The draws for the Australian Open 2022 are made four days before the start of the first Grand Slam of the year. Only one of the defending champions will be able to compete.
The current number 1 male tennis player, Novak Djokovic, is the one who attracts the most attention with the draw. After being granted medical exemption to travel to Australia despite not being immunized against COVID-19, he was denied entry to the country upon arrival. He won an appeal but had his visa canceled a second time. He lost his appeal against that decision on Sunday and was forced to withdraw it. He was set to face world number 78, fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, in the first round.
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Defending women’s champion Naomi Osaka will participate in this year’s tournament. Osaka took some time off from the competition after the US Open due to ongoing mental health issues. She is the 13th seed and will face 53rd player, Camila Osorio of Colombia in the opening round.
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Here’s a rundown of the other top seeds that will attend the 2022 Australian Open, along with the Americans who will compete at the tournament.
Men’s singles draw
Top players in the world
In second seed is US Open champion Daniil Medvedev. He will face Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland in the first round. Alexander Zverev is the third seed of the tournament. The young German tennis player has yet to win his first Grand Slam title.
Rafael Nadal, who joins Djokovic and Roger Federer for most Grand Slam titles won in men’s singles history (20), is in sixth place. Nadal missed Wimbledon and the US Open last year because of a recurrence of an injury. .
Three-time main winner and five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray will play in Melbourne for the first time since 2019, but this time a wild card. Murray has competed occasionally since 2018 hip surgery. He will face No. 21, Nikoloz Basilashvili, in the first round.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 4), Andrey Rublev (No. 5), Matteo Berrettini (No. 7), Casper Rudd (No. 8), Felix Auger-Aliassime (No. 9) and Hubert Hurkacz (No. 10) eliminated the top 10 seeds. in the men’s singles draw.
Federer is expected to miss at least the first half of this year as he continues to recover from knee surgery.
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American players
Fifteen American players are playing at this year’s Australian Open, with three of them seeded: Taylor Fritz (20th), John Isner (22nd) and Reilly Opelka (23rd). There was only one all-American match in the first round: Isner vs. Maxime Cressy.
Other American men’s tennis players with big wins in the past include Sam Querrey, Sebastian Korda, Steve Johnson and Frances Tiafoe.
Women’s singles draw
Top players in the world
Ashleigh Barty of Australia has become the number one tennis player in the world. The two-time Grand Slam champion has yet to reach the Australian Open final in his career. Her first round opponent is Lesia Tsurenko, a tennis player from Ukraine who is ranked 120th in the world in qualifying.
US Open 2021 champion, Emma Raducanu (17), will face Sloane Stephens of America in the first round. Raducanu became the first qualifying player to win a Grand Slam.
Spaniard Garbiñe Muguruza finished third after winning the 2021 WTA Finals. The two-time Grand Slam champion has reached the Australian Open final once, in 2020.
Many of this year’s top 10 women’s tournaments are newcomers, with several previous Australian Open champions now seeded lower. For example, 2016 champion Angelique Kerber is 16th this year.
Aryna Sabalenka (no. 2), Barbora Krejcikova (no. 4), Maria Sakkari (no. 5), Anett Kontaveit (no. 6), Iga Swiatek (no. 7), Paula Badosa (no. 8), Ons Jabeur (no. 9) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (No. 10) finished the top 10 seed group in the women’s singles draw.
Seven-time champion Serena Williams announced in early December that she would not participate in this year’s Austrailan Open.
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American players
Nineteen American women are playing in this year’s Grand Slam opening match, with four of them seeded.
The highest-ranked American female tennis player is Sofia Kenin in 11th place. She won the Australian Open in 2020 on her only Grand Slam win to date. She will face fellow American Madison Keys in the first round.
Young superstar Coco Gauff (18 years old) has never made it past the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam. She will face Chinese tennis player Qiang Wang in the first round.
Other American female seeded tennis players are Jessica Pegula (21) and Danielle Collins (27).
Australian Open all-round draws
Men’s draw
Female draw
