Forty days on from the conclusion of the Davis Cup Finals in Bologna, the first ball was struck in the United Cup in Australia, and just like that, tennis is officially back on.
The 2026 ATP and WTA seasons kick off with action across five cities, with the United Cup mixed team competition already underway in Perth and Sydney, both men’s and women’s tournaments beginning in Brisbane on Sunday, and events in Hong Kong (ATP) and Auckland (WTA) commencing on Monday.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest tennis storylines to look out for in 2026.
‘Sincaraz’ saga continues
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner ended their 2025 seasons together, with the latter beating the former in the title match of the ATP Finals, and the pair will begin 2026 together by squaring off in an exhibition in Incheon on January 10.
The ATP Tour’s dominant duo have split the majors in each of the past two years and will once again be the ones to beat at the majors in 2026.
Alcaraz faces a new challenge, though, as he starts the New Year without his long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero after their shock split.
The 22-year-old still has Samuel Lopez in his corner, but it will be interesting to see if he will add someone to share coaching duties with the Spaniard as the season goes on.
Sinner begins 2026 bidding to become the first player since Novak Djokovic in 2021 to win three Australian Open titles in a row.
The Italian trails Alcaraz by just 550 points at the summit of the world rankings and the biggest question of the season will be whether anyone can challenge the world’s top two at the slams.
Among the current top 10, Djokovic is 38 years old, Jack Draper has delayed his return from injury, Taylor Fritz is managing a knee problem, while Alex de Minaur is 0-18 in matches against Sinner or Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime has lost his lpst nine matches against them.
Of the young crop, Learner Tien and Joao Fonseca – the youngest two players in the top 30 – are keen to make another charge up the rankings and contend at the Masters 1000s and the majors. They’ll have to go through Alcaraz or Sinner to make that happen.
WTA’s ‘Big Three’ face stiff competition
Last year witnessed one of the strongest and most compelling WTA seasons in recent history. It concluded with the same three women – Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Coco Gauff – occupying the top three spots in the year-end rankings for a third straight campaign.
But the multiple-time Grand Slam champions won’t have it easy in 2026, with the likes of Amanda Anisimova, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula all ready to pounce at the first opportunity.
Sabalenka has yet to win a major on a surface other than hard court, Swiatek still has some way to go to recapture her ruthless streak when facing top-10 opposition, and Gauff is out to put her serving woes behind her with a fine-tuned technique.
Young guns like Mirra Andreeva, Victoria Mboko, Alex Eala and Maya Joint, are all looking to build on their strong 2025 seasons, while former world No 1 Naomi Osaka has her eyes firmly fixed on a return to the top 10.
Career Slams on the line
Two players can complete a career Grand Slam – winning each of the four majors at least once – in Australia this month: Alcaraz and Swiatek.
Alcaraz, who has won Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open twice each, has yet to make it past the quarter-finals at the Australian Open.
The Spaniard will be looking to change that in Melbourne this month as he bids to become just the sixth man in the Open era to achieve the Career Slam.
Like Alcaraz, Swiatek is a six-time major winner and the Australian Open is the only slam missing from her collection.
Her best previous appearances in Melbourne came in 2025 and 2022, when she reached the semi-finals.
The Polish world No 2 could join a group of just 10 women in tennis history to have achieved the career Grand Slam but she insists she isn’t putting too much pressure on herself to compete her boxset at this month’s Australian Open.
“I'm still young. I have plenty of time to do different things and achieve different goals in my career,” the 24-year-old told reporters at the United Cup in Sydney this week.
“I really don't need to put that pressure on myself to do something in next two weeks or something.”
Pending farewells
Two beloved veterans of the ATP Tour will play their last professional seasons in 2026: three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka and French former top-10 player Gael Monfils.
Wawrinka, 40, launched his farewell campaign by doing what he does best – grinding through three hours and 18 minutes to pull off a comeback victory over French world No 29 Arthur Rinderknech in the United Cup on Saturday.
“I'm good with my decision to announce this is my last year, but I'm not doing a year just to say goodbye,” Wawrinka told atptour.com.
“I'm a competitor. I want to push my limit, I want to still fight against good players, I want to still win matches. I want to try to be back in the top 100 at 40 years old.”
Wawrinka, a former world No 3 and currently ranked 157, would need a wildcard to compete at this month’s Australian Open – a tournament he won in 2014.
Meanwhile, Monfils, 39, will begin his final season in Auckland next week.
“The opportunity to turn my passion into a profession is a privilege I have cherished during every match and moment of my 21-year career,” wrote Monfils in a statement he shared on social media in October. “Though this game means the world to me, I am tremendously at peace with my decision to retire at the end of the 2026 tennis season.”
An unmissable Hall-of-Fame induction ceremony
One of the most-anticipated Hall of Fame enshrinements will take place on August 29, as Roger Federer’s legendary career is set to be celebrated in Newport, Rhode Island this summer.
Last year, Maria Sharapova invited her long-time rival Serena Williams to introduce her at her Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Should we expect Rafael Nadal to do the same for Federer? It’s highly possible.
New era for the WTA
The women’s tour announced a historic deal with Mercedes-Benz last month, which is worth $50 million annually for up to 10 years.
The new premier presenting partner of the WTA, Mercedes-Benz could potentially invest half a billion dollars in women’s tennis – a much-needed injection that could hopefully help the tour expand its audience, improve its data and streaming infrastructure, and find ways to better promote its stars.
