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When Naomi Osaka hit Beijing ahead of last year’s Asian swing, the dual Australian Open champion laid bare two clear goals ahead of her return to Melbourne Park in January.

The 27-year-old could have kept it coy, outlining aims to stay healthy and to be simply in the mix as a title contender for the season’s opening major, but instead went out on a bit of a limb.

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“My goal now, I think to be seeded in Australia," she said in Beijing. "I would really love that.”

Then came the tongue-in-cheek secondary ambition for her AO return.

“I would love to avoid Caroline Garcia,” she grinned.

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Following a run to the Auckland final leading in, her first since Miami in 2022, the Japanese star did enough to sneak back inside the top 50 for the first time since January 2023.

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The welcome form revival was vastly more important than a seeding for Melbourne Park, of which she fell short, but of greater concern was an abdominal injury that cost her a shot at the title in New Zealand.

The good news? “For sure I’m going to play my match,” she said on the eve of the season’s opening major.

The bad news? She drew former world No.4 Garcia, the thorn in her Australian Open return last year, in the opening round for the second year running.


The two have split their four career meetings, but the 31-year-old Frenchwoman claimed two of their three showdowns last year.

“I thought [my agent] was joking when he said that,” Osaka said of the rematch. “I don't know. I feel like we haven't played in a couple of months, so maybe it was to be expected, too,” she added, smiling.

“Yeah, I would say my relationship with her, it's definitely grown a lot. I can't say, like, we're BFFs. I really respect her a lot. I feel the same energy coming from her.

“I also like the fact that we were born on the same day, so we have the same birthdays. I can't ever have bad blood with a fellow Libra.”



Both times Osaka held the trophy at Melbourne Park, in 2019 and 2021, Novak Djokovic added to his haul in the men’s singles.

As it stands, the 37-year-old owns 10 Norman Brookes Challenge Cup replicas and begins his 2025 campaign against American wildcard Nishesh Basavareddy.

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To the casual fan it appears a mismatch on paper, a 24-time major champion against a 107th-ranked 19-year-old in his Grand Slam debut.

Basavareddy, though, was not shy on matchplay, having reached his maiden tour semifinal last week in Auckland before a loss to eventual champion Gael Monfils.

As the American braced for his major debut at Rod Laver Arena under lights, Djokovic still held the memories dear of his own debut 20 years ago.



“Back in 2005, it was the first time I qualified for any Grand Slam and played Marat Safin in the centre court,” he said. “It was a pretty quick match for me. He later on won the tournament, but it was a very unique experience that allowed me to dream big and keep on believing that I can one day win a Slam.

“Three years later, I won my first Slam on the same court. Just lovely memories. I always try to relive those moments.”

For the second straight year, reigning men’s champion Jannik Sinner must hit the ground running, with his first match of the new season doubling as his opening Australian Open clash.

The top seed, who later added the US Open trophy to his tally last season, faces former world No.16 Nicolas Jarry, a powerful-serving Chilean who fell just outside the seedings this year.

Sinner looks to extend his 14-match winning streak against a player he has split two career meetings.

He dropped a set to the 29-year-old in Beijing in September, having fallen to him in ’s-Hertogenbosch in 2019.

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In-form third seed Coco Gauff is another starting to rack up Sinner-esque numbers of late.

The American has claimed 18 of her past 20 matches since September and was unbeaten in Team USA’s United Cup triumph leading in.

The 20-year-old opens against a familiar foe, Sofia Kenin, a countrywoman whose shock Wimbledon win between the pair in the first round in 2023 provided the necessary spark for Gauff to rebound and claim her first Grand Slam title later that year at Flushing Meadows.

While Gauff claimed the honours in Auckland earlier that year, Kenin also prevailed in their first clash en route to the Australian Open 2020 trophy, her sole major title.

Elsewhere, men’s third seed Carlos Alcaraz begins his quest for a career Grand Slam when he opens against Kazakh world No.77 Alexander Shevchenko, while women’s second seed Iga Swiatek takes on Czech world No.46 Katerina Siniakova first up.

Local wildcard Nick Kyrgios contests his first Grand Slam match since US Open 2022 when he faces Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, while fellow Australians Ajla Tomljanovic, Jordan Thompson, Maya Joint and Thanasi Kokkinakis are also in action.