The NFL has fined San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir $20,944 for head-butting Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in their divisional-round playoff game.
Tempers flared in this emotional rivalry game, and Lenoir let his get the best of him as the Seahawks dismantled the 49ers 41-6 to advance to the NFC championship game. The incident happened following a play where the two exchanged words before Lenoir used his helmet illegally and smashed his head into Smith-Njigba’s facemask.
Lenoir, who’s one of the more physical cornerbacks in the NFL, has a history of being fined since entering the league in 2021 as a fifth-round draft pick for San Francisco. In December, Lenoir was fined for a late hit on Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor in the Niners’ win over the Colts. For that infraction, Lenoir was fined $11,593 by the league.
Niners linebacker Dee Winters was also fined $5,097 for a hip-drop tackle during the Seahawks playoff game.
Smith-Njigba and Lenoir’s confrontation can be traced back to the Week 18 meeting between these teams, where there was some trash talk leading up to the game. Lenoir was called a “fan” by Smith-Njigba.
“I definitely heard it. It’s hard to respond back to all my fans,” Smith-Njigba told reporters following Seattle’s 13-3 win.
In November of 2024, Lenoir signed a five-year, $92 million extension with the 49ers. He just completed his fifth season with the team, starting all 17 games and recording 61 tackles, 4 tackles for loss and 2 interceptions.
It’s not often that the Cleveland Browns hit the news cycle for positive news at the quarterback position. But today is apparently that day. Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders has been named to the 2026 Pro Bowl Games as an alternate, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported Monday.
After starting the season on the bench, Sanders slowly moved up the depth chart during the regular season. He was elevated into the No. 2 spot following the team’s trade of Joe Flacco, and then eventually became its starter after fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel sustained a concussion.
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Sanders, 23, started seven games with the Browns, completing 56.6% of his passes for seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Browns went 3-4 in his starts. By the more advanced metrics, Sanders rated as one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL, ranking 42nd out of 43 quarterbacks, per PFF.
Sanders was not voted into the game initially, but will reportedly make the Pro Bowl as a replacement. NFL players often pull out of the Pro Bowl for various reasons, including injury and prioritizing rest.
In this instance, though, Sanders may be replacing Drake Maye in the AFC. With Maye leading the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl, he will not be eligible to take part in the Pro Bowl. That forced the NFL to look for a replacement.
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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is expected to start for the AFC in the contest. Los Angeles Chargers starter Justin Herbert is the other quarterback on the AFC roster.
The Pro Bowl has a reputation for … not being the most important or competitive game. Questionable players have been named Pro Bowl replacements in recent years, including Baltimore Ravens backup Tyler Huntley, who made the game in 2022 after throwing two touchdowns against three interceptions in just four starts.
While Sanders’ selection to the contest should draw criticism, there is precedent for the NFL making similar decisions in the past.
It’s not uncommon for a quarterback to shell out big money to show other players on his team how much he appreciates them. When a quarterback makes the Pro Bowl or wins the Super Bowl, they often buy expensive gifts for each member of the offensive line. It’s a gesture that shows appreciate for the unit, one that often gets overlooked by the national media.
That isn’t exactly what happened with Seattle Seahawks defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, but quarterback Sam Darnold did play a major role in Lawrence winning himself a new Rolex … only Darnold may not have known about that.
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Turns out, Lawrence won a bet against former Dallas Cowboys teammate Dez Bryant, who now owes Lawrence a new Rolex. Bryant shared a NSFW text exchange he had with Lawrence at the beginning of the season. In it, Bryant doubts whether Darnold will be good enough to lead the team to the Super Bowl. Lawrence sends multiple texts supporting Darnold, saying the quarterback “ain’t going to turn the ball over,” and that the team’s defense is going to “take the league by storm.”
Bryant said he didn’t doubt the defense, but that Darnold would need to “make me a believer,” calling out that Darnold didn’t have Justin Jefferson to throw to anymore.
After Lawrence thanked Bryant for having the conversation, Bryant said, “I pray you stay healthy … ball the f*** out … you guys make it to the Super Bowl … I’ll buy you a Rolex for doubting you lol.”
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The two engaged in that conversation in March, shortly after Lawrence found himself in the crosshairs of his former Dallas teammates. After signing a three-year, $42 million deal with the Seahawks, Lawrence called out the Cowboys, saying he wasn’t going to win a Super Bowl in Dallas. That drew the ire of a number of Lawrence’s former teammates, including then-Cowboy Micah Parsons, who said it was “clown s***.”
