Early-season benchmark
The first Slam often resets the hierarchy fast because seeded players arrive with fewer deep-match reps than later in the year.
Australian Open
The season-opening Slam in Melbourne.
The Australian Open opens the Grand Slam year on outdoor hard courts. It is the cleanest place to anchor the start of the Tennis calendar because everything else in the sport tends to build from it.
At a glance
- Surface: hard court
- 2026 window: 12 January to 1 February
- Main draw started: Sunday 18 January 2026
Use the TV guide for current UK channels
Rights can shift over time, so the stable page rule is to route viewers back to the live Whatchan TV surface for the current split.
Open TV guide
When the event is active, the TV guide is the page that should carry the practical answer.
Tracked event data pending.
Tracked event source note pending.
Live event detail will appear here
This section will connect the static guide to the tracked calendar status and latest linked outcome.
Event live-board pending.
Live source note pending.
Event-specific live listings will appear here when this tournament is in the active TV window.