The first Grand Slam of the 2026 season is set to begin this weekend as the best players from the ATP and WTA Tours head to Melbourne for the Australian Open.
Watch the first round of the Australian Open LIVE beginning on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT on TSN2/3, the TSN App, or watch multiple streams at once on the TSN.ca Multiplex.
Defending men’s champion Jannik Sinner enters the tournament as the second seed, as he tries to capture his third-straight Australian Open title. American Madison Keys is the defending champion on the women’s side and enters the draw as the No. 9 seed.
Seven Canadians will be in the main draw Down Under, including Liam Draxl and Marina Stakusic, who made it through qualifying this past week.
Felix Auger-Aliassime
Auger-Aliassime enters the tournament as the seventh seed, and looks to build off a fantastic finish to 2025.
The Montreal native knocked off perennial contenders Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, and Alex de Minaur at the US Open en route to the semifinals, where he dropped a hard-fought match to Sinner.
Following his breakthrough in Flushing Meadows, the 25-year-old went on to win the European Open in Brussels and reach the final at the Paris Masters, where he once again fell to Sinner. His late-season performance was enough to qualify him for the ATP Finals for the first time. Auger-Aliassime had another impressive showing in Turin, reaching the semis with round-robin wins over Zverev and Ben Shelton before being eliminated by world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz.
Auger-Aliassime has a favourable draw for the first major of 2026, as he is on the same side of the bracket as Alcaraz but will avoid playing him until a potential semifinal. He will open his tournament against Portugal’s Nuno Borges, with possible future matches against Daniil Medvedev and Zverev in the fourth round and quarter-final, respectively.
Victoria Mboko
The top Canadian woman enjoyed a meteoric rise up the WTA ranks last season, punctuated by her first 1000-level win at the National Bank Open in Montreal. Mboko finished 2024 as No. 350 but enters 2026 as the 17th-ranked woman in the world.
The 19-year-old is already in top form this season, having reached the final of her warm-up event in Adelaide, where she will take on Mirra Andreeva on Friday night.
Mboko will battle wild card Emerson Jones in the first round with a potential matchup against No. 14 Clara Tauson in the third round. If the Canadian can reach the fourth round, she could go head-to-head with two-time Australian Open champion and world No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka.
Denis Shapovalov
Shapovalov, the tournament’s 21st seed, will try to improve on his second-round exit from 2025. The 26-year-old had one of the best years of his career last season, capturing a pair of titles, including his first 500-level title in Dallas.
The Richmond Hill, Ont., native will face off with wild card Yunchaokete Bu in the opening round. Later in Melbourne he faces possible matchups against the 12th-seeded Casper Ruud, the heavy-serving Shelton, and Sinner.
Leylah Annie Fernandez
The former US Open finalist heads to Melbourne Park as the 22nd seed as she looks to put on another strong showing at the Australian Open. The 23-year-old won a pair of titles last year in Washington and Osaka, Japan and begins the season with her highest rank since 2021.
Last year, the Laval, Que., native reached the third round in Melbourne before losing to world No. 3 Coco Gauff. This season, Fernandez will open her tournament against Janice Tjen with a potential matchup against Keys in round three, No. 6 Jessica Pegula in round four, and No. 4 Amanda Anisimova in the quarters.
Gabriel Diallo
Diallo is coming off a breakout 2025 and hopes to continue his rapid ascent up the rankings at his second Australian Open appearance.
The 24-year-old began last season as the world No. 87 and reached as high as No. 33 following his first-career ATP title at the Libema Open.
Now, Diallo looks to be a consistent presence in the top-30, but got a tough opening draw with his opening match against the third-seeded Zverev. The Montreal native is in the top half of the bracket and faces possible matchups against No. 26 Cam Norrie, No. 13 Rublev, Auger-Aliassime, and eventually Alcaraz.
He has won his first match at five consecutive majors and will try to keep his streak alive this weekend.
Liam Draxl
Draxl, the world No. 145, will make his Grand Slam main draw debut in Melbourne after getting through qualifying last week.
It will be just the second tour-level match of the Newmarket, Ont., native’s career following his first-round exit to Pablo Carreno Busta at the National Bank Open in Toronto last August. If the 24-year-old can earn the first-round win, matches against No. 18 Francisco Cerundolo and Rublev await him.
Marina Stakusic
After getting through qualifying, Stakusic will make her second-career Grand Slam appearance. Her last major was a first-round loss to Katerina Siniakova in the first round of Wimbledon in 2024.
The Mississauga, Ont., native will open her tournament against wild card Priscilla Hon, with possible matchups against No. 29 Iva Jovic and No. 7 Jasmine Paolini on the horizon.