Bryant seemingly sent words of encouragement to Lawrence at the time, which may have been the reason the two started texting in the first place.
In both instances, Lawrence came out on top. The Cowboys couldn’t reach an extension with Parsons, trading him to the Green Bay Packers. The team then turned in a miserable defensive performance this season, finishing with a 7-9-1 record and not making the playoffs.
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Lawrence, meanwhile, is a key player on the most dominant defense in the NFL. Darnold not only carried over the success he had with the Minnesota Vikings, but turned in arguably his best game of the season against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship.
The 28-year-old Darnold threw for 346 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions against the Rams in the 31-27 victory.
Because of that performance, the Seahawks are heading to the Super Bowl. And while a ring would be enough of a prize for Lawrence if the team wins, knowing a Rolex is on the way right now probably feels pretty good too.
The go-for-it revolution in the NFL can probably be traced back to Doug Pederson, when he was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
For years fourth downs were for punting, unless it was late in the game and a team had little choice. Fourth-down rates remained about the same for many years. About once per game, on average, a team would go for it on fourth down.
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Pederson got the Eagles job in 2016 and that started to change. The Eagles won a Super Bowl at the end of the 2017 season going for it far more often than teams had in the past, and that led to a major shift in strategy around the NFL.
In 2015, teams went for it on fourth down 476 times, or 0.93 times per team, per game. This past season teams went for it 886 times on fourth down, or 1.63 times per team, per game. That’s an increase of 75.3% from just a decade ago. Through the 1980s, it was way more conservative; teams went for it on fourth down 0.57 times per game on average. It has nearly tripled in the 35 years since.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton faced scrutiny for his decision early in the game to forgo a field goal try and go for it on fourth-and-1. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
That’s a massive spike, and it has changed the way the NFL is played. The idea is simple: Possession of the ball is paramount, and going for it on fourth-and-short instead of punting or trying a field goal typically increases a team’s win expectancy. It’s not a revolutionary concept, it’s just one that hadn’t been followed too often until the past decade.
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On Sunday, with two spots in Super Bowl LX on the line, each losing coach got aggressive on fourth down. Each one got criticized for it, too.
Did Sean Payton make a mistake?
The Denver Broncos’ Sean Payton and Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay are two of the NFL’s best head coaches, but they each caught some heat for being too aggressive and not taking the points in their conference championship games.
Payton got far more criticism. In the second quarter, the Broncos passed on a short field-goal attempt when they led 7-0, and their fourth-and-1 play resulted in an incompletion. Bad weather invaded Denver for the second half, and the Broncos didn’t score again in a 10-7 loss. Payton said he wanted to be aggressive, but when speaking later he laid out what would have been a reasonable argument for taking the points.
“You don’t know that it’s going to be like this three-point game, but it became apparent with each possession that a field goal, that type of thing, was going to be really important,” Payton said after the game.
The Rams’ situation was much different. It was fourth-and-4 at Seattle’s 6-yard line with just under five minutes to go in the game. The Rams trailed 31-27. A field goal would have brought the Rams within one point, needing a stop and a field goal in the final minutes to win. McVay went for it, Matthew Stafford threw incomplete and the Rams didn’t get the ball back until 25 seconds left. They ended up losing by four points.
“I’ll have to go back and look at it,” McVay said of his decisions during the game. “But there was other opportunities we could have converted on.”
The chorus, with the help of hindsight, was that at least Payton should have taken the points. It was reminiscent of the NFC championship game two years ago, when the Detroit Lions’ Dan Campbell — annually one of the NFL’s most aggressive head coaches when it comes to fourth-down decisions — went for it on fourth down against the San Francisco 49ers when a field goal would have put the Lions ahead 17 points in the third quarter. The 49ers came back to win. Those fourth-down decisions will always look bad and be second-guessed when they don’t work out. The ones that do work out are more quickly forgotten.
Fans who grew up hearing that going for it on fourth downs was a massive gamble cringe when coaches don’t take points on short field goals. They’ll complain that analytics have ruined the game. But will the trend ever change back to kicking more often?
Fourth-down attempts have spiked
Throughout the 1980s, the team that went for it on fourth down the most was the 1984 Atlanta Falcons, who went for it 30 times, according to Stathead. This past season, 11 of 32 teams went for it on fourth down at least 30 times.
