Australian Open 2024 qualifying events set to thrill fans

*Qualifying entry lists updated 30 December 2023

With the release of the Australian Open 2024 qualifying entry lists, eyes immediately gravitate to a pair of major winners – Dominic Thiem and Emma Raducanu.

Both recent US Open champions, the Austrian and the Brit headline qualifying fields (scroll down for lists) rich with storylines, talent and intrigue. 

But they are not the only players who will command attention at an event beginning in less than three weeks, on 8 January.

You can watch the action unfold at Melbourne Park during Opening Week and follow those names – plus many more – as they strive for a place in the main draw at AO 2024.

Thiem, Raducanu headline field

Raducanu will only have positive memories of the last time she contested a Grand Slam qualifying tournament.

At the US Open in 2021, she won three rounds to enter the main draw – then went all the way to the title.

She remains the only player in Open Era history to win a major trophy after beginning in the qualifying rounds.

Surgery on her wrists and ankle has sidelined Raducanu since April, and the 21-year-old has entered the event using a special ranking of No.103, falling just five spots outside the main-draw cut-off. 

Thiem, also the victim of a wrist injury, is even closer, just one spot outside the main draw.

It means his participation in qualifying is not guaranteed; all it will take is one main-draw withdrawal for Thiem to be elevated into the vacant spot.

For now, however, he is expected to be the top seed in qualifying, as he seeks to rediscover the form that took him to the 2020 US Open title. 

The former world No.3 closed 2023 encouragingly by winning four of his last six matches, qualifying for the Paris Masters and beating Stan Wawrinka en route to the second round.

Big names to bounce back?

Thiem and Raducanu are among several former top-10 players looking for a spark to begin their new season. 

David Goffin and Diego Schwartzman are also on the men’s qualifying entry list, both having hauled their rankings to the brink of the top 100 after falling lower earlier in 2023.

There’s also Sara Errani, the former world No.5 and 2012 Roland Garros finalist who enters following strong results on the ITF and WTA 125K circuits.

Just below Goffin and Schwartzman on the men’s list are Benoit Paire and Maxime Cressy; Paire is trending up again after falling outside the top 200 while Cressy will look to unfurl the serve-and-volley style that elevated him to a peak of world No.31 in 2022.

Joining Errani in the women’s field is Chinese Taipei veteran Hsieh Su-Wei, who like Raducanu has entered using a special ranking.

Hsieh, 37, made a celebrated comeback to the sport in 2023 by winning the Roland Garros and Wimbledon doubles titles. She also came incredibly close to qualifying for Wimbledon singles.

A pair of Australian Open 2022 quarterfinalists and former top-15 players, Alize Cornet and Kaia Kanepi, are also in the mix.

Aussies everywhere

Ten Australians are set to contest the qualifying tournament, aiming to boost the already-impressive number of local players in the AO 2024 main draw.

All eyes will be on John Millman in his final Australian summer, with the Queenslander recently announcing he’ll retire after AO 2024.

Arina Rodionova will look to maintain the momentum she established during 2023, which saw her win almost 80 matches, seven ITF titles and rise to a career-high ranking of world No.112.

Doubles world No.1 Storm Hunter hopes to continue her singles success, which included her qualifying for the main draw at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2023.

Daria Saville, who reached the fourth round at AO 2016 and 2017, is showing encouraging signs in her comeback from injury, while Astra Sharma, ranked 285th in June, has soared to world No.124 after winning the WTA 125K title in Bucharest and reaching another four ITF finals.

Rodionova, Saville and Sharma will take confidence from successfully navigating AO qualifying before; they won through to the main draw in 2011, 2013 and 2019 respectively.

They’re joined in the women’s qualifying field by Priscilla Hon, Jaimee Fourlis and Destanee Aiava, the latter another Aussie who enjoyed a resurgence thanks to three ITF titles.

Along with Millman, the men’s qualifying event will feature AO 2023 doubles champion Jason Kubler and Li Tu, who amassed almost 40 wins in the past 12 months.

Emerging talents

In 2023, Czech teen Linda Fruhvirtova lit up the Australian Open with her run to the fourth round. Now, her 16-year-old younger sister Brenda Fruhvirtova is looking to emulate her, after going a stunning 49-9 on the ITF circuit this season to boost her ranking to a career-high of world No.109 in November.

She is joined in the field by another young Czech in 17-year-old Sara Bejlek, who has won 12 of her past 13 matches and nearly halved her ranking since October.

Swiss 18-year-old Celine Naef is another to watch – she began the season outside the top 400 and is now inside the top 150 – as is AO 2023 junior girls’ champion Alina Korneeva, who has since soared from world No.570 to a peak of 156th.

Youngsters are also lighting up the men’s game, including Hamad Medjedovic, a 20-year-old Serbian mentored by Novak Djokovic and who ended 2023 by winning the Next Gen ATP Finals.

Also at that event were Flavio Cobolli and Luca Nardi, among several rising Italian stars igniting the men’s game. Both will play qualifying at AO 2024.

Other young talents in the field include 18-year-old Dino Prizmic – the Croatian who won this year’s Roland Garros junior title – and Jakub Mensik, also 18, who was an AO 2022 junior finalist.

Other storylines

Elsewhere, Elizabeth Mandlik – daughter of four-time Grand Slam champion Hana Mandlikova – is ranked 113th and sits high up on the qualifying entry list.

The American reached two WTA quarterfinals in 2023 and also performed strongly on the WTA 125K circuit.

French player Jules Marie, who has amassed a cult following as a YouTube star, sneaked inside the qualifying cut as the world No.226 – the first step in one of his goals.

The last player accepted into AO 2024 men’s qualifying was world No.229 Marco Trungelliti, while the women’s entry ranking cut-off women’s was world No. 224 (Czech Dominika Salkova).

Australian Open 2024 qualifying entry lists

*SR - special ranking
*PR - protected ranking
strikethrough - no longer playing qualifying (withdrew, or elevated to main draw)