Tennis fans have the next two weeks fully booked, because the Australian Open 2024 is in its early days. It's not been a slow start though, and it's set to get even more exciting when Novak Djokovic and Alexei Popyrin meet as part of the men's singles second round on Wednesday, January 17.
US: ESPN Plus
UK: Discovery Plus
AU: 9Now (free)
Watch abroad with a VPN
Djokovic, it likely goes without saying, is currently the top-rated men's singles player in the world. He's already won the Australian Open 10 times, including in last year's tournament, and also holds 14 other victories spread between the three other Grand Slams. He comes off of a win against Dino Prizmic in the first round, though it was Djokovic's longest-ever first-round match, and after the match the Serbian said he felt "under the weather". Could this hamper his chances of his 25th Grand Slam title?
He's up against local talent Alexei Popyrin, who hails from Sydney. This 24-year-old is currently ranked 43 in the world, and has reached the third round of the Australian Opens three times before. His first-round opponent was Marc Polmans, whom he beat cleanly, and Popyrin is also competing in the men's doubles alongside his countryman Kokkinakis. Their first game is on the same day as Popyrin's match-up with Djokovic.
So does this young talent have the means to beat the current reigning — but possibly ailing — world champion? You'll have to find out for yourself when the two players meet. Here's how you can watch it live.
Just note, if you're away from your home country but want to log in to your reliable streamer, you can watch Djokovic vs Popyrin live streams from anywhere with a VPN.
How to watch Djokovic vs Popyrin in the US
This is going to be a late one, sorry. Djokovic vs Popyrin's match will take place whenever the previous one ends. That one begins at 3 am ET/midnight PT, and will take at least an hour, but likely more. You'll have to keep checking back to find out.
When it comes to watching Djokovic vs Popyrin, and all of the Australian Open for that matter, our go-to recommendation is the online streaming service ESPN Plus. This is showing loads of AO streams, with ESPN promising on its website that it's going to show every single match and court on it.
You can get access to ESPN Plus for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. You can also sign up as part of the Disney Bundle which combines ESPN Plus as well as Disney Plus and Hulu, and that costs $12.99 each month (or more for ad-free tiers of those other two apps).
If you'd rather watch via cable, you might have some options, but channels usually don't specify which Australian Open matches they're airing ahead of time, just that they're showing matches from the tournament.
If anyone's going to show the match, it's the Tennis Channel, which has done quite a bit of Australian Open coverage jumping between the various courts. We can't say with certainty it'll show Djokovic vs Popyrin, but the former is the world #1, after all.
You can use various live TV streaming services to watch from The Tennis Channel: DirecTV offers it in its Choice package for $84.99 per month (or its two higher tiers), Fubo has it in the basic Pro package at $74.99 per month, and Sling TV has it in its Orange package for $40 per month (or its Orange + Blue package which is $55 per month)
How to watch Djokovic vs Popyrin in the UK
Being one of the Australian Open's 'night matches', it means that the Djokovic vs Popyrin face-off is late enough in the Australian day, that it's at a reasonable hour here. Technically, the match will begin whenever the 8 am Sabalenka vs Fruhvirtova one ends, as it's on the same court, but Discovery Plus (see below) has provided a placeholder time of 10:30 am. We'd recommend getting ready early though, just in case that women's singles game is over quickly.
The streaming service to watch Australian Open matches on is Discovery Plus, which owns Eurosport who has the broadcast rights to this tennis tournament. You can find a link to its online landing page for the match here.
When you sign up to Discovery Plus, make sure you go on the £6.99-per-month Standard plan, not the £3.99 Basic one, as that doesn't offer Eurosport access. Only the Basic plan has an annual option, and Standard doesn't, so if you start signing up to an annual plan then you've selected the wrong package!
How to watch Djokovic vs Popyrin in Australia
If you couldn't get to the Australian Open itself, a small consolation prize is that you won't need to pay any money to watch Djokovic vs Popyrin.
Channel 9 is showing AO coverage on TV, and we'd imagine that a Novak Djokovic game would be prime for coverage. However if you don't want to miss a rally, 9Now online is hosting live streams of the games. It also has highlights in case you can't watch the match live.
The game begins whenever the 7 pm Sabalenka v Fruhvirtova match finishes.
How to watch Djokovic vs Popyrin everywhere else
If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch Djokovic vs Popyrin, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite sports like the Australian Open or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is ExpressVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
All you need to know about Djokovic vs Popyrin
What court is Djokovic vs Popyrin on?
Djokovic and Popyrin will meet in Melbourne Park's Rod Laver Arena.
This is center court for the Australian Open and has the biggest spectator capacity, at just over 14,000.
What time is Djokovic vs Popyrin
Djokovic vs Popyrin is scheduled as a night match, which means it'll happen no earlier than 7 pm local time, but with another night match scheduled before it, it'll likely be at least an hour after that.
7 pm local time converts to 3 am ET/midnight PT/8 am UK time.
Some sources are suggesting the match could start at 8:15 pm local time, or 4:15 am ET/1:15 am PT/9:15 am UK, but really it'll start whenever the previous match finishes. So we'd advise using the above sources to stream the match, and keeping checking back until Sabalenka v Fruhvirtova (the previous match) finishes.