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The increase started in the 1990s, but it really started to shift in 2018, the season after Pederson’s Eagles won the Super Bowl. The instances of going for it on fourth down went from 485 in 2017 to 539 the season after. That was up to 886 times this regular season, and even accounting for the added 17th game since then, that’s a remarkable increase. Here is the average of teams going for it on fourth down per game, per team through the years:
1980s: 0.57
1995: 1.03
2005: 0.91
2015: 0.93
2018-2025: 1.36
2025: 1.63
Perhaps it’s due to practice, but teams are better on fourth downs. Here’s the fourth down conversion rate through the years:
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1980s: 49.2%
1995: 53.8%
2005: 48%
2015: 48.9%
2025: 55.2%
That contributes to the math that you’ll hear so often about, even on television broadcasts. Win expectancy percentages, with teams leaning into analytics, help dictate fourth-down decisions. Coaches can also add in their feel for the game. Payton said his feel for the momentum of the game, how his defense played and the ability of the Patriots’ offense, all played into him going for it Sunday.
“It’s also a call you make based on the team you’re playing and what you’re watching on the other side of the ball,” Payton said.
Teams are going for it more than ever, they are improving at their success rate on fourth down, and it seems unlikely the trend completely reverts with more young coaches who have grown up on analytics rising to head coaching jobs. However, games like the Broncos’ loss to the Patriots could lead to a change in philosophy, however slight.
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And no matter how many times teams who go for it cash in with touchdowns, whenever a team like Payton’s Broncos fail in that situation, you’re bound to hear that they should have instead taken the points.
The International Olympic Committee apparently won’t be coming to the rescue of an American skeleton racer who believes that she was unjustly denied the chance to qualify for her sixth Winter Games.
The global governing body declined to act on a request from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to grant Katie Uhlaender a wild-card berth into the women’s skeleton competition at the Milan-Cortina Olympics scheduled for Feb. 13-14.
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When asked Monday for an update on Uhlaender’s status, USOPC chief of sport and athlete services Rocky Harris told reporters that he’d heard back from the IOC earlier that morning. Harris said the IOC is supporting the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation’s previous ruling against Uhlaender.
“I’m going to talk to Katie later today and see how she wants to move forward,” Harris said, perhaps hinting at the possibility Uhlaender could take the matter to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Uhlaender, 41, hoped to earn enough points to qualify for the Olympics at the North American Cup in Lake Placid earlier this month, but a controversial decision by the head coach of the Canadian skeleton team undercut her chances. Joe Cecchini withdrew at the last minute four Canadian entrants from the final race of the week, decreasing the field size from 23 to 19 and reducing the number of Olympic qualifying points available to each finisher.
Canada entered the day in position to send two skeleton athletes to the Olympics but at risk of losing one of its spots. The reduction in points available made it more difficult for racers from other countries to overtake the Canadians.
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After winning all three North American Cup races in Lake Placid but not securing enough points to qualify for the Olympics, Uhlaender publicly accused Canada of deliberately pulling athletes to manipulate the points standings. The national federations of Belgium, Korea, Denmark, Israel, Malta and the Virgin Islands expressed support for her cause.
In response to Uhlaender’s media tour, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton released a statement defending Cecchini. The national federation’s statement noted that the athletes had already raced twice that week and described Cecchini’s decision to pull them from competition as “appropriate, transparent and aligned with both athlete welfare and the integrity of the sport.”
When siding with Canada in its decision, the IBSF noted that its rules did not prohibit pulling athletes from a competition without notice.
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“The late withdrawal of athletes intuitively gives rise to concern that the action may have constituted impermissible manipulation,” the IBSF acknowledged. “At the same time, the express language of Section 7 of the IBSF Code of Ethics precludes any finding that conduct ‘expressly permitted’ by the competition rules is ‘improper’ or creates an ‘undue benefit.’”
On Friday, Harris sent a letter to the IOC in support of Uhlaender, urging the global governing body to “consider adding a women’s skeleton quota spot and awarding it to Ms. Uhlaender.”
Three days later, the IOC declined to intervene, leaving Uhlaender running short on time and options.
Aryna Sabalenka will face American Iva Jovic tonight in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Australian Open. The No. 1 seed and the No. 29 seed will face off in Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, with an estimated start time of 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. Tournament coverage will air across ESPN and ESPN2. The entire tournament will stream on ESPN+ for ESPN Unlimited subscribers. Here’s what you need to know about watching the 2026 Australian Open.
