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The 2026 Australian Open is fast approaching, but how many ranking points will WTA Tour stars be defending at the year’s first Grand Slam?

Main draw action at Melbourne Park will get underway on 18 January, while the women’s singles final will be played on Saturday 31 January.

Here, we look at how many points WTA players are set to drop from last year’s Australian Open.

Points players earned at the 2025 Australian Open

Madison Keys, who is ranked ninth, defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the 2025 Australian Open to claim her maiden Grand Slam title, which earned her 2,000 points. World No 1 Sabalenka’s runner-up result saw her collect 1,300 points.

Iga Swiatek, who is the world No 2, and Paula Badosa, who is ranked 26th, each earned 780 points for reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne last year.

Coco Gauff, Elina Svitolina, Emma Navarro and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova are all defending 430 points, having been quarter-finalists in 2025.

Elena Rybakina, Mirra Andreeva, Belinda Bencic, Daria Kasatkina, Eva Lys, Olga Danilovic, Veronika Kudermetova and Donna Vekic each earned 240 points for making it to the fourth round.

The 16 players who lost in the third round, including Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Naomi Osaka, Clara Tauson, Marta Kostyuk, Diana Shnaider, Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu, collected 130 points.

The 32 players to fall in the second round, including Amanda Anisimova and Karolina Muchova, amassed 70 points.

The 64 first round losers at the 2025 Australian Open, a group that included Ekaterina Alexandrova, Linda Noskova and Jelena Ostapenko, earned 10 points.

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Australian Open women’s singles ranking points breakdown

Champion: 2,000
Runner-up: 1,300
Semi-finalists: 780
Quarter-finalists: 430
Fourth round: 240
Third round: 130
Second round: 70
First round: 10

Projected 2026 Australian Open women’s singles seeds – points dropping from 2025

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 1,300
2. Iga Swiatek – 780
3. Coco Gauff – 430
4. Amanda Anisimova – 70
5. Elena Rybakina – 240
6. Jessica Pegula – 130
7. Jasmine Paolini – 130
8. Mirra Andreeva – 240
9. Madison Keys – 2,000
10. Belinda Bencic – 240
11. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 10
12. Elina Svitolina – 430
13. Linda Noskova – 10
14. Clara Tauson – 130
15. Emma Navarro – 430
16. Naomi Osaka – 130
17. Victoria Mboko – 0
18. Ludmilla Samsonova – 70
19. Karolina Muchova – 70
20. Marta Kostyuk – 130
21. Elise Mertens – 70
22. Leylah Fernandez – 10
23. Diana Shnaider – 10
24. Jelena Ostapenko – 10
25. Paula Badosa – 780
26. Dayana Yastremska – 130
27. Sofia Kenin – 10
28. Emma Raducanu – 130
29. Iva Jovic – 70
30. Maya Joint – 10
31. Anna Kalinskaya – 0
32. Marketa Vondrousova – 0

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Carlos Alcaraz has been told “it’s very important” to consider a Grand Slam winner as his next coach and tennis great Mats Wilander has named Roger Federer as the “perfect” candidate as he can help the Spaniard with the “game he doesn’t feel as comfortable with”.

Reigning world No 1 Alcaraz shocked the tennis world in December when he announced that he had parted ways with Juan Carlos Ferrero after seven successful years during which they won six Grand Slams with Alcaraz peaking at No 1 in the ATP Rankings.

The news took the tennis world by storm as it appeared to be a happy relationship, but reports soon emerged that all was not well behind the scenes with Alcaraz’s entourage reportedly unhappy with Ferrero for quite some time.

One journalist claimed that the Alcaraz camp wanted to replace the 2003 French Open winner as coach back in December 2024, but the player himself scuppered the plans and the Spaniard continued in 2025 only to be replaced at the end of the season.

The same report revealed that Andy Murray was lined up to replace Ferrero in 2024, but Novak Djokovic thwarted those plans as he appointed the three-time Grand Slam winner as his coach, although the two parted ways after a few months in 2025.

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Alcaraz, though, has named Samuel Lopez – who joined the team on a full-time basis ahead of the 2025 season – as his main coach, but many believe he will appoint a second mentor in due course.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Wilander believes Alcaraz is likely to turn to another Spaniard, but

In an interview with Eurosport, seven-time Grand Slam winner Wilander stated Alcaraz is likely to turn to another Spaniard, but he also explained why 20-time major champion Federer – and not Murray – would work well with Alcaraz.

“I think it’s very important to have a Grand Slam winner in your ear, he already had Juan Carlos Ferrero,” the Swede stated.

