The Australian Open 2024 is now well underway, with some thrilling games already having taken place in the first few days of play. So far, women's and men's singles matches have begun, with doubles starting on Wednesday, January 17.
US: ESPN Plus | ESPN (live TV streaming options)
UK: Discovery Plus
Australia: 9Now (free)
Watch abroad with a VPN
Big-name champs like Djokovic, Sabalenka and Rublev have all played their first-round games already, but there are more to come, and if you want to see the women's champ play then our guide on how to watch Świątek vs Kenin will help, as that's the next big match.
The Australian Open is the first big tennis event of the year; in fact, it's arguably the first major sports event annually, starting just two weeks into each new year. Tennis has four Grand Slams each year and this is the first followed by the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open later in the year.
The Australian Open will run for two weeks with the finals falling on the weekend up to Sunday, January 28 (it's one day longer than last year). Most of the world's top tennis players will descend upon Melbourne Park to play, including Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek, Casper Ruud, Ons Jabeur, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jessica Pegula will all play, as well as defending champions Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka and plenty more.
There are going to be plenty of games to watch, and you can catch them all, as this guide will show you how to watch the Australian Open from around the world, including the qualifying matches in some cases.
Matches worth watching on Tuesday, January 16
Tuesday brings us the continuation of the men's and women's singles, all of which are the first-round ones too. We've gone through the list to find the games worth watching — by that we mean, any games featuring a top-10 men's or women's player, though of course there's fantastic tennis playing on every court in a tournament like this.
The times we've listed are when the matches are meant to begin, but timings can change a lot during tennis events like this, so take it for a rough timer, as it's not set in stone.
- Iga Świątek vs Sofia Kenin: 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT (both on Monday, January 15) / noon ACT / 1 am UK
- Holger Rune vs Yoshihito Nishioka: 10 pm ET / 7 pm PT (both on Monday, January 15) / 2 pm ACT / 3 am UK
- Elena Rybakina vs Karolína Plíšková: 3 am ET/midnight PT/7 pm ACT/8 am UK
- Alexander Zverev vs Dominik Zoepfer: 3 am ET/midnight PT/7 pm ACT/8 am UK
- Carlos Alcaraz vs Richard Gasquet: 4:15 am ET/1:15 am PT/8:15 pm ACT/9:15 am UK
- Jessica Pegula vs Rebecca Marino: 5 am ET/2 am PT/9 pm ACT/10 am UK
- Jelena Ostapenko vs Kimberly Birrell: 10:15 pm ET / 7:15 pm PT (both on Saturday, January 13) / 2:15 pm ACT / 3:15 am UKT/10 am UK
How to watch the Australian Open in the US
A convenient way to watch the Australian Open in the US is by using the sports streaming service ESPN Plus, which costs $9.99 monthly or $12.99 if you get it as part of the Disney Bundle alongside Disney Plus and Hulu.
ESPN Plus will show extensive coverage of the morning and afternoon matches every day, from the first round until the finals, so it's our recommendation for people who want to see as much of the tennis as possible.
You do have another option though, and that's by using cable (or live TV streaming services, if you're a cord-cutter).
Australian Open coverage will bounce around the Tennis Channel, ESPN, ESPN 2 and ESPN 3, with ABC occasionally airing highlights too. For ESPN, you can use Fubo ($74.99 per month), DirecTV Entertainment ($64.99 per month) Hulu with Live TV ($69.99 per month), and YouTube TV ($64.99 per month). If you don't mind skipping on ABC you can also use Sling TV's Orange plan ($40 per month, or $55 for the Blue plan as well as the Orange) which would be your cheapest option.
The Tennis Channel is on DirecTV Choice, Fubo or Sling TV with its Orange plan.
How to watch the Australian Open in the UK
In the UK, rights to broadcast the Australian Open belong to Eurosport, which is part of Discovery Plus, which itself is part of TNT Sports. Confusing!
Either way, it's just Discovery Plus that you need to sign up to in order to watch, and the standard plan at that, not the pricey premium one that includes TNT Sports coverage.
That means you only need to pay £6.99 per month to subscribe, with the Australian one of the many sporting events this year to be shown on Disco Plus as well as the Paris Olympics 2024 later in the year.
You can sign up for Discovery Plus here
How to watch the Australian Open in Australia
You can watch the Australian Open for FREE in Australia, and we don't just mean by finding a tall building near Melbourne Park and peering out a window.
No, as with previous years, the matches are expected to be shown on streaming service 9Now, which is free to sign up for.
How to watch the Australian Open online everywhere else
If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch the Australian Open, 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 major sporting events 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.
Your Australian Open questions
When does the Australian Open take place?
The first round of the Australian Open 2024 starts on Sunday, January 14 — it's Men's Singles and Women's Singles that day; the other strains begin shortly after.
Quarterfinals begin on Tuesday, January 23, with semifinals then taking place on Thursday, January 25 .
The last two weekend of the tournament, January 27 and 28, see the women's Singles Final and Men's Singles Final, respectively.
Where does the Australian Open take place?
The Australian Open takes place at Melbourne Park in (you guessed it) Melbourne, in (right again) Australia.
The tournament uses hard courts, same as the US Open.
Who are the top tennis players?
While countless tennis players will play in the Australian Open, eyes will be on the current top players.
The top-seeded Men's Singles player is, at the time of writing, Rafael Nadal, with Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas following up. Novak Djokovic, the returning champion, is seeded at #4.
The Women's Singles seed is currently led by Iga Świątek, with Ons Jabeur second and Jessica Pegula third, which is the exact same order as the seeds going into the 2023 edition. Defending champion, Aryna Sabalenka is seeded at #5.