How to watch Aryna Sabalenka vs. Iva Jovic tonight:
Date: Monday, Jan. 26
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Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia
TV channel: ESPN2
Streaming: ESPN+
Aryna Sabalenka vs. Iva Jovic match start time:
In the U.S., the quarterfinals match between Sabalenka and Jovic is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Aryna Sabalenka vs. Iva Jovic match channel:
The Aryna Sabalenka vs. Iva Jovic match may have coverage on ESPN2, when the tournament coverage airs at 9 p.m., but to catch the whole match live, you’ll need ESPN Unlimited on ESPN+.
Australian Open channel:
The Australian Open is airing across ESPN, with the entire tournament streaming on ESPN+ for Unlimited subscribers. Select tournament coverage will also air on ESPN2 before moving to ESPN for the semifinals and beyond.
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How to watch the 2026 Australian Open:
Sling Orange, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, Disney Channel and 30 more with no other subscriptions or commitment necessary.
Where to watch the 2026 Australian Open without cable:
If you want to catch every match of the Australian Open and don’t currently subscribe to ESPN+, cable or a live TV streaming service, in Australia, a majority of the action will be streaming free with ads on 9Now.
Don’t live in the land down under? You can still stream like you do with the help of a VPN. A VPN (virtual private network) helps protect your data, can mask your IP address and is perhaps most popular for being especially useful in the age of streaming. Whether you’re looking to watch Friends on Netflix (which left the U.S. version of the streamer back in 2019) or tune in to tennis coverage without a cable package, a VPN can help you out. Looking to try a VPN for the first time? This guide breaks down the best VPN options for every kind of user.
9Now. Plus it’s Engadget’s pick for the best premium VPN. ExpressVPN offers three tiers of subscriptions: the Basic Plan (starting at $3.49/month), the Advanced Plan (starting at $4.49/month) and the Pro Plan (starting at $7.49/month).
ExpressVPN also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, in case you’re nervous about trying a VPN.
Australian Open 2026 schedule:
All times Eastern
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Saturday, Jan. 17
(Day 1) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 7 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 18
(Day 1) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 2) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 7 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 19
(Day 2) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 3) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 20
(Day 3) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 4) Men’s and Women’s 2nd Round: 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 21
(Day 4) Men’s and Women’s 2nd Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 5) Men’s and Women’s 2nd Round: 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 22
(Day 5) Men’s and Women’s 2nd Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 6) Men’s and Women’s 3rd Round: 7 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 23
(Day 6) Men’s and Women’s 3rd Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 7) Men’s and Women’s 3rd Round: 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 24
(Day 7) Men’s and Women’s 3rd Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 8) Men’s and Women’s 4th Round: 7 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 25
(Day 8) Men’s and Women’s 4th Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 9) Men’s and Women’s 4th Round: 7 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 26
(Day 9) Men’s and Women’s 4th Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 10) Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals: 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 27
(Day 10) Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals: 3 a.m.
(Day 11) Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals: 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 28
(Day 11) Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals: 3 a.m.
(Day 12) Women’s Semifinals: 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 29
(Day 13) Men’s Semifinal: 8 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 30
(Day 13) Men’s Semifinal: 3:30 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 31
(Day 14) Women’s Final: 3:30 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 1
(Day 15) Men’s Final: 3:30 a.m.
Who is playing in the 2026 Australian Open?
The top 10 seeded players for the singles draws are listed below.
Men’s singles seeds
1. Carlos Alcaraz
2. Jannik Sinner
3. Alexander Zverev
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Felix Auger-Aliassime
Women’s singles seeds
1. Aryna Sabalenka
2. Iga Swiatek
3. Amanda Anisimova
4. Coco Gauff
5. Elena Rybakina
Australian Open prize money:
For 2026, the men’s and women’s singles winners each get $4,150,000, with the runner-up receiving $2,150,000 and semi-finalists receiving $1,250,000.
The way Dabo Swinney views his career at Clemson and his place in the world have long been defined by the traumatic upbringing he overcame. In Dabo’s version of his own life story, it was very much the difficulty of it all — sleeping in his family’s car, coming to terms with an alcoholic father, walking on at Alabama — that forged a national championship coach who now makes $11 million a year.
