Melbourne VIC, Australia, 2 December 2016 | tennis.com.au

The summer of tennis kicks off this Saturday as Australia’s best players gear up for an exciting two weeks of action at Melbourne Park during the December Showdown.

What is it? 

At the beginning of every summer Melbourne Park welcomes the country’s most talented players for the December Showdown. Featuring 1500 matches over 16 days, Australia’s elite players are joined by the country’s most talented juniors as they battle it out to determine the best player across their age group.

Once again the main-event will be the all-important Australian Open Play-off, where 16 Australian men and women compete for a prized main-draw wild card at Australian Open 2017.

When is it?

Starting this Saturday, the 16-day carnival runs from 3-18 December with junior matches commencing at 9am (and at 8.30am from 9-11 December).

Australian Open Play-Off matches will be the highlight of the finals week’s play, with matches kicking off at 10am from Monday, 12 December and 11am for the semifinals and finals.

What’s new?

For the first time this year a women’s double pairing will have their chance to earn entry into Australian Open 2017 as part of the December Showdown. Starting on the final Monday, eight women’s teams will compete against each other for the right to return to Melbourne Park in January, with the final played out on Friday 16 December.

What events are being held?

Who’s playing?

The Australian Open Play-off is open to 16 men and 16 women on an invitational basis. Both events feature knock-out draws, and all men’s matches will be contested as best-of-five sets.

The new women’s doubles event will feature six direct acceptances – based on combined WTA doubles rankings – one wildcard entry and the winner of the 18/u Australian Championships Doubles.

A 16-player round-robin draw will see the country’s best boys and girls compete for the 18/u Australian Championships, the main draw comprised of 10 direct acceptances – based on ATP/WTA rankings, then ITF junior top 100 rankings, then Australian Rankings – as well as four wildcards and two qualifiers.

There will be 32 players vying for the 16/u Australian Championships, with 16 direct acceptances and a mix of wildcards, qualifiers and state championship event winners making up the draw.

Finally the best 20 junior players – according to the Australian rankings – receive direct entry into the 12s and 14s events, with the remaining entries coming from a mix of wildcards, qualifiers, international invitations and state championship event winners to complete the 64-player fields.

The full fields for all events will be available next week.

How can I follow the action?

Entry into this year’s December Showdown is again free for all spectators looking to catch the action in person at Melbourne Park.

For fans unable to make the journey down, there are plenty of other ways to stay across all the action and up-to-date:

LIVE SCORES

Live scores will be available here.

LIVE STREAM

Australian Open Play-Off matches will be showcased live online from 12 December on the and will be available on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Tennis Australia’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram will highlight all the December Showdown action across the next two weeks #DecemberShowdown.

For more information visit the December Showdown tournament page.