The road to the Australian Open leads through tournaments in Auckland, India and qualifying

Before the expected first tennis grand slam of the season, the Australian Open, six tournaments await tennis players, of course on the Australian and Asian continents. In Perth and Sydney, the United Cup, a competition of the eighteen best mixed teams in the world, is already underway.

Ironically, the 2024 season started on Friday 29 December 2023 with the United Cup (played from 29 December 2023 – 7 January 2024). In 2019, the ATP rebranded the defunct Hopman Cup into the new ATP Cup, which was a men’s team competition played over a ten-day span just before the Australian Open. As this format did not go down well with the fans or even the players, they returned to a similar format to the original Hopman Cup after three years.

So it is a team tournament featuring the six countries with the top-ranked players on the ATP tour, the six countries with the top-ranked players on the WTA tour, and the six countries with the lowest combined rankings of the nominated players. The matches began with Spain’s surprise 2-1 win over Brazil in Group A.

After the United Cup, which despite its increasing prestige is still treated as a more relaxed (exhibition) tournament, we will finally get the official ATP season underway – tournaments for ranking points, the way we fans of good tennis like it. We have five official ATP tournaments in January before the Australian Open, all of them in the ATP250 category.

In Brisbane, Australia, a city of two and a half million people just twenty kilometres from the sea, most fans are excited for the return of the legend Rafael Nadal. We will be able to see how he fares in his latest comeback from 31 December. He will be joined in the main draw by the likes of Rune, Dimitrov, Shelton, Murray and Korda.

For the first time since 2002, the tournament will be played in Hong Kong, the last edition of which was won by Alcaraz’s current coach, the erratic Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero. The ATP has decided to move it from the typical Chinese autumn date and has scheduled it right at the beginning of the year. We will be able to see how the renewed tournament turns out from January 1.

Perhaps a little surprisingly – we will be rebuilding the only Indian ATP tournament right at the beginning of the year (it starts on January 1). It has been played in Pune since 2018, when it replaced the original Indian tournament in Chenna. The title is expected to be defended by Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.

The 46th edition of the always well-attended tournament in Auckland will be spiced up by the participation of players such as Shelton, Norrie, Cerundolo, Fils and Bautista. The wild card is the “French Musketeer” Monfils, who has been dogged by injuries in recent seasons. The title will be defended by his compatriot from the “Gallic cockerel” country Gasquet, for whom this will probably be the last season of his career.

The main dress rehearsal for the Australian Open will take place in Adelaide. The tournament, which starts traditionally on the ninth of January since its renewal in 2020, enjoys great popularity in this Australian port city and certainly does not get tickets for all the inhabitants of the city of one and a half million.

How could it not, according to the current entries, players from the top 20 of the world rankings – Paul, Humbert, Jarry – will find their way to the tournament. They will be joined by local hero Kokkinakis, who even won here two years ago. We can also look forward to the return of Opelka, who completely lost his ranking due to a long injury.

On the other hand, Denmark’s Wozniacki with Polish roots, France’s Cornet and twenty-two-year-old French tennis player Cazaux from Montpelier are enjoying a wild card. Advancing out of the qualifiers will not be a given, with six Australian male and female tennis players playing qualifying alongside them so far. There are also still four spots (wild cards) left with the ATP and three with the WTA.

Source: ITF Tennis, Australian Open