There have been times over the last five years or so where that defining ethos has worked against him. He’s been too loyal to underperformers in his organization, too stubborn to adapt to changing times. After guiding Clemson to four national championship games over a five-year span, it now looks like a run-of-the-mill ACC program on a downward trajectory. After going 7-6 last season, there’s even speculation about how long of a leash Swinney has before the school is forced to make a drastic decision about the best coach in school history.
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But on Friday, it drove Swinney to arguably the most interesting place of his career. He became a whistleblower.
Was this simply one lone voice railing against a system that no longer works for his program, or is it the beginning of a quiet revolt against absurdities that nearly all coaches feel but are reluctant to push back against with the specificity that Swinney brought to the table.
“If you tamper with my players, I’m going to turn you in,” Swinney told reporters, continuing, “if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governance.”
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The rant included specific claims against Ole Miss regarding linebacker Luke Ferrelli, who transferred from Cal and enrolled at Clemson before re-entering the portal and landing in Mississippi. Among the accusations made by Swinney: Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding allegedly texted Ferrelli, “I know you’re signed. What’s the buyout?” while he was in class at Clemson and that Ferrelli’s agent said he would turn over to Clemson incriminating text messages from Ole Miss if Clemson agreed to add one year and $1 million to Ferrelli’s contract.
Clemson declined. Ferrelli will play at Ole Miss in 2026.
Luke Ferrelli is at the center of a tampering claim made by Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. (AP Photo/Mark Ylen,File)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
“You either step up and you be an example to young coaches in this profession and be people of integrity or just shut your mouth and don’t complain again,” Swinney said. “That’s what I would say to all the coaches out there because I know this has happened, and we’re never going to get this under control until we start having some consequences.”
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In one sense, you’d like to take Swinney by the scruff of his neck, shake him a few times and say: “Earth to Dabo! Integrity? You’re a college football coach! This is not a business where integrity works well or is even expected in the first place. Also, you make $11 million. Deal with it.”
But even in a business as absurd as college sports, there is a threshold where the behavior gets so out of control and the circumstances so dire that people realize complaining about the NCAA is a waste of time and instead start pointing fingers at each other.
In other words, in the absence of any regulatory body to police tampering and other recruiting sins, is it possible that Swinney going nuclear on Golding might be the most effective deterrent the NCAA could possibly have?
It’s not like anything else has worked.
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Even though everything has changed in college sports, the fundamental problem is the same now as it was five, 10, 20 years ago.
Everyone from coaches to athletic directors to university presidents talks about wanting rules and enforcement in the way they do business but in the very next breath will explore gray areas and legal challenges to gain a competitive advantage.
“I’ve asked at every level,” Sankey said. “Our university presidents and chancellors, our athletic directors, our head coaches: If you want an unregulated, open system, just raise your hand and let me know. And universally, the answer is, ‘No. We want oversight. We want guardrails. We want structures.”
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But words are cheap. Linebackers are expensive. And it’s not just Ole Miss allegedly doing this stuff. Heck, the Rebels had to endure their own portal shenanigans in the wake of Lane Kiffin’s departure to LSU. Tennessee, backed by an attorney general eager to get a piece of the NCAA, has been a habitual line-stepper in the NIL era. Someone is going to have to explain how Kentucky’s supposed $22 million basketball roster fits within the bounds of the $20.5 million revenue share cap for all sports.
The regulations that are supposed to be governing this business simply are not working.
On one hand, fans only care to a point. Just look at the boffo ratings for the College Football Playoff and the national title game. This is still a compelling product and maybe even better than it was before. Indiana just won the national title for goodness sakes.
On the other hand, if it’s true that the Ole Miss head coach was continuing to recruit a transfer who enrolled at Clemson and that an agent tried to shake down Swinney for $1 million to ward off the threat, nobody could credibly argue that’s how a professional sports league should operate.
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Oh, and these NIL agents? Many of them are laughably unprofessional and out of their depth, which is what you get when there are no real standards or certification processes. No matter what you think of Swinney — and many of us have had our critiques the last few years — this is not a “failure to adapt” issue. It’s a refusal to enable corruption issue.
Fixing all this is not solely up to Swinney. He is a cog in a very large and out-of-control machine. But if a future Hall of Famer with two national titles doesn’t have the courage to stand up and call out peers for their role in the full-scale system breakdown, who will?
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In a career and lifetime of defying the odds, Swinney will now try to do it one more time. If NCAA rules and potential punishments don’t get other coaches to act right, wouldn’t it be something if pure, old-fashioned shame did the trick?
