, as he was injured during a practice match. The first seed at the tournament in Melbourne is Rafael Nadal, the world's second best at the moment. This could mean a new leader in the ATP world rankings after the first Grand Slam event of the season. Several tennis players have a chance to rise to the top.

Winners of the last Australian Open tournament

Rafael Nadal, the second-ranked player in the world and one of the most titled tennis players in history, won the last men's singles event. Rafael defeated Daniil Medvedev, now the eighth-ranked player in the world, in five sets. Overall, the Spaniard won twice at the Australian Open singles. Note that Novak Djokovic, the most decorated tennis player in Australian Open history, didn't participate in the last draw.

In 2022, local player Ashleigh Barty, who sadly has already finished her career, won the women's singles title. A year ago, the Australian defeated Danielle Collins of the USA 6-3, 7-6 in two sets. Remember that in 2021, American Brady and Japan's Osaka played in the women's singles final. The Asian player was stronger, defeating the U.S. representative in two games.

The Australian duo of Thanasi Kokkinakis/Nick Kyrgios won the men's doubles in 2022. In women's doubles, the Czech pair of Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova won. Kristina Mladenovic (France) and Ivan Dodig (Croatia) were the winners in mixed doubles.

Australia Open 2023 ATP's favorites

Novak Djokovic

Novak has won nine times at the Australian Open, he is the most decorated tennis player in Australian Open history, and it makes sense that the Serb would lead the list of favorites to win. We should note Novak's current great athletic shape. Djokovic won the ATP 250 tournament in Adelaide in 2023, losing only one set and knocking out Shapovalov and Medvedev. Another jubilee triumph for Djokovic in Melbourne is very likely indeed.

Daniil Medvedev

Daniil played twice in the Australian Major's finals and lost twice. Medvedev was weaker than Novak Djokovic in 2021 and Rafael Nadal in 2022. In 2023, Daniel played one official tournament in Adelaide, where he reached the semifinals but lost to Novak Djokovic in two games. Medvedev played three matches to reach the semifinals and knocked out Sonego, Kecmanović, and Khachanov. The Russian has plenty of practice and can defeat anyone in Melbourne except maybe Djokovic.

Rafael Nadal

In 2022, Nadal also ranked third in the list of favorites but ended up winning the Australian Open for the second time in his career. However, last year Novak Djokovic was absent from the tournament, but now the Serb is ready to fight, and in great shape, so it should not be surprising that bookmakers give odds of 11.00 on Rafael's triumph. And the Spaniard's current fitness level raises big questions. Nadal played two official matches at the 2023 United Cup and lost both, in two sets to Norrie and in three sets to De Minaur. We will not be surprised if Nadal fails the upcoming Australian Open.

Australia Open 2023 WTA's favorites

Before the start of the women's Majors, making predictions about the winner is a bit far-fetched. The girls are much more competitive than the men, especially at major tournaments, and it is difficult to guess the dynamics of a performer's shape for as long as the two weeks of the draw. Despite all this, here is our draft about the favorites of the Australian Open 2023.

Iga Świątek

After Ashleigh Barty left the sport, Polish performer Iga Świątek firmly took over the top spot in the WTA rankings. In 2022, Iga won eight tournaments, including two Majors in France and the United States. At this point, Świątek's lead over her closest competitor Jabeur is 5,885 points, more than Ons even has to her credit!!! Such a gap between the world's best player and everyone else hasn't been seen since the best form of Serena Williams. However, the bookmakers don't seem to make the Pole an obvious favorite like Djokovic, given the unpredictability of women's tennis, especially at major tournaments. In 2023, Świątek played four official matches at the United Cup, winning three of them with one loss to Pegula.

Aryna Sabalenka

Aryna is second on the list of favorites, with Sabalenka's best accomplishment at the Australian Open being reaching the 4th round of the 2021 and 2022 draws. However, it's worth taking the shape factor into account, and Arina is fine with that. In the first week of 2023 Aryna won the Adelaide tournament. In the course of the draw the Belarusian was stronger than Samsonova, Vondroušová, Begu and Nosková. There is every reason to believe that at the upcoming Australian Open Aryna will show the best result of her career.

Caroline Garcia

The Frenchwoman is fourth in the WTA rankings. In 2022 Caroline won two major hardcourt tournaments in Cincinnati and the US Open, and two smaller tournaments in Warsaw and Bad Homburg in Germany. It should be noted that in 2022 the Frenchwoman stormed the top lists after two seasons of dormancy. Garcia defeated Sakkari in the semifinals and in the decisive match against Arina Sabalenka in two sets. At the time of writing, Caroline had played three official matches at two tournaments and had three wins. So the Frenchwoman is in good shape.

Australian Open 2023 prize fund

The total prize money for the Australian Open is 76.5 million Australian dollars, or about 52 million U.S. dollars, which is almost 3.4 percent more than in 2022, if you count in the local currency. In U.S. currency, on the other hand, the prize money has dropped by almost two million due to exchange rate fluctuations.

Best bets and odds on the Australian Open 2023

Novak Djokovic came to Melbourne with a single goal - to become the winner of the AO for the 10th time. The Serb has plenty of rivals, but none of the real contenders for the Australian "crown" can compare with Novak's shape right now. Alcaraz is not in the tournament due to injury. After winning Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal noticeably slipped down, failing at the end of the last season and the beginning of the current one.

Medvedev, at the moment, isn't ready to compete with Novak, as he showed during his recent meeting with the Serb in Adelaide. The other players are weaker than Djokovic. All the more, Novak is in comfortable conditions. The Serb has repeatedly said that the hard court of Melbourne is perfect for him, confirmed by his results. Before the start of the draw, it is worth betting on Djokovic's triumph on AO-2023.

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