2025 Australian Open: How to Watch, Betting Odds and Favorites to Win

The Australian Open, the first tennis major of the year, is set to begin on Sunday, Jan. 12 in Melbourne, with viewing hours beginning on Saturday night in the United States.

The world's biggest tennis stars will compete Down Under for a chance to make their marks early in the tennis season.

Before the major tournament begins, here's everything you need to know when watching the Australian Open, including the broadcast schedule, reigning champions and betting odds.

Key dates

Sunday, Jan. 12: The first round of the Australian Open begins.

Saturday, Jan. 25: The women's singles final will be played at Rod Laver Arena. The trophy ceremony will follow the match.

Sunday, Jan. 26: The men's singles final will be played at Rod Laver Arena. The trophy ceremony will follow the match.

How to watch the Australian Open

ESPN: The network will showcase the Australian Open every day on one of its channels during the tournament's two week run. ESPN will broadcast live, but the matches will be shown in the middle of the night since Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of Eastern Time in the U.S., for example. ESPN will host the tournament's finals, semifinals and most of the quarterfinals and Round of 16 matches.

ESPN2: The secondary ESPN channel will be the main host of Australian Open coverage, especially during the first week of the tournament. ESPN2 will also showcase encore footage of the matches during the daytime in the United States.

ESPN+: The streaming service will show all the matches throughout the two weeks of the Australian Open. Some moments during the two weeks will solely be shown on ESPN+.

Defending champions

Men's champion: Jannik Sinner won his first major tournament at last year's Australian Open. He made quite the comeback in the final vs. Daniil Medvedev, winning in five sets after dropping the first two. The then 22-year-old was already on the tennis map, but this secured his status as one of the top players in the world. Sinner later won the U.S. Open title in September as well, and he's ranked No. 1 in the world coming into this year's Australian Open.

Women's champion: Aryna Sabalenka defended her Australian Open last year by winning her second title in a row there. She beat China's Qinwen Zheng 6–3, 6–2 to capture the title. She went on to win the U.S. Open, like Sinner, and she enters this year's Australian Open as the World No. 1.

Most titles

Margaret Court: Australian born Margaret Court actually holds the title for having the most Australian Open trophies with 11 in her career. Some of her titles were won before the Open Era began, but regardless, she's won an impressive number of majors in her career (24).

Novak Djokovic: The Australian Open is considered Novak Djokovic's best tournament as he's won 10 titles there, with the most recent coming in 2023. Djokovic, like Court, also holds 24 major titles in his career, with the Australian Open being the Grand Slam that he's won most.

Top 10 players

Men's Players

1. Jannik Sinner
2. Alexander Zverev
3. Carlos Alcaraz
4. Taylor Fritz
5. Daniil Medvedev
6. Casper Ruud
7. Novak Djokovic
8. Alex de Minaur
9. Andrey Rublev
10. Grigor Dimitrov

Women's Players

1. Aryna Sabalenka
2. Iga Swiatek
3. Coco Gauff
4. Jasmine Paolini
5. Qinwen Zheng
6. Elena Rybakina
7. Jessica Pegula
8. Emma Navarro
9. Daria Kasatkina
10. Barbora Krejcikova

Betting odds

Men's draw

Not surprisingly, the reigning Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner currently has the best odds at +120, according to Draft Kings, to successfully defend his title this year. Closely behind him sits Carlos Alcaraz (+350) and Novak Djokovic (+550), who has won this tournament 10 times already.

From there, the rest of the players have a big jump when it comes to betting odds. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev comes in at No. 4 with +1200 odds, while last year's runner-up Daniil Medvedev has +1600 odds.

One American sits on the top ten list: Taylor Fritz. He's coming off his first major final appearance at the U.S. Open, where he lost to Sinner, and he's currently ranked at his career best No. 4 in the world.

Top 10 best odds

1. Jannik Sinner (+120)
2. Carlos Alcaraz (+350)
3. Novak Djokovic (+550)
4. Alexander Zverev (+1200)
5. Daniil Medvedev (+1600)
6. Taylor Fritz (+3000)
7. Alex de Minaur (+5000)
8. Joao Fonseca (+5000)
9. Jack Draper (+6000)
10. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (+7000)

Women's draw

Similarly to the men's odds, the reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka has the best odds to win for a third year in a row at +225, according to Draft Kings.

Three Americans made the top 10 best betting odds this year, from Coco Gauff's +425 odds to Emma Navarro and Madison Keys's +5000 odds. An American woman last won the Australian Open in 2020 when Sofia Kenin captured the title.

Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka, who made her return to tennis last season, jumped in with +4000 odds.

Top 10 best odds

1. Aryna Sabalenka (+225)
2. Coco Gauff (+425)
3. Iga Swiatek (+450)
4. Elena Rybakina (+900)
5. Qinwen Zheng (+1500)
6. Karolina Muchova (+2500)
7. Mirra Andreeva (+2800)
8. Naomi Osaka (+4000)
9. Emma Navarro (+5000)
10. Madison Keys (+5000)