| Dates: 16-29 January Venue: Melbourne Park |
| Coverage: Commentary every day from 07:00 GMT on Radio 5 Sports Extra ‘Tennis Breakfast’ live from Melbourne, with selected live text commentaries and match reports on the BBC Sport website and app. |
British rising star Jack Draper tested Spain’s Rafael Nadal before physical issues hampered him in a four-set loss in the Australian Open first round.
Draper, 21, levelled at one-set each, leading to 22-time major champion Nadal, 36, having a frank discussion with his team before the third set.
Top seed Nadal led 4-1 but was still unconvincing as Draper broke back before the Briton lost serve at 5-4.
Draper struggled to move in the fourth as Nadal secured a 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-1 win.
Britain’s Kyle Edmund was also knocked out on the opening day at Melbourne Park with a 6-4 6-0 6-2 defeat by Italian 15th seed Jannik Sinner.
Edmund, 28, reached the semi-finals in 2018 but is trying to rebuild his career after a knee injury which needed three operations before he returned to the tour last year.
Playing using a protected ranking, it was another tough draw at a Grand Slam for Edmund after he faced eventual runner-up Casper Ruud at last year’s US Open.
Cameron Norrie, seeded 11th, is aiming to avoid a clean sweep of defeats for the Britons in the men’s singles on Monday when he plays French wildcard Luca van Assche.
In the women’s singles, Emma Raducanu made a positive return to court after her injury scare in the build-up to the Grand Slam.
The British number one moved into the second round with a straight-set win over Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch.
More to follow.
