Auger-Aliassime and Fernandez among the top seeds at the Australian Open

There will be two Quebecers among the seeds at the Australian Open in 2024: Félix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Annie Fernandez.

Auger-Aliassime will be the 27th^e seeded in the men’s draw, while Fernandez will be 32^e among the ladies.

Unsurprisingly, defending champions Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek will be the favorites for the first major tournament of the season which begins on Sunday at Melbourne Park.

The men’s seeds 1 through 32 reflect the ATP rankings as of Wednesday, as 24-time Grand Slam title holder Djokovic will be followed by Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, the only player to have beaten in a Grand Slam in 2023.

Among the women, the top seeds respect the WTA world rankings from levels 1 to 8. Barbora Krejcikova was promoted to ninth seed due to the absence of the Czech Karolina Muchova, the finalist at the French Open. last year, who is injured.

Muchova hasn’t played since losing in the US Open semi-finals to Coco Gauff last September.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is pregnant and will miss the first major of the season, while last year’s U.S. Open semi-finalist Madison Keys will miss out due to injury to one shoulder. Therefore, the 17^e and 18^e world players will be conspicuous by their absence in Australia.

The seed tag means that the top 32 players in the world, on both the men’s and women’s sides, will avoid each other in the opening rounds of a major tournament. In addition, the top two seeds will not be able to face each other before the final.

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