Play Begins at Australian Open with Season’s First Grand Slam

What are you doing? Games have started on the exhibition courts at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, and number 7 seed Jasmine Paolini will face Aliaksandra Sasnovich at Rod Laver Arena.

Later on Sunday at Melbourne Park, No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev will face Gabriel Diallo on the men’s side.

The No. 1 seeds for men and women headline the Sunday night session at Rod Laver Arena. Aryna Sabalenka faces Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah and Carlos Alcaraz faces Adam Walton.

Sabalenka is seeking her third Australian Open title and finished second to Madison Keys a year ago. He reached the last three finals and won two of them.

Alcaraz is trying to become the youngest man to win a career Grand Slam. The 22-year-old Spaniard won twice at the other three Grand Slams but failed to advance past the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

Two-time Australian Open champion and No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner has combined with Alcaraz to win the last eight Grand Slam trophies.

The highlight of the day might be a player ranked 576th in the WTA rankings.

That would be Venus Williams, 45, of course. He will be the oldest player to compete in singles at the Australian Open. Williams received a wild card to participate in the tournament and has won seven Grand Slam titles; the last one was at Wimbledon in 2008.

Williams will face Serbia’s Olga Danilović in the evening session.

Williams married Italian Andrea Preti in December. She was 17 when she made her Australian Open debut in 1998, reaching the quarter-finals in only her fourth Grand Slam event.

He has never won the Australian Open. She reached the finals in 2003 and 2017, losing to sister Serena both times. He won five Wimbledon titles and two at the US Open.