2025 Australian Open preview: Predictions on who wins (with one surprise)

The Australian Open begins in full on Sunday, January 12. The draw will take place on Thursday, January 9, but we already know who the top seeds are. The seeds follow the current ranking for both the ATP and WTA.

In 2024, Aryna Sabalenka won the title for the second straight year. Italian Jannik Sinner won his first which helped launch an extremely successful year. Both players finished 2024 well, too, so the expectation would be that both players are ready for the first major of the year.

But who will win the 2025 Australian Open? What is one interesting bit to watch for? Here are some guesses.

Predictions for who wins the 2025 Australian Open

Let's be real and confess that both of the 2024 champions, Sinner and Sabalenka, should be the heavy favorites to win in 2025, too. After all, Sabalenka has won two years running, and she already took home the trophy for the year-opening Brisbane International. She is clearly nearly in peak form entering the tournament in Melbourne.

Sinner was nearly unbeatable on hard courts in 2024. He will definitely be pushed by Carlos Alcaraz, trying to earn his first Aussie Open title (the only Grand Slam he has not yet won), and Daniil Medvedev, but Sinner, in peak form, should be difficult to beat. We don't know what form he is ready to be in, though. He has not yet played this year.

Of course, one of the more interesting aspects of the tournament will be how the new partnership of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray plays out. Djokovic was bounced out of the Brisbane International earlier than expected, but maybe he didn't mind; he just wanted to get some work in. Plus, the difference between Murray and former Djokovic coach Goran Ivanisevic in the Serb's player's box should be stark.

The surprise guess here is that Djokovic bows out in the third round. He has sadly made a recent trend of losing to players not of his ilk.

The guess here is that Coco Gauff will begin the year exceedingly strong after doing so well at the United Cup, including defeating Iga Swiatek. The American will win her first title in Melbourne, beating Sabalenka in the final in three sets.

On the men's side, it would be easy to pick Sinner again. He played fantastically at the end of the 2024 season even while a potential suspension due to failed drug tests last March loomed. He won't know his fate until later in the season. In fact, let's go ahead and assume the Italian wins the event for the second straight year. Expecting anything else seems foolish.

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