How to follow Australian Open across the BBC
Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys begin their Australian Open title defences from Sunday – and you can follow it across the BBC.
Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys begin their Australian Open title defences from Sunday – and you can follow it across the BBC.
Roger Federer says he hopes Carlos Alcaraz can win the upcoming Australian Open and become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam.
Even in a career as packed with highlights as Roger Federer’s, some moments still stand out.
The Swiss icon was a six-time champion at the Australian Open, where on Thursday he spoke to media ahead of his appearance at the opening ceremony of the 2026 edition of the hard-court major. Yet for a number of reasons, Federer identifies his fifth title in Melbourne as the one that stands out the most.
“I guess it has to be 2017 just because of the way it ended in the finals against Rafa.” recalled Federer, who was aged 35 and had not played a tour-level match for six months when he arrived at that year’s Australian Open. “It was surreal. I came here with no expectations… I was maybe going to be happy with the quarters. I think Seve [Luthi], my coach secretly, Ivan [Ljubicic], believing I could do it. I was like more, ‘Yeah, no, not at 17 in the world, not having played in six months, all that’.
“I played really well at the Hopman Cup. Came here feeling good. Still I knew I had a tough draw, had to go through some big guys to get anywhere close to winning. I think just the way the finals played out kind of makes it maybe one of the best special ones I’ve ever had in my career.”
Federer overcame his great rival Rafael Nadal in a five-set championship-match thriller to cap his 2017 run at Melbourne Park. The match included a 26-shot rally, with Nadal serving at 3-4, deuce in the fifth set, which Federer claimed with a stunning forehand down the line. It was a shot that has lived long in the memory of tennis fans.
“I’ve seen it many, many times,” said Federer, who also won the Melbourne crown in 2004, 2006-07, 2010 and 2018. “All my friends send it to me. It’s on the algorithm of people I know. It [keeps] on coming through. It’s a nice point, maybe one of the most important ones I’ve had in my playing career. What a match, what a celebration, what a moment.”
[NO 1 CLUB]A new Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry that has etched itself into the tennis landscape in a similar manner to Federer vs. Nadal is the one between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. The pair has won the past eight major singles titles between them and contested the final three Grand Slam title clashes of 2025, including a remarkable five-set battle at Roland Garros during which Alcaraz saved three championship points in the third set before triumphing.
“The rivalry with Alcaraz and Sinner is a great one,” said Federer. “They play incredible tennis. I think that French Open final was unreal. I think the game, not that it needed it, but it was great that we had it. I feel like for a second, for a moment, the world stood still in the sporting world and watched towards Paris, what was going on in that epic fifth set because it could have ended much, much sooner obviously for Jannik.
“Then all of a sudden it ended up in this most crazy fashion. Maybe one of the greatest games we’ve ever had in our sport. It’s good we still live off that momentum. Then they backed it up by playing against each other in all those other finals. Everybody is trying to keep up and they’re trying to pull away. What we’ve seen in terms of their progression in the last years, it’s been wonderful. I practised with those guys a little bit. They’re incredible ball strikers. There’s obviously more to come.”
The No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Sinner arrives at the Australian Open this year as the two-time defending champion. Meanwhile World No. 1 Alcaraz has the chance to become the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam (winning all four major titles) if he can lift his maiden trophy at Melbourne Park.
“[Carlos] knows about it. It’s like Rory [McIlroy] going for the Masters. Those things are tough,” said Federer, when asked about Alcaraz’s prospects. “At the end of the day, the momentum shifts after the first round. Then it’s point-for-point mentality. It’s true, in order to complete the career Grand Slam already now would be crazy.
“So let’s see if he is able to do ‘crazy’ this week. I hope he does because for the game, again, that would be an unbelievable, special moment. He has another hundred and whatever players that say, ‘We don’t agree with those plans’. They might try to stop him.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Emma Raducanu is handed a potential third-round match against world number one Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open.
Britain’s Arthur Fery qualifies for his first overseas Grand Slam by beating Dino Prizmic to reach the Australian Open main draw.
Thanasi Kokkinakis announced his withdrawal from the Australian Open singles event on Thursday.
“Unfortunately after speaking with my team and doctors I have made the decision to pull out of the @AustralianOpen singles,” Kokkinakis wrote on Instagram Stories. “After an incredibly tough year this was the event I was looking forward to the most but I’m not ready yet. I’m doing everything I can every day to be back to 100%.”
Kokkinakis played his first singles match in nearly a year last week at the Adelaide International, where he defeated Sebastian Korda in a final-set tie-break.
But throughout the match, the Australian struggled with his right shoulder on the back of pectoral surgery last February. He withdrew from Adelaide on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old hopes to compete in doubles at Melbourne Park. He won the title with Nick Kyrgios in 2022.
“We will still try and step out for the doubles and have some fun,” Kokkinakis wrote. “Thank you to everyone who supports me.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]As another Grand Slam season dawns, many players still believe they are undervalued and denied a voice in key decisions made by the majors.
Watch amateur tennis player beat men’s world number two Jannik Sinner and women’s world number 117 Joanna Garland to earn A$1m (£496,835) in Australian Open’s new Million Dollar One Point Slam.
The ATP has announced the 2027 calendar, featuring 59 tournaments across 29 countries, in addition to the four Grand Slam tournaments.
The 2027 season will reinforce the ATP Tour’s established global footprint, providing continuity after a landmark year that attracted 5.55 million fans on site and a projected broadcast and streaming audience surpassing one billion.
The 2027 ATP Tour calendar will feature:
The 2027 season will see the ATP continue to implement key reforms through OneVision, designed to strengthen the Tour’s premium events, align the interests of players and tournaments, and enhance the fan experience. Central to this evolution are progressive tournament profit-sharing agreements, which have played a key role in delivering record levels of player compensation across the sport.
Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman, said: “The ATP Tour delivers world-class competition in some of the most iconic destinations across the world, and 2027 is set to keep raising the bar. The record 5.55 million fans attending our events speaks volumes about the strength and global appeal of tennis today. Our focus is on unlocking greater value by elevating our top-tier events and delivering the very best of our sport to the fans.”
View the full 2027 ATP Tour calendar here.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Amateur Jordan Smith is the shock winner of the Million Dollar One Point Slam at the Australian Open, beating reigning men’s champion Jannik Sinner along the way.