The 114th Australian Open runs from January 18 to February 1, 2026 at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament features 128-player men’s and women’s singles draws played on GreenSet hard courts. As the first Grand Slam of the calendar year, the Australian Open sets the tone for the season and regularly produces dramatic early-round upsets as players find their form after the off-season.
The Australian Open has been held at Melbourne Park since 1988, when the tournament moved from Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. Founded in 1905, the event spent decades rotating between Australian cities before settling permanently in Melbourne. The 2005 men’s final between Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt remains one of the great atmospheres in tennis history. Novak Djokovic has won the title 10 times, making it his most successful Grand Slam. The 2022 women’s final, where Ashleigh Barty won the title in front of a home crowd for the first time since Chris O’Neil in 1978, produced one of the most emotional moments in modern tennis.
Playing conditions at the Australian Open are shaped by the Melbourne summer. Daytime temperatures regularly reach 35 to 40 degrees Celsius, and the tournament enforces an extreme heat policy that can suspend play. The GreenSet hard court surface plays medium-fast with a consistent bounce. Night sessions under lights at Rod Laver Arena offer cooler conditions and a distinctly different atmosphere, with matches often running past midnight local time. The retractable roof on Rod Laver Arena, installed in 1988, means rain delays rarely affect the showcourt schedule.
Melbourne operates on Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT), UTC+11 during January. A 19:00 night session start is 09:00 in London, 10:00 in Central Europe, and 03:00 in New York. Day sessions typically begin at 11:00 local time, which is midnight in London and 19:00 the previous evening on the US East Coast. Check Melbourne time or Australia time for current local time at the venue.