The 2026 Australian Open mixed doubles draw was recently announced, and there are some surprising teams along with traditional teams.
1. Nick Kyrgios And Leylah Fernandez
Raise your hand if you ever thought Kyrgios and Fernandez would be on the tennis court together. It is not because they are not good doubles players. Rather, their personalities don’t seem to mesh. Or maybe they do, and we are about to witness it.
Kyrgios won the 2022 Australian Open doubles with Thanasi Khakkinakis and is in the 2025 men’s draw with him. He played mixed doubles with Naomi Osaka, who debuted an eye popping Nike outfit in her singles match earlier today, at the reimagined US Open mixed doubles championship.
Fernandez played US Open doubles with Venus Williams and is in the Australian Open women’s doubles draw with Timea Babos.
2. Cruz Hewitt And Taylah Preston
Aussie Cruz Hewitt, son of Lleyton Hewitt, did not qualify in singles after losing to rising American Michael Zheng.
He will play in Melbourne in both doubles and mixed doubles with James Duckworth and Taylah Preston, respectively.
Preston is a rising Aussie player currently ranked outside the Top 100. She recently defeated Emma Raducanu at Hobart. Preston is also playing women’s doubles with Lizette Cabrera.
Australian Open Mixed Doubles Is Not Following US Open’s Lead
Don’t be fooled that the entire draw is composed of newly formed teams. The Australian Open is not copying the US Open’s format, and there are plenty of traditional doubles teams in the draw.
Most notably, the defending French Open and US Open mixed doubles champions, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. There is no doubt they have more fans because of playing and winning the highly publicized, well attended, and somewhat controversial US Open mixed doubles format.
Grand Slam tripletta 3️⃣
2024 Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup World Champions Sara Errani & Andrea Vavassori claim their third Mixed Doubles Grand Slam title together after winning the #USOpen pic.twitter.com/0nbx4KLccs
— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) August 21, 2025
Last year’s Wimbledon champions Katerina Siniakova and Sem Verbeek are also in the draw.
Katerina Siniakova and Sem Verbeek, the Mixed Doubles Champions of 2025 🏆 #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/cWtDZedpJM
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2025
Defending Australian Open mixed doubles champions Olivia Gadecki and John Peers are also in the draw.
#AO2025📷 MIXED CHAMPIONS 🏆
Olivia Gadecki and John Peers
take out the all-Aussie mixed doubles final 3-6 6-4 10-6! pic.twitter.com/dphDo7q25c— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) January 24, 2025
The 32 team field will play first round matches on Wednesday, January 21. Subsequent rounds will be played on January 24, 26, and 27. The final will be played on Thursday, January 29.
