The 2016 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016.

There were singles and doubles events for both boys and girls (players under 18), which was part of the Grade A category of tournaments, and also singles, doubles and quad events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players as part of the NEC tour under the Grand Slam category.

[6][7] Other broadcasters included beIN Sports in the Middle East, SuperSport in Africa, Eurosport through Europe (plus NOS Netherlands and SRG SSR in Switzerland), CCTV, iQiyi and SMG in China, Fiji One in Fiji, Sony ESPN in India, both Wowow and NHK in Japan, Sky in New Zealand and Fox Sports Asia in selected markets in the Asia Pacific region.

[8] Spectator safety became a major issue during the tournament, with up to four separate cases reported: On 7 March 2016, five weeks after the conclusion of the tournament, world number seven Maria Sharapova announced at a press conference in Los Angeles that she had failed a drug test following her quarter-final defeat by Serena Williams on 26 January.

Sharapova confessed to taking the substance meldonium, which was placed on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances on 1 January; she was later suspended for two years (later reduced to fifteen months on appeal), backdated to 26 January, and was subsequently docked the $A375,000 she earned for reaching the quarter-finals.

[13][14][15] Below is a series of tables for each of the competitions showing the ranking points on offer for each event.

Kerber immediately broke back and held serve to win the first set 6–4.

A cross-court exchange described as "breathtaking" saw Williams hit the ball long, securing the title for Kerber.

The following players were accepted directly into the main tournament, but withdrew with injuries and personal reasons.