In contrast, Djokovic successfully defended his title by defeating Dominic Thiem to win the tournament for a record-extending eighth time.

There are 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.

The bushfires that had burned large portions of Australia for months left a smoke haze over Melbourne on the first day of qualifying.

[2] In qualifying, play was delayed, some players called for medical timeouts, and Dalila Jakupović was forced to retire, due to a coughing fit brought on by the poor air quality.

Novak Djokovic, Coco Gauff, Petra Kvitová, Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Alexander Zverev all played a doubles format match with Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki as team captains.