The 2018 Australian Open is just around the corner and that means it’s time for the all-important draw to be announced. Join The Roar for live coverage from 7pm (AEDT).
The draw for both men and women consists of 128 players. The top 104 in the world are given direct entry, while eight wildcards are handed out. 16 qualifiers make up the remainder of the draw.
The top 32 players in the draw are seeded, meaning they can’t meet until the third round, while the top 16 can’t meet each other until the fourth round and so on, with the first and second seeds unable to meet until the final.
The first grand slam always brings with it a sense of uncertainty. Players are coming out of the off-season, often without much match practice.
Nowhere was that more evident than last year when Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – supposedly past their best – triumphed to make the final, Federer eventually running out the victor in five sets.
This year it’s even more wide open than normal for both the men and women. Question marks hang over the fitness of Nadal, while Andy Murray has already pulled out. Joining Nadal on that line of fitness questioning are Stan Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori among others.
Nadal will be the top seed, ahead of Roger Federer and young guns Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev. It appears it could be a year for the youngsters – if they can find a way to overcome Federer, who has started out in incredible form at the Hopman Cup.
While Murray is out, Novak Djokovic has fallen down the seedings, as has another former champion in Stan Wawrinka, who sits on the edge of the top ten.
The women’s draw was going to be headlined by the return to tennis for Serena Williams, who won last year’s tournament while pregnant.
She hasn’t regained fitness yet though and won’t be able to play. It throws the women’s race wide open with Simona Halep the top seed. Caroline Wozniacki, Garbine Muguruza and Elina Svitolina round out the top four.
Australia’s charge will be led by Nick Kyrgios and Ashleigh Barty in the men’s and women’s tournaments respectively. Kyrgios is 17th seed and coming off a Brisbane International victory, while Barty is seeded at 18, having come from world No.271 at the start of last year.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the 2018 Australian Open draw announcement from 7pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add your own comments below.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Well, there it is - the entire Australian Open draw? Thoughts Roarers? Remember, the tournament begins on Monday and The Roar will have plenty of live coverage. Bye for now.
Scott Pryde
Expert
SECTION 4 97. Jelena Ostapenko [7] vs 98. Francesca Shiavone 99. Ying-Ying Duan vs 100. Mariana Duque-Marino 101. Monica Niculescu vs 102. Mona Barthel 103. Aleksandra Krunic vs 104. Anett Kontaveit [32] 105. Dominika Cibulkova [24] vs 106. Kaia Kanepi 107. Samantha Stosur vs 108. Monica Puig 109. Carla Suarez Navarro vs 110. Qualifier 111. Timea Babos vs 112. Coco Vandeweghe [10] 113. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova [15]vs 114. Kateryna Kozlova 115. Qualifier vs 116. Kateryna Bondarenko 117. Kirsten Flipkens vs 118. Alison Riske 119. Taylor Townsend vs 120. Magdalena Rybarikova [19] 121. Kiki Bertens [30] vs 122. Catherine Bellis 123. Nicole Gibbs vs 124. Qualifier 125. Jana Fett vs 126. Misa Eguchi 127. Mihaela Buzamescu vs 128. Caroline Wozniacki [2]
Scott Pryde
Expert