“I think if you are going to have another Grand Slam winner in your ear, that voice should come from a player who plays a different kind of game. When you take Murray and you take Carlos Alcaraz, there is a similarity in the way they are playing.

“But if you take a John McEnroe and a Carlos Alcaraz, suddenly see a big change. Or if you take a Stefan Edberg and a Carlos Alcaraz, there’s a big difference.

“Or let’s consider Roger Federer in there, for example. Now you are talking about someone who could really help Carlos Alcaraz with the game he doesn’t feel as comfortable with. And I think Roger Federer would be the perfect coach for Carlos Alcaraz.”

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Iga Swiatek is undeniably one of the greatest tennis players of her time and arguably the greatest of her era — and she has the chance to make history at the Australian Open in 2026.

After completing the ‘Surface Slam’ following her maiden Wimbledon triumph last July, Swiatek now has the chance to complete the Career Grand Slam in Melbourne, a feat not achieved by any WTA player since Maria Sharapova completed it at the 2012 French Open.

However, while she will enter as one of the favourites, will Swiatek‘s hopes of glory Down Under be affected by a notable — and in her case, concerning — trend when she takes on the very best players in the world?

Gauff losing streak

World No 3 Coco Gauff is by far and away the most-played opponent of Swiatek’s career, with the two having met a staggering 16 times — despite still only being in their early-to-mid twenties.

This head-to-head used to be emphatically in Swiatek’s favour, with the Pole holding an 11-1 advantage over Gauff, with all 11 of her wins coming in straight sets.

However, the tables have now well and truly turned.

The pair have met four times since November 2024 and, in all of those meetings, it has been Gauff picking up straight-set triumphs.

The American beat Swiatek in the round-robin stage of the 2024 WTA Finals, in the 2025 United Cup final, the 2025 Madrid Open semi-final, and the 2026 United Cup semi-final this past weekend.

All four of those wins have been convincing for Gauff, with the American not dropping more than four games in any of the last eight sets she has played since Swiatek.

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Those four matches have all come since Swiatek started playing more aggressively under the guidance of Wim Fissette, and this could play into the hands of Gauff, arguably the best athlete and counterpuncher on tour.

However, this trend extends — admittedly to a lesser extent — to other top-10 players. Swiatek has lost her:

• Last two matches vs world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka
• Last two matches vs world No 4 Amanda Anisimova
• Last one match vs world No 5 Elena Rybakina
• Last two matches vs world No 6 Jessica Pegula
• Last one match vs world No 7 Jasmine Paolini
• Last two matches vs world No 8 Mirra Andreeva
• Last one match vs world No 10 Belinda Bencic

The only current member of the top 10 (as of Monday, January 12) that she won her last meeting against was world No 9 Madison Keys.

Swiatek still leads a lot of head-to-heads against the players mentioned above, though there is no denying the trend that has begun to emerge.

Top-10 and top-5 dip

Adding to the stats below, there is also no denying that her overall record against top-10 and top-5 players has dropped in recent months.

Across her career in total, Swiatek has a 53-28 record against top-10 players on the WTA Tour, giving her an overall win percentage of 65.43% in such matches.

While that is still a very high win rate versus top-10 players overall, her record against such opponents has been heading in the wrong direction in recent months.

Since the start of the 2025 tennis season, Swiatek has a 9-9 record against top-10 opponents — a win percentage of 50% that is well down on her overall career percentage.

She has lost five of her last six matches against top-10-ranked opponents, and has a 5-8 record against top-10 opponents since the start of the 2025 clay swing last April.

While her 65.43% win rate is still high, it is notably down on the 69.33% record she had only last August, after her first 75 matches against top-10 stars.

Swiatek also has a negative record against top-5-ranked players in recent years, with a 3-8 record against such players since her 2024 French Open triumph.

Why could this be such a big issue?

Swiatek did not beat a top-10 player on her way to winning the Wimbledon title last summer, but the players she beat in the semi-final and final — Bencic and Anisimova — are both now in the top-10, and have now beaten her in their most recent encounters.

After a strong period of inconsistency and surprise finals on the WTA Tour, renewed consistency and dominance at the top mean that the last 16 Grand Slam women’s singles finals have had at least one top-10 star in them.

The last final without a top-10 player was the surprise 2021 US Open final between Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez.

Swiatek has a perfect 6-0 record in Grand Slam finals, but if she were to hypothetically face a top-10 player in the Australian Open final, her recent trajectory against such opponents would suggest that unblemished record could be under threat.

