The Australian Open is a professional tennis tournament and one of the four Grand Slams of the year. Considered among the best competitions by many, the Australian Open is played in January and is played over two weeks The tournament is played at Melbourne Park, Australia, with the summit clashes taking place at the iconic Rod Laver Arena. Founded in 1905, the 2025 edition of the event will be the 113th Australian Open.
Qualifiers at the Australian Open are an essential addition in order to complete the draw. It is an opportunity for talents to rise through the ranks and showcase their potential on the big stage. The defending champions at the 2025 Australian Open are the reigning World No. 1s - Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner. While the singles draw has 128 players, doubles and mixed doubles draws consist of 64 and 32 pairs respectively
How Many Qualifiers Are There at the Australian Open?
There are 16 qualifiers at the Australian Open.
According to the Australian Open website, the singles draw for both men and women comprises 104 direct entries into the draw - based on rankings. Following this, an additional 8 places are reserved for wildcard entrants - either via past performances, winners of the AO Wildcard Playoff competitions, etc. The remaining 16 spots are assigned to qualifiers who perform well in the pre-tournament competition.
In the qualifying rounds, 128 players compete for 16 spots in the main draw. As per My Tennis HQ, A player must win a minimum of three matches in order to be eligible to play the Australian Open singles. Since the top 104 players already make the main draw, the next 119 players in the rankings compete in qualifying; meanwhile, the remaining 9 spots are handed to wildcards. Winning the Australian Open through qualifying would mean a total of ten victories in all.
For the 2025 Australian Open, the qualifiers will be determined on 9 January 2025, as per the Australian Open website.
Is There Qualifying for Doubles at the Australian Open?
No, there is no qualifying tournament in doubles or mixed doubles at the Australian Open.
There are 64 pairs in the main draw of men’s doubles as well as women’s doubles at the Australian Open. As per My Tennis HQ, Out of these, 57 pairs are determined based on ranking and the remaining 7 are via wildcard entrants. Meanwhile, the mixed doubles draw has 32 pairs. Since the entry list in the doubles category is more limited, there are no qualifiers at the Australian Open.
Interestingly, players can sign up for doubles at a Grand Slam tournament using either their singles or doubles ranking - whichever is better. The rankings of both players are then added up, after which the 57 pairs with the lowest combined ranking are given direct entry into the draw. The other 7 entries are wildcards, which normally consist of several singles players who also venture into doubles.
FAQs on Australian Open
A. The Australian Open is held annually in the month of January.
A. There are no qualifiers at the Australian Open in doubles.
A. A player must win three rounds of qualifying to reach the Australian Open main draw.
A. Novak Djokovic and Margaret Court have won the most titles at the Australian Open.
