The 2026 tennis season is barely underway, but fans are already looking ahead to the first Grand Slam of the year, the 2026 Australian Open. Qualifying begins on January 12.
Here are the latest news updates about AO 2026.
1. Arthur Fils Withdraws
Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas have shown us how devastating and debilitating a back injury is for a professional tennis player. French player Arthur Fils hoped to be back for the Australian Open after dealing with a back injury for the latter half of 2025. That is not to be as Fils has been forced to withdraw from AO to give himself more time to recover.
🚨 ARTHUR FILS DÉCLARE FORFAIT POUR L’OPEN D’AUSTRALIE 2026 ❌🇫🇷
Le Français s’est exprimé à propos de sa situation sur YouTube :
🗣️ “Être blessé, ça fait partie de la vie d’un athlète de haut niveau. Ça prend le temps que ça prend, ce n’est pas si grave. J’ai 21 ans, j’ai… pic.twitter.com/vw3YobFYeB
— Univers Tennis 🎾 (@UniversTennis) January 2, 2026
2. Jennifer Brady Withdraws
We were so excited about seeing American Jennifer Brady‘s name on the list of qualifiers for Melbourne. Knee and foot injuries have kept her out of the game for the majority of the past four years.
Brady has withdrawn from Australian Open qualifying which means it will be a longer wait to see when and if she can make a healthy return.
3. Mirra Andreeva Is Not Playing Doubles
Diana Shnaider is entered in the AO doubles draw with Liudmila Samsonova. Shnaider has been in a successful doubles partnership with Mirra Andreeva. The 2025 Brisbane International and Miami Open champions also won Olympic silver in the 2024 Paris games. Last season, Shnaider and Andreeva qualified for the WTA Finals after finishing as semifinalists in the Australian Open and French Open and quarterfinalists at the US Open.
MISSES WORLDWIDE 🏆
Diana Shnaider & Mirra Andreeva are your 2025 Miami Open Doubles Champions!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/xr1KXCUeMx
— wta (@WTA) March 31, 2025
Andreeva is playing doubles at the 2026 Brisbane International with Ekaterina Alexandrova.
4. Jessica Pegula Is Playing Doubles
American Jessica Pegula will be doing double duty this year in Melbourne. After concluding a successful partnership with Coco Gauff in 2024, Pegula dabbled in doubles with Ashlyn Krueger in 2025.
She will play the Australian Open with McCartney Kessler who won the Canadian Open with Gauff last summer. Gauff only played three doubles tournaments in 2025; with Kessler in Montreal, in Rome with Alex Eala, and Madrid with Robin Montgomery.