The Pole will be the second seed in Melbourne, and that will provide some layers of protection, though she will be projected to face one of Rybakina, Pegula, Paolini, or Andreeva in the quarter-final stage.

She will then have either world No 3 Gauff or world No 4 Anisimova as a projected semi-final opponent, before a hypothetical final against world No 1 Sabalenka.

Swiatek’s draw could potentially blow wide open and hand her a more fortuitous path towards the final, but she will likely have to face at least one top-10 star if she wants to reach the championship match.

History beckons for the 24-year-old in Melbourne, but it could prove to be an uphill task.

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The 2026 Australian Open has been hit by another couple of high-profile withdrawals although the top 10 men and women are on course to feature at the season-opening Grand Slam.

Jack Draper and Holger Rune remain the biggest stars who will miss the tournament with the former’s absence confirmed in December as he is still struggling with an arm injury while Rune will be sidelined for several months after suffering a torn Achilles injury in October.

On the women’s side, Grand Slam finalists and former top-10 stars Ons Jabeur and Danielle Collins also confirmed at the back end of 2025 that they won’t travel to Melbourne, with Jabeur on maternity leave and Collins focusing on her health.

But the absentee list has grown in recent weeks with 2024 Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen, who was set to be seeded 25th, revealing she will not play due to an elbow injury and she was joined by Veronika Kudermetova (No 31) with the Russian absent due to personal reasons.

Lois Boisson, one of the breakout stars of 2025 after reaching the semi-final of the French Open, was in line to make her Australian Open debut as she has risen to No 36 in the WTA Rankings, but she will not feature as she is still not 100% after struggling with hand and forearm injury in recent months.

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“Going to Australia and playing the Australian Open has always been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I’ve done my best to be ready in time but I also know that wanting to burn the steps, rushing can harm my body and health in the long run,” she wrote on Instagram.

“This is why we have taken the decision not to participate in the Australian Open, to have a long term vision to be ready and 100% to start this 2026 season. I know it’s the right decision to make even if it was very difficult.”

Kaja Juvan, Leolia Jeanjean, Polina Kudermetova and Katie Boulter are some of the WTA players who have been promoted into the main draw.

On the men’s side, world No 42 Arthur Fils has struggled with a back injury since last year’s French Open and he has also decided not to travel to Australia, saying “I’d prefer to come back at 100% rather than returning too early.”

He is joined on the sidelines for the Australian Open by Emil Ruusuvuori.

Thiago Agustin Tirante, Vít Kopřiva and Yannick Hanfmann are some of the players who have received the nod for the main draw on the back of those withdrawals.

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Carlos Alcaraz leads an unchanged top four in the latest rankings, but there are new names at No 5 and No 10 with Lorenzo Musetti and Alexander Bublik reaching new milestones

Six-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz and his big rival Jannik Sinner were not in action on the ATP Tour last week as they opted to skip official events for an exhibition match in South Korea.

But they were never in danger of being replaced with Alcaraz 550 points ahead of the Italian, who in turn is more than 6,000 points ahead of third-placed Alexander Zverev, who failed to chip away at the lead with a poor run at the United Cup.

Alcaraz, who is in his 10th stint at No 1, has now spent 10 consecutive weeks at No 1 for a total 54, which puts him 14th on the all-time list with Jim Courier within touching distance on 58 weeks.

Novak Djokovic, another star who didn’t feature last week, remains fourth in the rankings while Musetti climbed two places as he made his top-five debut on the back of his runners-up finish at the Hong Kong Open.

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Felix Auger-Aliassime is down two places to No 7 while Bublik makes his top-10 debut following his 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 over Musetti at the ATP 250 tournament.

Former world No 1 Daniil Medvedev also won a title in the first week of competition as he defeated Brandon Nakashima in the final of the Brisbane International and he climbs one spot to No 12. American Nakashima is up four places to No 29.

But the biggest winner the past week was Hubert Hurkacz as the Pole won four of his five singles matches to steer his country to the United Cup title.

Hurkacz missed the second half of the 2025 season after undergoing knee surgery and, as a result, found himself down at No 83 in the rankings a week ago.

However, the 28-year-old’s performances at the team tournament have seen him jump 30 places to No 53.

Spain’s Pedro Martinez and Belgium’s Raphael Collignon were also big winners in the top 100 as the former jumped 25 places to No 71 while Collignon is one spot behind him after climbing 12 places.

Three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka was part of the Swiss team that finished runners-up to Hurkacz’s Poland at the United Cup and he climbed 17 places to No 139.

Wawrinka and Gael Monfils are two of the big ATP stars who will retire after the 2026 season and the latter slipped 41 places to No 110, the first time since October 2023 that he is not ranked inside the top 100.

