The highly-anticipated 2023 tennis season serves up its first major of the year with the start of the Australian Open, which runs from 15-29 January in Melbourne.
Ashleigh Barty of Australia wowed the home fans with a stunning defeat of Danielle Collins in 2022’s final, but after announcing her retirement two months later there will be a new champion named at this year’s edition.
World number one Iga Swiatek won the French and US Open titles in 2022 and the Polish player will be looking to add a maiden Australian Open title to her collection after a semi-final defeat to Collins 12 months ago.
World number two Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, who became the first Arab woman to win at ATP Tour title in 2021, reached the finals of Wimbledon as well as the US Open last year and is aiming to finally secure a maiden Grand Slam crown.
American teenager Coco Gauff burst onto the scene two years ago when she followed up making the third round at Wimbledon by reaching the US Open final – at the age of 17.
After a warm-up win in Auckland, the seventh seed will be looking to challenge her higher-ranked rivals in the latter stages of this year’s Australian Open.