SECTION 3 65. Venus Williams [5] vs 66. Belinda Bencic 67. Qualifier vs 68. Johanna Larson 69. Alison Van vs 70. Petra Martic 71. Irina Camelia Begu vs 72. Ekaterina Makarova [31] 73. Daria Gavrilova [23] vs 74. Qualifier 75. Qualifier vs 76. Elise Mertens 77. Alize Cornet vs 78. Nimyu Wang 79. Sofia Nehih vs 80. Julia Georges [12] 81. Sloane Stephens [13]vs 82. 83. Qualifier vs 84. Pauline Parmentier 85. Jennifer Brady vs 86. Magda Linette 87. Qualifier vs 88. Daria Kasatkina [22] 89. Shuai Peng [25] vs 90. Qualifier 91. Jamie Fourlisvs 92. Olivia Rogowska 93. vs 94. 95. Qualifier vs 96. Elina Svitolina [4]
Scott Pryde
Expert
SECTION 2 33. Garbine Muguruza [3] vs 34. Jessika Ponchet 35. Su-Wei Hsieh vs 36. Qualifier 37. Natalia Vikhlyantseva vs 38. Lesia Tsurenko 39. Kristyna Pliskova vs 40. Agnieszka Radwanska [26] 41. Angelique Kerber [21] vs 42. Anna-Lena Friedsam 43. Nao Hibino vs 44. Donna Vekic 45. Tatjana Maria vs 46. Maria Sharapova 47. Varvara Lepchenko vs 48. Anastasija Sevastova [14] 49. Kristina Mladenovic [11] vs 50. Ana Bogdan 51. Yulia Putinseva vs 52. Heather Watson 53. Polona Hercog vs 54. Ekaterina Alexandrova 55. Qiang Wang vs 56. Madison Keys [17] 57. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni [28] vs 58. Shelby Rogers 59. Christina McHale vs 60. Aleaksandra Sasnovich 61. Kurumi Nara vs 62. Marketa Vondrousova 63. Carina Witthoeft vs 64. Caroline Garcia [8]
Scott Pryde
Expert
WOMEN'S DRAW
SECTION 1 1. Simona Halep [1] vs 2. Destanee Aiava 3. Eugenie Bouchard vs 4. Oceana Dodin 5. Lauren Davis vs 6. Jana Cepelova 7. Andrea Petkovic vs 8. Petra Kvitova [27] 9. Ashleigh Barty [18] vs 10. Aryna Sabalenka 11. Camila Giorgi vs 12. Qualifier 13. Naomi Osaka vs 14. Kristina Kucova 15. Ons Jabeur vs 16. Elena Vesnina [16] 17. Johanna Konta [9] vs 18. Madison Brengle 19. Qualifier vs 20. Margarita Gasparayan 21. Lara Arruabarrena vs 22. Richel Hogenkamp 23. Kristie Ahn vs 24. Barbora Strycova [20] 25. Lucie Safarova [29] vs 26. Ajla Tomljanovic 27. Sorana Cirstea vs 28. Zarina Diyas 29. Lizette Cabrera vs 30. Beatriz Haddad Maia 31. Veronica Cepede Royg vs 32. Karolina Pliskova [6]Scott Pryde
Expert
Now for the women's draw.
Scott Pryde
Expert
SECTION 4 97. David Goffin [7] vs 98. Qualifier 99. Julien Benneteau vs 100. Taro Daniel 101. Evgeny Donskoy vs 102. Florian Mayer 103. Horacio Zeballos vs 104. Fabio Fognini [19] 105. Tomas Berdych vs 106. Alex De Minaur 107. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs 108. Benoit Paire 109. Karen Khachanov vs 110. Qualifier 111. Frances Tiafoe vs 112. Juan Martin Del Potro [12] 113. Sam Querrey [13] vs 114. Feliciano Lopez 115. Radu Albotvs 116. Marton Fucsovics 117. Nicolas Kicker vs 118. Jordan Thompson 119. Lukas Lacko vs 120. Milos Raonic [22] 121. Richard Gasquet [29] vs 122. Blaz Kavcic 123. Qualifier vs 124. Robin Haase 125. Soonwoo Kwon vs 126. Jan-Lennard Struff 127. Alijaz Bedene vs 128. Roger Federer [2]
Scott Pryde
Expert
SECTION 3 65. Dominic Thiem [5] vs 66. Guido Pella 67. Steve Johnson vs 68. Qualifier 69. Qualifier vs 70. Jiri Vesely 71. Filip Krajinovic vs 72. Adrian Mannarino [26] 73. Roberto Bautsita Agut [20]vs 74. Ferando Verdasco 75. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe vs 76. Maximilian Marterer 77. Jeremy Chardyvs 78. Tennys Sangren 79. Ricardas Berankis vs 80. Stan Wawrinka [9] 81. Novak Djokovic [14] vs 82. Donald Young 83. Gael Monfils vs 84.Qualifier 85. Tim Smyczek vs 86. Alexei Popyrin 87. Jared Donaldson vs 88. Albert Ramos-Vinolas [21] 89. Mischa Zverev [32] vs 90. Hyeon Chung 91. Thanasi Kokkinakis vs 92. Daniil Medvedev 93. Mikhail Kukushkin vs 94. Peter Gojowcyzk 95. Thomas Fabbiano vs 96. Alexander Zverev [4]