Alexander Zverev will face American Learner Tien tonight in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Australian Open. The No. 3 seed and the No. 25 seed will face off in Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, with an estimated start time of 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. Tournament coverage will air across ESPN and ESPN2. The entire tournament will stream on ESPN+ for ESPN Unlimited subscribers. Here’s what you need to know about watching the 2026 Australian Open.
How to watch Alexander Zverev vs. Learner Tien tonight:
Date: Monday, Jan. 26
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Estimated time: Not before 9:30 p.m. ET
Location: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia
TV channel: ESPN2
Streaming: ESPN+
Alexander Zverev vs. Learner Tien match start time:
In the U.S., the quarterfinals match between Zverev and Tien is scheduled to start after 9:30 p.m. ET.
Alexander Zverev vs. Learner Tien match channel:
The Zverev vs. Tien match will air on ESPN2 and stream on ESPN+ (with ESPN Unlimited).
Australian Open channel:
The Australian Open is airing across ESPN, with the entire tournament streaming on ESPN+ for Unlimited subscribers. Select tournament coverage will also air on ESPN2 before moving to ESPN for the semifinals and beyond.
Advertisement
How to watch the 2026 Australian Open:
Sling Orange, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, Disney Channel and 30 more with no other subscriptions or commitment necessary.
Where to watch the 2026 Australian Open without cable:
If you want to catch every match of the Australian Open and don’t currently subscribe to ESPN+, cable or a live TV streaming service, in Australia, a majority of the action will be streaming free with ads on 9Now.
Don’t live in the land down under? You can still stream like you do with the help of a VPN. A VPN (virtual private network) helps protect your data, can mask your IP address and is perhaps most popular for being especially useful in the age of streaming. Whether you’re looking to watch Friends on Netflix (which left the U.S. version of the streamer back in 2019) or tune in to tennis coverage without a cable package, a VPN can help you out. Looking to try a VPN for the first time? This guide breaks down the best VPN options for every kind of user.
9Now. Plus it’s Engadget’s pick for the best premium VPN. ExpressVPN offers three tiers of subscriptions: the Basic Plan (starting at $3.49/month), the Advanced Plan (starting at $4.49/month) and the Pro Plan (starting at $7.49/month).
ExpressVPN also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, in case you’re nervous about trying a VPN.
Australian Open 2026 schedule:
All times Eastern
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Saturday, Jan. 17
(Day 1) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 18
(Day 1) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 2) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 7 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 19
(Day 2) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 3) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 20
(Day 3) Men’s and Women’s 1st Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 4) Men’s and Women’s 2nd Round: 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 21
(Day 4) Men’s and Women’s 2nd Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 5) Men’s and Women’s 2nd Round: 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 22
(Day 5) Men’s and Women’s 2nd Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 6) Men’s and Women’s 3rd Round: 7 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 23
(Day 6) Men’s and Women’s 3rd Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 7) Men’s and Women’s 3rd Round: 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 24
(Day 7) Men’s and Women’s 3rd Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 8) Men’s and Women’s 4th Round: 7 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 25
(Day 8) Men’s and Women’s 4th Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 9) Men’s and Women’s 4th Round: 7 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 26
(Day 9) Men’s and Women’s 4th Round: 3 a.m.
(Day 10) Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals: 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 27
(Day 10) Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals: 3 a.m.
(Day 11) Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals: 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 28
(Day 11) Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals: 3 a.m.
(Day 12) Women’s Semifinals: 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 29
(Day 13) Men’s Semifinal: 8 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 30
(Day 13) Men’s Semifinal: 3:30 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 31
(Day 14) Women’s Final: 3:30 a.m.
Sunday, Feb. 1
(Day 15) Men’s Final: 3:30 a.m.
Who is playing in the 2026 Australian Open?
The top 10 seeded players for the singles draws are listed below.
Men’s singles seeds
1. Carlos Alcaraz
2. Jannik Sinner
3. Alexander Zverev
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Felix Auger-Aliassime
Women’s singles seeds
1. Aryna Sabalenka
2. Iga Swiatek
3. Amanda Anisimova
4. Coco Gauff
5. Elena Rybakina
Australian Open prize money:
For 2026, the men’s and women’s singles winners each get $4,150,000, with the runner-up receiving $2,150,000 and semi-finalists receiving $1,250,000.
For the U.S. national team players vying for a place on the World Cup squad, the weekend of European club matches brought an array of outcomes — many of which were unwelcomed.
