Naomi Oaka is drawn against Caroline Garcia in the opening round! Another big R1 tie!

Emma Raducanu will play American Shelby Rogers in the opening round of the Australian Open.

Iga Swiatek, the World No 1 and top seed, draws Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, in the opening round!

The winner will then play either Angelique Kerber or Danielle Collins in Round Two, two other former Australian Open finalists!

We’re going to start with the draw for the women’s singles. The unseeded players will be drawn randomly and then the seeds will be pulled out line by line.

It’s draw time! Naomi Osaka is the most intriguing name in the draw - and of course Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu could land anywhere as well. The full Australian Open draw ceremony is coming up.

The Australian Open draw will available to watch on a free live stream, which can be accessed on the Australian Open’s YouTube and Facebook channels.

And here’s a reminder of the men’s seeds...

Men’s singles

1. Novak Djokovic

2. Carlos Alcaraz

3. Daniil Medvedev

4. Jannik Sinner

5. Andrey Rublev

6. Alexander Zverev

7. Stefanos Tsitsipas

8. Holger Rune

9. Hubert Hurkacz

10. Alex de Minaur

11. Casper Ruud

12. Taylor Fritz

13. Grigor Dimitrov

14. Tommy Paul

15. Karen Khachanov

16. Ben Shelton

17. Frances Tiafoe

18. Nicholas Jarry

19. Cameron Norrie

20. Adrian Mannarino

21. Ugo Humbert

22. Francisco Cerundolo

23. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

24. Jan-Lennard Struff

25. Lorenzo Musetti

26. Sebastian Baez

27. Felix Auger-Aliassime

28. Tallon Griekspoor

29. Sebastian Korda

30. Tomas Martin Etcheverry

31. Alexander Bublik

32. Jiri Lehecka

Not long until the draw now... here’s a reminder of the seeds

Women’s singles

1. Iga Swiatek

2. Aryna Sabalenka

3. Elena Rybakina

4. Coco Gauff

5. Jessica Pegula

6. Ons Jabeur

7. Marketa Vondrousova

8. Maria Sakkari

9. Barbora Krejcikova

10. Beatriz Haddad Maia

11. Jelena Ostapenko

12. Zheng Qinwen

13. Liudmila Samsonova

14. Daria Kasatkina

15. Veronika Kudermetova

16. Caroline Garcia

17. Ekaterina Alexandrova

18. Victoria Azarenka

19. Elina Svitolina

20. Magda Linette

21. Donna Vekic

22. Sorana Cirstea

23. Anastasia Potapova

24. Anhelina Kalinina

25. Elise Mertens

26.Jasmine Paolini

27. Emma Navarro

28. Lesia Tsurenko

29, Zhu Lin

30. Wang Xinyu

31. Marie Bouzkova

32. Leylah Fernandez

Australian Open makes major schedule change

This year’s Australian Open will start on a Sunday, becoming a 15-day event for the first time, tournament organisers have announced.

There had been growing concerns over late finishes with so many matches scheduled on the opening Monday.

Last year, the second-round match between Andy Murray and Thanasi Kokkinakis, which lasted five sets, did not finish until 4:05am - which the British former world number one described as “ridiculously late”.

The new Sunday start will see an increase in the number of sessions across the three arenas from 47 to 52.

The day session at Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena will feature a minimum of two matches, which is down from three, to limit the potential of late finishes.

Night sessions, meanwhile, will continue to feature a minimum of two matches and the John Cain Arena schedule also remains unchanged.

Aryna Sabalenka reveals key areas of improvement ahead of Australian Open defence

Aryna Sabalenka is not one to rest on her laurels and has been hard at work in the off-season as she looks to improve even on her stellar 2023, starting with her first defence of a grand slam title at the Australian Open.

The 25-year-old Belarussian took a knock at the weekend when Elena Rybakina, her opponent in last year’s Melbourne Park final, snapped her 15-match winning streak in Australia with a crushing 6-0 6-3 victory in the Brisbane International final.

Although there was much scowling and head-shaking during the all-too-brief contest, Sabalenka was soon laughing off her bad day at the office and focussing on her next assignment at the year’s first grand slam.

That reaction was a significant improvement on the Sabalenka of only a couple of years ago, a player with all the weapons to compete for the game’s major prizes but who crumbled into a tearful mess at the first sign of a setback.