ATP Rankings Top 20

1. Carlos Alcaraz, Spain – 12,050
2. Jannik Sinner, Italy – 11,500
3. Alexander Zverev, Germany – 5,105
4. Novak Djokovic, Serbia – 4,780
5. Lorenzo Musetti, Italy – 4,105 (+2)
6. Alex de Minaur, Australia – 4,080
7. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Canada – 3,990 (-2)
8. Ben Shelton, United States – 3,960
9. Taylor Fritz, United States – 3,840
10. Alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan – 3,065 (+1)
11. Jack Draper, Great Britain – 2,990 (-1)
12. Daniil Medvedev – 2,910 (+1)
13. Casper Ruud, Norway – 2,795 (-1)
14. Andrey Rublev – 2,600 (+2)
15. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Spain – 2,585 (-1)
16. Holger Rune, Denmark – 2,580 (-1)
17. Karen Khachanov – 2,320
18. Jakub Mensik, Czech Republic – 2,125
19. Jiri Lehecka, Czech Republic – 2,090
20. Francisco Cerundolo Argentina – 2,035 (+1)

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Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Elina Svitolina were the title winners in the first week of official competition on the 2026 WTA Tour while the likes of Belinda Bencic, Marta Kostyuk and Alex Eala will also be delighted.

Reigning world No 1 Sabalenka was effectively defending 500 points from her title run at the 2025 Brisbane International and she made it two trophies in a row at the WTA 500 event as she won the tournament without dropping a set.

The four-time Grand Slam winner, who was playing in a third consecutive final at the event, defeated Kostyuk 6–4, 6–3 to win her 22nd career singles title and she is now 38-2 in her last 40 matches in Australia.

Sabalenka was never in danger of losing the No 1 spot in the WTA Rankings this week, but her title run has helped her to increase her lead over Iga Swiatek as it now sits at 2,662, meaning she will remain top after the Australian Open even if she loses early.

Swiatek was 3-2 in the singles at the United Cup, but she is also comfortable at No 2 as she has a lead of 1,905 points over Coco Gauff in third place.

Gauff was 3-1 at the United Cup and she has returned to No 3 following Amanda Anisimova’s early loss at the Brisbane with Elena Rybakina completing the top five.

With Madison Keys dropping two places after losing in the round of 16 in Brisbane, Jasmine Paolini and Mirra Andreeva both climbed one spot while Belinda Bencic returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2023.

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The Swiss won five out of five singles matches at the United Cup and climbed one spot to No 10, which is a remarkable achievement as she started the 2025 season outside the top 400 after giving birth to her first child just over a year a go.

Bencic, of course, is a former world No 4.

Svitolina, a former world No 3, is up one spot to No 12 after winning the Auckland Open while there is a new career-high for Victoria Mboko is she also climbed one place to No 17.

Kostyuk is rewarded with a six-place jump to No 20 after her in Brisbane while 18-year-old Iva Jovic cracks a new high as she is up five places to No 30 after reaching the semi-final in New Zealand.

Wang Xinyu was beaten by Svitolina, but she surged 14 places to No 43 while Alex Eala – who was beaten by Wang at the ASB Classic – climbs four places to No 49 – one place above her previous best.

In terms of British interests, Emma Raducanu remains the No 1 as she remained at No 29 despite losing her only match at the United Cup while Sonay Kartal is up five places to No 63 while Francisco Jones climbed six spots to a new high of No 69.

Former world No 20 Yulia Putintseva was one of the biggest fallers as she dropped 31 places to No 105.

WTA Rankings Top 20

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,990 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland – 8,328
3. Coco Gauff United States – 6,423 (+1)
4. Amanda Anisimova United States – 6,320 (-1)
5. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 5,850
6. Jessica Pegula United States – 5,453
7. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 4,267 (+1)
8. Mirra Andreeva – 4,232 (+1)
9. Madison Keys United States – 4,003 (-2)
10. Belinda Bencic Switzerland – 3,512 (+1)
11. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 3,375 (-1)
12. Elina Svitolina Ukraine – 2,856 (+1)
13. Linda Noskova Czech Republic – 2,641 (-1)
14. Clara Tauson Denmark – 2,530
15. Emma Navarro United States – 2,467
16. Naomi Osaka Japan – 2,366
17. Victoria Mboko Canada – 2,157 (+1)
18. Luidmila Sansonova – 2,122 (-1)
19. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic – 2,083 (+1)
20. Marta Kostyuk Ukraine – 1,983 (+6)

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Emma Raducanu headed into 2026 with injury concerns hovering over her once again, but former British No 1 Greg Rusedski believes she has already made the decision that could fire her back into contention at the top of the game.

