The 2026 edition of the Australian Open will begin on Sunday 18 January and there are all the conditions to witness a memorable show.
The two huge favorites to win the men's tournament are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz once again. The Italian and the Spaniard have equally shared the last eight Grand Slam titles and have faced each other in the last three Majors finals, as well as having created a gap to all their opponents who have assumed enormous proportions.
The 24-year-old from Sesto Pusteria has triumphed at Melbourne Park in the last two editions and will be the man to beat again in 2026. The four-time Grand Slam champion – who finished the 2025 season in the brightest possible way by triumphing at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin – wants to become the second player in the Open Era after Novak Djokovic to lift the AO trophy three years in a row.
Bertolucci on the 2026 AO
Carlitos – on the contrary – has never gone beyond the quarterfinals in Australia and he finally wants to break this little curse. The Australian Open is the only Major tournament that he has not won yet and his run in the 2025 edition came to a halt against Serbian legend Novak Djokovic, who used his experience to prevail in four sets on the iconic Rod Laver Arena.
The 22-year-old from Murcia will have to prove that he can win even without his huge mentor Juan Carlos Ferrero, with whom the collaboration has been interrupted after more than seven years.
In an interview with 'La Gazzetta dello Sport', former ATP ace and top analyst Paolo Bertolucci expressed some interesting considerations ahead of the AO: "This tournament can already direct the season. Sinner and Alcaraz are the two huge favorites in all the tournaments they play, especially in the Slams.
It is not easy to find another player who can counter them in a best-of-five set match. Melbourne will also ignite the hunt for the Grand Slam: the Italian and the Spaniard are perfectly aware of the chance they have."
