Australian Open 2015: Draw Date, Seeds, Live Stream Info and Tournament Schedule
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have, as expected, been confirmed as the top seeds for the men’s and women’s draws, respectively, at the Australian Open.
The tournament's official website provided the 2015 seeds list on Wednesday:
| 1. Novak Djokovic | 1. Serena Williams |
| 2. Roger Federer | 2. Maria Sharapova |
| 3. Rafael Nadal | 3. Simona Halep |
| 4. Stanislaw Wawrinka | 4. Petra Kvitova |
| 5. Kei Nishikori | 5. Ana Ivanovic |
| 6. Andy Murray | 6. Agnieszka Radwanska |
| 7. Tomas Berdych | 7. Eugenie Bouchard |
| 8. Milos Raonic | 8. Caroline Wozniacki |
| 9. David Ferrer | 9. Angelique Kerber |
| 10. Grigor Dimitrov | 10. Ekaterina Makarova |
| 11. Ernests Gulbis | 11. Dominika Cibulkova |
| 12. Feliciano Lopez | 12. Flavia Pennetta |
| 13. Roberto Bautista Agut | 13. Andrea Petkovic |
| 14. Kevin Anderson | 14. Sara Errani |
| 15. Tommy Robredo | 15. Jelena Jankovic |
| 16. Fabio Fognini | 16. Lucie Safarova |
| 17. Gael Monfils | 17. Carla Suarez Navarro |
| 18. Gilles Simon | 18. Venus Williams |
| 19. John Isner | 19. Alize Cornet |
| 20. David Goffin | 20. Samantha Stosur |
| 21. Alexandr Dolgopolov | 21. Shuai Peng |
| 22. Philipp Kohlschreiber | 22. Karolina Pliskova |
| 23. Ivo Karlovic | 23. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova |
| 24. Richard Gasquet | 24. Garbine Muguruza |
| 25. Julien Benneteau | 25. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova |
| 26. Leonardo Mayer | 26. Elina Svitolina |
| 27. Pablo Cuevas | 27. Svetlana Kuznetsova |
| 28. Lukas Rosol | 28. Sabine Lisicki |
| 29. Jeremy Chardy | 29. Casey Dellacqua |
| 30. Santiago Giraldo | 30. Varvara Lepchenko |
| 31. Fernando Verdasco | 31. Zarina Diyas |
| 32. Martin Klizan | 32. Belinda Bencic |
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The draw for the first Grand Slam of the year will take place on Friday, Jan. 16. The tournament starts on Monday, Jan. 19 and runs for two weeks. The men's final will be staged on Sunday, Feb. 1 and the women's final is on Saturday, Jan. 31. For full schedule details, go to the official Australian Open website.
Live streaming of the tournament is expected to be on the Australian Open TV YouTube channel. Last year's draw was also streamed on the channel. It is expected to be shown again, but it is not confirmed at this time.
In the men’s draw, four-time champion Roger Federer is seeded second, Rafael Nadal is third and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka is fourth.
The women’s draw has 2008 winner Maria Sharapova seeded second, recent Shenzhen Open winner Simona Halep third and current Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova fourth.
Top Men’s Seeds
Novak Djokovic
The world No. 1 heads to Melbourne on the back of a slow start to 2015. He was forced to withdraw from the final of the World Tennis Championship in Dubai due to illness. He was then beaten in three sets by veteran Ivo Karlovic in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open. However, Djokovic is a four-time winner of the Australian Open and will raise his game when the tournament starts.
Roger Federer
Now 33, Federer doesn’t look like age is catching up with him. He recorded the 1,000th win of his career when beating Milos Raonic in three sets to win the Brisbane International for the first time. The Swiss has not been in the final of the Australian Open since 2010, but he is in the sort of form which could see him reach that stage for the sixth time. He warmed up for the tournament by playing Lleyton Hewitt on a speedboat.
Rafael Nadal
The 2009 champion still appears to be coming back to fitness after undergoing an appendectomy toward the end of last season. He was thrashed by Murray in Abu Dhabi and then suffered a shock first-round defeat by qualifier Michael Berrer in Qatar. Nadal has expressed concerns about his fitness, per the Daily Telegraph, but he did at least win the doubles in Qatar to hint at some form.
Andy Murray
After dropping out of the top 10 for a spell last year, Murray came back to win three tournaments in the final two months of the 2014 season. He has started this year in good form, too, even if he was handed victory in Abu Dhabi thanks to Djokovic’s withdrawal. Murray won all three of his singles matches at the Hopman Cup in straight sets and has been runner-up three times at the Australian Open.
Top Women’s Seeds
Serena Williams
Questions are starting to be asked about Serena Williams’ future at the top of women’s tennis after a mixed showing in the Hopman Cup. Williams did beat Flavia Pennetta and Lucie Safarova in three sets, but she was thrashed by Eugenie Bouchard before losing to Agnieszka Radwanska. But, she remains world No. 1 and is a five-time Australian Open winner, albeit without a final appearance since 2010.
Maria Sharapova
The world No. 2 warmed up for the Australian Open with a thrilling three-set win over Ana Ivanovic to win in Brisbane. Sharapova won this tournament in 2008, beating Ivanovic in the final, and also lost in the final in 2007 and 2012. She remains a leading contender in the Grand Slams and will go into the tournament in good form.
Ana Ivanovic
The 2008 runner-up has climbed back up the rankings to enjoy something of a renaissance in her career. Ivanovic finished 2014 in the top 10 for the first time in six years. She picked up in 2015 where she left off last year with a run to the final in Brisbane before losing to Sharapova.
Seeded 18th for the Australian Open, the elder Williams sister has been displaying signs that she could emerge as a surprise winner. She beat Caroline Wozniacki in three sets to win the ASB Classic in Auckland to show that the winning spirit still remains. A finalist only once in Melbourne, when she lost to Serena in 2003, could Venus roll back the years 12 years later?
In the men’s draw, it is hard to look past Djokovic and Federer as the two players who will make it to the final. Federer has gone five years without a final appearance in the Australian Open and will want to take advantage of his good form by getting there again. Due to the doubts over Nadal’s form and fitness, though, it will be interesting to see who else is in the Spaniard’s side of the draw as that could open up an opportunity for someone outside the top four seeds.
Serena Williams’ current struggles and lack of recent Australian Open form don't tempt you into talking up her prospects of success. Simona Halep has a chance of making her second Grand Slam final appearance after losing to Sharapova in last year’s French Open. But it would be no surprise to see Sharapova win the Australian Open for a second time, maybe even in a rematch of her 2008 final against Ivanovic.
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