Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 9 January 2025 | Sean A'Hearn

For the 14 Aussie men in the main draw – including three local seeds for the first time in 43 years at the tournament – Thursday’s Australian Open 2025 draw release saw mostly favourable matchups for this Aussie contingent.

The toughest draw went to Chris O’Connell, who found out his first-round opponent was 12th seed Tommy Paul, the player who this week has stormed into the Adelaide International as the top seed.

At his highest ever Grand Slam seeding, No.8 Alex de Minaur is also the highest-seeded Aussie man in a major singles draw since Lleyton Hewitt (No.6) at Wimbledon in 2006.

DRAW: Australian Open 2025 men’s singles

Hoping to make his first Australian Open quarterfinal, the Aussie No.1 faces a tricky first-round match against Dutch giant killer Botic van de Zandschulp, who toppled Carlos Alcaraz at last year’s US Open.

De Minaur won their only previous encounter back in 2022 at the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

Looking ahead, De Minaur could face 31st seed Francisco Cerundolo (third round) then either Stefanos Tsitsipas (No.11 seed) or 19th seed Karen Khachanov in the last 16.

He then faces a potential quarterfinal match-up with world No.1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner, whom he is yet to beat in nine attempts.

Should De Minaur reach the final eight at the Australian Open he would be the first Australian man since Nick Kyrgios in 2015 to do so.

As for the other Aussie seeds, Alexei Popyrin looks set to face 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev in the third round, after opening against Frenchman Corentin Moutet in round one.

In between, Popyrin may encounter countryman Rinky Hijikata, who faces a qualifier in the first round.

Popyrin will take confidence from a career-best year in 2024, in which he won his first Masters title in Canada, catapulting him to a career-high ranking of world No.23.

Also coming off arguably the most successful year of his career, 27th seed Jordan Thompson has a manageable run to the third round where he could run into No.3 seed and four-time major champion, Carlos Alcaraz.

Reaching the last 32 would be Thompson’s best performance at Melbourne Park.

Nick Kyrgios faces 86th-ranked Brit Jacob Fearnley in the first round, and should he keep winning, he could encounter world No.2 Alexander Zverev in the third round.

Kyrgios does have a positive (4-3) win-loss record against Zverev but the pair have never met at a Grand Slam.

In other match-ups featuring Aussies, wildcard Li Tu will play the in-form Czech Jiri Lehecka while Thanasi Kokkinakis is set to play Roman Safiullin, should he recover from a shoulder injury picked up at the Adelaide International this week.

Wildcard Tristan Schoolkate opens against Taro Daniel, while another wildcard, James McCabe, has drawn Spanish qualifier Martin Landaluce. Omar Jasika, also a wildcard, faces French lefty Corentin Moutet.

Top 100-ranked Aussies Aleksandar Vukic, Adam Walton and James Duckworth have drawn Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, Frenchman Quentin Halys and Swiss Dominic Stricker, respectively.