Australian Open: Djokovic, Swiatek named top seeds, Gauff gets career-high

Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek received the respective top seeds in the men's and women's singles circuits of the 2024 Australian Open, tournament organizers announced early Wednesday.

Main-draw play for the Grand Slam will start Sunday in Australia, but air Saturday in the United States. Local time in Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of U.S. East Coast. The tournament will run through Jan. 28 in Melbourne Park and air on ESPN platforms.

Full matchups will be released during the main draw broadcast Thursday morning in Melbourne or 9 p.m. EST Wednesday on the tournament's YouTube and Facebook accounts.

Djokovic, the No. 1 player in the ATP Tour singles rankings, is a 10-time Australian Open champion. The Serbian won titles in his last four appearances.

Swiatek, the top player in the WTA Tour rankings, reached the semifinals of the 2022 Australian Open. The Polish tennis star is a four-time Grand Slam winner.

Each of the Top 32 men's players in the world is seeded in corresponding order in that circuit, including: No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain; No. 3 Daniil Medvedev of Russia; No. 4 Jannik Sinner of Italy; and No. 5 Andre Rublev of Russia.

No. 12 Taylor Fritz, No. 14 Tommy Paul, No. 16 Ben Shelton, No. 17 Frances Tiafoe and No. 29 Sebastian Korda are the top-seeded American men.

No. 7 Alexander Zverev of Germany, No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, No. 8 Holger Rune of Denmark, No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland and No. 10 Alex de Minaur of Australia are the other Top 10 men's seeds.

On the women's side, four of the Top 20 players from the WTA rankings are not in the draw. No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 3 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 4 Coco Gauff and fellow American Jessica Pegula are the Top 5 seeds in the women's circuit.

Gauff's No. 4 seeding is her highest-ever in a singles circuit at a Grand Slam.

No. 6 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, No. 7 Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, No. 8 Maria Sakkari of Greece, No. 9 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and No. 10 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil are the other Top 10 women's seeds.

No. 27 Emma Navarro is the only other American women inside the Top 32 seeds.

Czechs Karolina Muchova (No. 9 in the world) and Petra Kvitova (No. 17), No. 18 Madison Keys of the United States and No. 19 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland are the top women's players who won't be in Melbourne.

Muchova and Keys will miss the tournament because of injuries. Kvitova and Bencic both announced in 2023 that they are pregnant.