Scott Pryde
Expert
SECTION 2 33. Grigor Dimitrov [3] vs 34. Qualifier 35. Qualifier vs 36. Qualifier 37. Marcos Baghdatis vs 38. Qualifier 39. David Ferrer vs 40. Andrey Rublev [30] 41. Nick Kyrgios [17] vs 42. Rogeiro Dutra Silva 43. Viktor Troicki vs 44. Alex Bolt 45. Stefanos Tsitsipas vs 46. Denis Shapovalov 47. Qualifier vs 48. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [15] 49. Kevin Anderson [11] vs 50. Kyle Edmund 51. Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs 52. Denis Istomin 53. Gerard Melzer vs 54. Nikoloz Basilashvili 55. Qualifier vs 56. Lucas Pouille [18] 57. Phillipp Kohlschireber [27] vs 58. Yoshihto Nishioka 59. Andreas Seppi vs 60. Corentin Moutet 61. Ivo Karlovic vs 62. Laslo Djere 63. Yuichi Sugita vs 64. Jack Sock [8]
Scott Pryde
Expert
MEN’S DRAW
SECTION 1 1. Rafael Nadal [1] vs 2. Victor Estrella Burgos 3. Nicolas Jarry vs 4. Leonardo Mayer 5. John Millman vs 6. Borna Coric 7. Paolo Lorenzi vs 8. Damir Dzumhur [28] 9. Diego Schwartzman [24] vs 10. Dusan Lajovic 11. Qualifier vs 12. Qualifier 13. Alexandr Dolgopolov vs 14. Andreas Haider-Maurer 15. Matthew Ebden vs 16. John Isner [16] 17. Pablo Carreno Busta [10]vs 18. Jason Kubler 19. Gilles Simon vs 20. Marius Copil 21. Qualifier vs 22. Malek Jaziri 23. Federico Delbonis vs 24. Gilles Muller [23] 25. Pablo Cuevas [31] vs 26. Mikhail Youzhny 27. Dudi Sela vs 28. Ryan Harrison 29. Qualifier vs 30. Joao Sousa 31. Yen-Hsun Lu vs 32. Marin Cilic [6] - Seeded player - Australian player.Scott Pryde
Expert
Full draws will follow shortly.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Jelena Ostapenko at the top of the fourth quarter. Wozniacki at the bottom. Samantha Stosur to start up against Monica Puig. That's a difficult match, no doubt about it. Coco Vandeweghe to take on Timea Babos.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Venus Williams has Belinda Bencic in the first round! That's a ridiculously tough match to start off. Gavrilova in that section against a quarter. Hasn't got a bad run either. Elina Svitolina in that quarter as well. Sloane Stephens taking on Shuai Zhang. Tough start for her in what is a generally easier quarter.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Muguruza at the top of the second quarter. Radwanska, Kerber, Sevastova, Mladenovic, Keys, Lucic-Baroni and Caroline Garcia also in that second quarter. Maria Sharapova in that quarter. She takes on Tatjana Maria.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Barty starts against Sabalenka, then could take on Camila Giorgi.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Women's draw getting underway now. Halep starts against Aiava. Kvitova, Barty, Vesnina, Konta, Strycova, Safaraova and Pliskova in her quarter. Really tough top quarter.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Federer certainly won't be complaining with his half of the draw. He starts against Alijaz Bedene - that's not a done result by any stretch of the imagination.
Scott Pryde
Expert
And the bottom quarter. Federer is art the bottom, David Goffin in his quarter. Some tough players though - Del Potro, Querrey, Raonic and Gasquet. De Minaur to start against Tomas Berdych as well. Jordan Thompson will play Lukas Lacko and then Milos Raonic.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Zverev brothers could play in the third round. Alexei Popyrin could play Tim Smyczek in the first round.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Quarter of death is the third one. Thiem, Wawrinka, Djokovic, Zverev.