Novak Djokovic will begin his bid to retain the Australian Open title against Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round, while women's champion Naomi Osaka starts her campaign against Czech Marie Bouzkova.
The draw for tennis' first grand slam of the season was made on Thursday, with playing conditions and player safety still high on the agenda following the bushfires that have engulfed Australia.
The players already in Melbourne awoke on Thursday to skies clear of obvious signs of the bushfire smoke that choked the city on Tuesday and Wednesday and disrupted qualifying.
Should the tournament start as scheduled on Monday, it will be the bottom half of the men's draw and top half of the women's draw that will kick off the action at Melbourne Park.
That includes women's top seed and world No Ashleigh Barty, who is aiming to end the host nation's long wait for a homegrown champion. She will begin against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.
Djokovic will also start his campaign on Monday against the big-serving Struff. After guiding Serbia to the inaugural ATP Cup last week, Djokovic will start the Australian Open as the favourite to win the tournament for the eighth time.
Attempting to prevent another Djokovic triumph will be world No 1 and top seed Rafael Nadal, who faces Bolivian Hugo Dellien in the first round.
Serena Williams arrived in Australia with confidence high after a title win in the warm-up tournament in Auckland as she looks to finally match Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles.
The 38-year-old eighth seed begins her bid for an eighth Melbourne Park crown with a first-round tie against Russian Anastasia Potapova.
The draw threw up an intriguing clash for Serena's 39-year-old sister Venus, who will face fellow American Coco Gauff.
Gauff, 15, exploded onto the tennis map at Wimbledon last year when, as a qualifier, she beat two-time Australian Open champion Venus on her main draw grand slam debut.
Osaka has enjoyed an even more stratospheric rise over the last couple of seasons and won her second grand slam crown in Australia last year.
The 22-year-old Japanese star will start her title defence against Bouzkova, although she may not know it yet after vacating the stadium court before the draw was revealed.
"I don't even like seeing who I'm first playing until the day before the match," the third seed said before making a hasty exit.
Another former champion, Maria Sharapova, needed a wildcard to get into the tournament and could present quite a challenge for 19th seed Donna Vekic.
Djokovic won a record seventh Melbourne Park crown last year to extend a still unbroken three-year dominance of the grand slam titles by the trio of the Serbian, Nadal and Roger Federer.
With Djokovic and Nadal now in their 30s and Federer, who will open his quest for a 21st major title against Steve Johnson, heading towards his 40s, all eyes are on the young guns who might break their grip.
"Daniil [Medvedev] is playing great tennis, he's definitely in that small group of players who are getting closer to a grand slam title," Djokovic said.
"Alongside him is Dominic Thiem, who is knocking on the door, and [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, who won a big tournament at the [ATP] World Finals.
"We are hoping this is not going to be the year they make the breakthrough, but it's inevitable and that it makes it exciting."
Russian fourth seed Medvedev faces the toughest challenge of the trio in the first round against American Frances Tiafoe, who reached the Australian Open quarter-finals last year.
Austrian Thiem, seeded fifth, plays France's Adrian Mannarino, while Greek sixth seed Tsitsipas takes on Italian Salvatore Caruso.
Nick Kyrgios looms as a tricky potential hurdle in Nadal and Thiem's quarter of the draw but most Australian hopes of success will rest on the shoulders of Barty, who is out to end the 42-year wait since Chris O'Neill won the title at Kooyong in 1978.
The Australian Open runs from January 20 to February 2.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
World Cup qualifier
Thailand 2 (Dangda 26', Panya 51')
UAE 1 (Mabkhout 45 2')
Profile of RentSher
Started: October 2015 in India, November 2016 in UAE
Founders: Harsh Dhand; Vaibhav and Purvashi Doshi
Based: Bangalore, India and Dubai, UAE
Sector: Online rental marketplace
Size: 40 employees
Investment: $2 million
If you go
The Flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Johannesburg from Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively. Economy return tickets cost from Dh2,650, including taxes.
The trip
Worldwide Motorhoming Holidays (worldwidemotorhomingholidays.co.uk) operates fly-drive motorhome holidays in eight destinations, including South Africa. Its 14-day Kruger and the Battlefields itinerary starts from Dh17,500, including campgrounds, excursions, unit hire and flights. Bobo Campers has a range of RVs for hire, including the 4-berth Discoverer 4 from Dh600 per day.
25-MAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Akpeyi
Defenders: Olaoluwa Aina, Abdullahi Shehu, Chidozie Awaziem, William Ekong, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo, Jamilu Collins, Semi Ajayi
Midfielders: John Obi Mikel, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, John Ogu
Forwards: Ahmed Musa, Victor Osimhen, Moses Simon, Henry Onyekuru, Odion Ighalo, Alexander Iwobi, Samuel Kalu, Paul Onuachu, Kelechi Iheanacho, Samuel Chukwueze
On Standby: Theophilus Afelokhai, Bryan Idowu, Ikouwem Utin, Mikel Agu, Junior Ajayi, Valentine Ozornwafor
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETamer%20Ruggli%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENadine%20Labaki%2C%20Fanny%20Ardant%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Belong%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Michael%20Askew%20and%20Matthew%20Gaziano%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243.5%20million%20from%20crowd%20funding%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Other key dates
-
Finals draw: December 2
-
Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
-
Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
-
Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Results:
6.30pm: Handicap | US$135,000 (Dirt) | 1,400 metres
Winner: Rodaini, Connor Beasley (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap | $135,000 (Turf) | 1,200m
Winner: Ekhtiyaar, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson
7.40pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes | Group 3 | $200,000 (T) | 2,000m
Winner: Spotify, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm: UAE Oakes | Group 3 | $250,000 (D) | 1,900m
Winner: Divine Image, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
8.50pm: Zabeel Mile | Group 2 | $250,000 (T) | 1,600m
Winner: Mythical Image, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
9.20pm: Handicap | $135,000 (T) | 1,600m
Winner: Major Partnership, Kevin Stott, Saeed bin Suroor
House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
- Camden, London
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Islington, London
- Kensington and Chelsea, London
- Highlands, Scotland
- Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Fife, Scotland
- Tower Hamlets, London
match info
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 37')
Atletico Madrid 1 (Costa 39')
Man of the match Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao)
Normal People
Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.