In recent years, the Adelaide International has become a bellwether of Australian Open success.
In three of the past four years, players who have hoisted the trophy in Adelaide – Ash Barty in 2022, Aryna Sabalenka in 2023, and Madison Keys in 2025 – have gone on to win the Australian Open women’s singles title.
Novak Djokovic also did the same in men’s singles in 2023, confirming what has become a distinct pattern during the Australian Summer of Tennis.
"Let's face it – if you want to win the Australian Open, you've got to come play here," Adelaide International tournament director Alicia Molik said.
"If you look back through Novak, Madison Keys last year, then back to Aryna Sabalenka and Ash Barty, we've had an incredibly rich history of players winning our event and then moving on to win in Melbourne.
"That's what sets our event apart.”
The fact this has happened several times in the past few years not only confirms a trend, but bucks another.
Prior to 2022 it was rare for players to win a singles title on Australian soil in early January and carry that form all the way to the title at Melbourne Park.
AO CHAMPIONS WINNING AN AUSTRALIAN LEAD-UP SINGLES TITLE
| Year | AO champion | Lead-up title |
| 2025 | Madison Keys | Adelaide |
| 2023 | Aryna Sabalenka | Adelaide |
| 2023 | Novak Djokovic | Adelaide |
| 2022 | Ash Barty | Adelaide |
| 2022 | Rafael Nadal | Melbourne |
| 2012 | Victoria Azarenka | Sydney |
| 2004 | Justine Henin | Sydney |
| 1997 | Martina Hingis | Sydney |
| 1996 | Monica Seles | Sydney |
| 1994 | Pete Sampras | Sydney |
(Records dating back to 1988, when the AO moved to Melbourne Park and switched to hard courts)
You have to go back to 2012, when Victoria Azarenka won the Sydney International then backed it up with her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. And before that it was Justine Henin completing the Sydney International-Australian Open double, eight years earlier in 2004.
It’s proven even more infrequent on the men’s side, during the AO’s hardcourt era dating back to 1988.
Apart from Djokovic and Rafael Nadal – who in 2022 won the one-off ‘Melbourne Summer Set’ event prior to his AO title – the only Australian Open champion to have won an Aussie lead-up title was Pete Sampras, at Sydney in 1994.
"We have the same weather and conditions as Melbourne, if not even hotter in Adelaide,” said Molik, a former world No.8 and Australian Open 2005 quarterfinalist.
"The courts here are exactly the same and it's only a very short hop, skip and a jump to get from Adelaide to Melbourne.
"That's why it's absolutely the perfect preparation."
Knowing this pattern, your instinct might be to immediately consult the Adelaide International entry list, released last month.
Keys returns to the women’s event, along with fellow top-10 players Jessica Pegula, Mirra Andreeva and Ekaterina Alexandrova. There’s a couple of other major champions in the field too – Jelena Ostapenko, Marketa Vondrousova and Sofia Kenin – plus former world No.2 and last year’s AO semifinalist Paula Badosa, fellow Slam semifinalist Emma Navarro, and young guns Victoria Mboko, Linda Noskova and Diana Shnaider.
On the men’s side, there’s a bevy of talented ATP names all expected to be seeded at Australian Open 2026, including Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, AO 2023 semifinalist Tommy Paul, Francisco Cerundolo and Joao Fonseca. Two-time Grand Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas is also headed to Adelaide, as is dangerous Australian Alexei Popyrin.
There’ll be plenty of interest to see who prevails in Adelaide once main-draw action begins at The Drive on 12 January.
And then the question becomes: will they maintain their winning ways at Australian Open 2026?