Australian Open 2025: Stars learn their fate in spicy tournament draw

That concludes our coverage of the 2025 Australian Open draw.

It all kicks off on Sunday but stay tuned to Wide World of Sports as we bring you all the latest news from the warmup tournaments and exhibition events.

Defending champion Jannik Sinner and 10 time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic have landed in opposite sides of the draw for the season's first major, ruling out a replay of last year's semi-final match.

Sinner upset Djokovic in the semi-finals last year before coming back to beat Daniil Medvedev in the final 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 for his first Grand Slam singles title.

Top ranked Sinner has a first round match against Nicolas Jarry and also has Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Medvedev in his quarter of the draw.

Djokovic is in the same quarter of the field as third ranked Carlos Alcaraz and the same half as No.2 Alexander Zverev.

At the draw on Thursday to set the brackets for the singles fields, defending champions Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka walked into the official ceremony holding the trophies.

Sabalenka won her second consecutive title at Melbourne Park in 2024 by defeating Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

Sabalenka will be attempting to win a third consecutive women's singles title at Melbourne Park, something last accomplished by Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999.

Sabalenka drew a tough opening match against 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and has 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and Zheng in her section.

"I have a lot of great memories and to be back here... as a two-time Australian Open champion, it's definitely something special," Sabalenka, who won the Brisbane International title last week, said at the draw ceremony.

"I hope that I can keep doing what I'm doing here in Australia."

Third seeded Coco Gauff is a potential semi-final rival for Sabalenka.

Gauff has a tough first round against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and is in the same section of the draw as seventh seeded Jessica Pegula.

The Australian Open starts Sunday morning in Melbourne and will run for 15 days.

Djokovic will be playing in his first event alongside new coach Andy Murray, his former on court rival and a three time major champion.

Nobody has won the men's title at Melbourne Park more often than Djokovic, although he said he still feels trauma from the one year he wasn't allowed to play.

Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up who withdrew from an exhibition against Djokovic this week because of an abdominal strain, will face Jacob Fearnley in the first round if the mercurial Australian is fit enough to contest his first major since the 2022 US Open.

Kyrgios is in the same section as Zverev.

Here's the full men's draw for the Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne on Monday.

Spanish superstar Carlos Alcaraz will play Alexander Shevchenko in the first round while Aussie hope Alexei Popyrin - the 25th seed - has been drawn against Corentin Moutet of France.

Australia's Jordan Thompson, the 27th seed, will play a yet to be determined qualifier.

Seventh seed Novak Djokovic is still rated one of the favourites in Melbourne but he has a tough slog ahead to even make it to the quarter-finals.

He'll start against wildcard Nishesh Basavareddy of the USA, who has reached the semi-finals at the ASB Classic in Auckland.

Defending men's champion Jannik Sinner will take on Nicolas Jarry of Chile in the first round, who John Millman describes as a "dangerous floater."

Nick Kyrgios is in line to meet second seed Alexander Zverev in the third round if he makes it that far.

"Relatively kind for him," John Millman says of Kyrgios' draw.

Here's the full Australian Open women's singles draw.

Australia's great men's hope, Alex de Minaur, has been drawn to play Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in the first round.

De Minaur is the eighth seed in Melbourne.

Good news for Nick Kyrgios who has avoided a seed in the first round.

Kyrgios will take on Jacob Fearnley of Great Britain.

Here's how the women's quarter-finals would look if the top seeds all progress.

There are some mouth-watering matchups in the first round of the women's draw with defending champion Aryna Sabalenka up against talented American Sloane Stephens.

Stephens is a former US Open champion.

Coco Gauff will start against Sofia Kenin while Naomi Osaka faces Caroline Garcia.