The 2026 Australian Open kicks off next Sunday the 18th of January and, as always, the question arises as to who the favourite is to be crowned champion in Melbourne.
After what we saw throughout the whole 2025 season, it’s pretty clear that the two favourites to take the trophy home are “The Big Two”, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. They’ve won the past eight Grand Slams and are the sole competitors for the ATP World No. 1 ranking, as Alexander Zverev is in third place with less than half the points of World No. 2 Jannik Sinner. They’ll have a sparring match in tomorrow’s exhibition in Seoul, which will give the public a hint as to how in form they’ll start the tournament.
The Italian is more of a favourite than Carlos Alcaraz, because he’s won the past two editions. In 2025, he lifted the trophy, while only dropping two sets in the entire tournament. It’s one of the most dominant versions we’ve seen of Jannik Sinner to date.
On the other hand, Carlos Alcaraz hasn’t ever made it to the semifinals of the tournament. Last year he fell to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. It seems that he hasn’t quite figured out how to dominate in Melbourne like he usually does in the rest of the tournaments. This being said, the Spaniard is still chasing the career Grand Slam and could be the youngest ever to achieve it this February.
Even though no one comes close to these two right now, it would still be naive to completely rule out ten-time champion Novak Djokovic. The 38-year-old is playing in one of his last ever seasons and hasn’t been experiencing the same success he’s been accustomed to throughout his career, these past two years. Seeing as he beat Carlos Alcaraz last year, he might be able to pull off a big upset this year again, although it is highly unlikely that he’ll go all the way.
Leave a comment