Raducanu’s constantly changing coaching set-up has been a theme for the Brit since her stunning victory at the 2021 US Open, as she became the first player to move through qualifying and lift a Grand Slam title.

After hiring Francisco Roig as her coach in 2025, she has decided to stick with the experienced operator, who has worked in the Rafael Nadal camp and has also had a spell working with former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini.

Raducanu confirmed their partnership was progressing positively as she extended her agreement with Roig into 2026 and Rusedski believes this is a partnership that can reap rewards for the 23-year-old.

“Her story was a little different for her because all of a sudden, she wins a Slam at 18,” said Rusedski, speaking about Raducanu on the latest episode of Off Court with Greg, which will be released on Monday.

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“Nobody has done that in their first three majors apart from the greats of the game, so everyone is thinking Emma Raducanu will be No 1, she can win multiple majors, she can be the new face of the WTA.

“Then she didn’t have the consistency, but now with Francisco Roig, a coach I’ve actually worked with, I think she has that solidity behind her.

“I thought she played a pretty good opening match against (Maria) Sakkari in the United Cup. Even though she lost, she looked in pretty good form and if she is physically in good shape, she is trending in the right direction. She is a top 30 player now and I think that partnership (with Roig) is going to last.

“Fransico is a strong character and wouldn’t join Emma’s team unless he thought she could get deep into the second week of Slams and possibly win. I’m excited about this partnership and I’m hoping they will continue for a long period of time and be very successful.”

Raducanu has had a troubled off-season, with an injury problem hampering her progress, but she has arrived in Hobart to play in the WTA Tour event that precedes the Australian Open in an upbeat mood.

She has also received the backing of former Wimbledon doubles champion Mark Woodforde, who told Tennis365 that he is hopeful of seeing a continued rise up the rankings for Raducanu.

“We shouldn’t judge her on that one result at the US Open,” Woodforde told Tennis365 in his role as an ambassador at the Bank of China Hong Kong Open.

“If she can replicate what she did in New York, that would be brilliant, but it was probably something that happened too soon, too quickly in her career.

“It’s not that you wouldn’t want it to happen to you, but in a country that has been starved of female players and desperate for her to do well, it must have been very difficult for her.

“What was encouraging was that over there were times last year when she seemed to be starting to build the foundation again to show some of that form that was discovered at the US Open a few years back.

“It is a hard one to judge right now, but I’m sure UK and British tennis praying on their hands and knees that she is successful. She has put some life back into British women’s tennis and the momentum for players like Katie Boulter has been inspired by the success of Emma Raducanu.”

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Tennis legend Rod Laver discussed Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic as he identified his favourite to win the 2026 Australian Open men’s singles title.

Main draw action at this year’s Australian Open will get underway on Sunday January 18, while the men’s singles final will be staged on Sunday February 1.

Sinner, the world No 2, is the two-time reigning Australian Open champion, having beaten Alexander Zverev in the 2025 final after he overcame Daniil Medvedev in the 2024 title match to win his maiden Slam.

World No 1 Alcaraz is seeking his first Australian Open crown, and victory would see him become the youngest male player in the Open Era to complete a career Grand Slam (winning each of the four majors).

The 22-year-old Spaniard, who has won the other three Slams twice each, is yet to advance beyond the quarter-finals in Melbourne.

Novak Djokovic has won a record 10 Australian Open titles, with his most recent triumph Down Under coming in 2023. The 38-year-old Serbian, who is ranked fourth, is chasing a record-extending 25th major overall and his first since the 2023 US Open.

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Rod Laver gives his verdict on the 2026 Australian Open

In an interview with the Laver Cup website, Laver was asked who he thinks will win the 2026 Australian Open men’s tournament.

“It’s extremely difficult to predict, which is a great situation for tennis to be in. So many players could take it,” said Laver.

“Of course, Sinner and Alcaraz are top of the list as their rivalry grows. Sinner continues to strengthen his game, and is the two-time defending champion, but if the conditions are hot, I’d say Carlos has an edge and his desire to win is going to be higher than ever because he hasn’t won it before.

“And I’d never rule out Novak Djokovic, he loves the conditions Down Under.”

Laver secured 11 Grand Slam singles titles, three of which came on home soil at the Australian Open.

The Aussie icon is the only man to achieve a calendar Grand Slam (winning all four majors in a single season) in the Open Era, having accomplished the staggering feat in 1969.

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