MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Get ready for the 2026 Australian Open with a guide that tells you everything you need to know about how to watch the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season on TV, who the defending champions are, what the schedule is and more:

The 2026 Australian Open begins this weekend. It will run from January 18 to February 1. It will be streaming live and on demand.

The first week of the season was men’s tennis cast in miniature. In fact, it illuminated wealth inequality more broadly. The billionaire class—Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner—flew to a lavish exhibition. They batted around balls, smiling throughout. They collected seven-figure checks. And then they shared a private plane to Melbourne.

Madison Keys plans to go quietly into the player tunnel at Rod Laver Arena before the season-opening major to take a photo of her name among the Australian Open champions and send it home to her mom.

Andy Roddick is the most recent American to win a slam slam title on the men's side when he captured the 2003 US Open. Since, tennis has been dominated by three of the best players in history, including Novak Djokovic, who will appear in the Australian Open along with the emergence of Sinner and Alcaraz.

The No. 1 seed enters Melbourne as the favorite, but several challengers, including Elena Rybakina and defending champion Madison Keys, pose a threat.

The 2026 Australian Open is set to begin on Sunday, and some of the top tennis players in the world enjoyed a quick tuneup with the 1 Point Slam.

While the top prize on offer in Melbourne in 2026 is the highest ever, it has required a steady rise to get there. The winner's share of the 2026 edition is 19% higher than last year, and a noticeable A$1.4m higher than 2021, when Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka both took home A$2.75M each.

Aryna Sabalenka has been one of the most vocal figures pushing for fairer financial distribution across tennis’ biggest stages. But ahead of the AO, even as the tournament rolled out a record-breaking pay rise for 2026,

Madison Keys is soaking up the fun parts of returning to the Australian Open as defending champion and the American said on Friday she is eager to get a photo with her name in the champions' tunnel to send to her mother.

The 1 Point Slam isn’t likely to be a one-hit wonder. The first question to Jannik Sinner in the official pre-tournament news conference Friday was, jokingly, asked how he could expect an Australian Open three-peat if he couldn't beat an amateur in a one-point exhibition.