Defending champion Jannik Sinner and 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic have landed in opposite sides of the draw for the season’s first major, ruling out a replay of last year’s semifinal encounter.

Jannik Sinner will launch his Australian Open title defence under a stubborn doping cloud but the whiff of scandal may do little to halt the Italian juggernaut. Sinner remains the man to beat at Melbourne Park even as doping officials seek a two-year ban for the world number one for failing two drugs tests last March.

The top-ranked Sinner, who is the defending champion at Melbourne Park, and No. 3 Alcaraz are coming off a 2024 season in which they each won two Grand Slam titles.

Iga Swiatek, a self-described “control freak,” is taking new precautions — including holding on to extra samples of medicine she takes, in case they need to be tested at some point — after a doping case she describes as probably the worst time in her life.

Jannik Sinner experienced a different approach to the Australian Open 2025 - the first Slam in which the Italian tennis player will have to defend the title won in the previous edition - compared to the feelings he felt last year.