Two players scored and two assisted, including one on a throw-in. But there was also an own goal, a red card, a yellow card suspension for a Bundesliga showdown, an unexpected injury absence for a player in urgent need of minutes and some usual starters coming off the bench.
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Because things otherwise have been looking up for the national team’s foreign legion, we’ll start in England, where Derby County forward Patrick Agyemang continued to produce in his first season abroad and defender Chris Richards scored a consolation goal on another dark day for Crystal Palace.
Agyemang — the 25-year-old Connecticut native who began his career with Charlotte FC — scored in the 44th minute by taking advantage of the goalkeeper spilling the ball. It was his second goal in three matches and eighth overall, to go with three assists, in 24 appearances in the second-division Championship.
Derby conceded a late equalizer and settled for a 1-1 draw with West Brom. Nonetheless, it was a productive week for Agyemang and Derby with seven points from three matches to stay in the thick of the race for a place in the promotion playoffs.
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With Dutch-based Ricardo Pepi out several more weeks with a broken forearm, Agyemang will aim to climb the depth chart and position himself for selection by U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino for the March friendlies against Belgium and Portugal in Atlanta — the final camp before the World Cup squad is selected in late May.
A mainstay on Crystal Palace’s backline, Richards scored on a close-range header following a corner kick scramble in the 88th minute for his first Premier League goal of the season and second in all competitions. By then, though, his 10-man side trailed Chelsea by three goals and absorbed a 3-1 defeat, extending its losing streak to three and its winless rut across all competitions to 0-7-4 since mid-December.
Elsewhere in England, midfielder Tyler Adams continues to recuperate from a knee injury, but that didn’t stop him from celebrating on the field after Bournemouth’s 3-2 home shocker over Liverpool.
Left back Antonee Robinson logged 59 minutes in a 2-1 win over Brighton, lifting Fulham into seventh place and in the mix to qualify for European competition next season. Since returning to the Premier League in 2022, the Cottagers have finished 10th, 13th and 11th.
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Defensive midfielder Aidan Morris went 61 minutes as Middlesbrough routed Preston North End 4-0 for its fourth straight league victory. The club pulled within three points of Coventry City for first place in the Championship. The top two will earn automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Striker Haji Wright’s two-game scoring streak ended during a 71-minute effort in Coventry’s 2-1 setback at lowly Norwich City. American forward Josh Sargent was again left out of Norwich’s matchday squad amid a transfer demand to Toronto FC.
Midfielder Brenden Aaronson played 85 minutes in Leeds’ 1-1 draw at Everton, a result that extended the visitors’ resurgence to 4-1-6 in the past 11 outings across all competitions.
France
Both U.S. assists overseas came in Ligue 1, from winger Tim Weah and center back Mark McKenzie.
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Weah crossed to Amine Gouiri for a three-goal lead in Olympique Marseille’s 3-1 victory over second-place Lens, ending Lens’ 10-game winning streak in all competitions. In the past nine league matches, Weah has contributed two goals and two assists from his flank position.
With three wins in four games, Marseille is in third place, seven points behind front-running Paris Saint-Germain. The Mediterranean club will complete the Champions League’s first stage Wednesday in Belgium against Club Brugge.
McKenzie recorded his second assist of the league campaign on a throw-in to Pape Demba Diop, who scored from 25 yards to launch Toulouse’s 2-0 victory at Brest.
Midfielder Tanner Tessmann started for the fifth time in six league matches in Olympique Lyonnais’ 5-2 win at Metz — a fourth straight league victory keeping the club on Marseille’s heels for a Champions League berth next season. In continental competition this season, Lyon leads the Europa League pack and is assured of a round-of-16 slot, regardless of Thursday’s outcome against Greece’s PAOK.
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Folarin Balogun, who sits atop the U.S. depth chart at striker, went scoreless for the sixth time in seven matches as Monaco settled for a 0-0 draw at Le Havre. With two goals in five winless Ligue 1 outings, Monaco urgently needs a Champions League result Wednesday against Juventus.
Italy
AC Milan continued managing Christian Pulisic’s minutes, holding him out until the 68th minute of a 1-1 draw at Roma. This month, he has logged 90 minutes twice and gone five straight appearances without a goal.
Since losing the Serie A opener against Cremonese on Aug. 23, Milan has gone unbeaten in 21 straight. At 13-1-8, the club has the fewest losses in the league, but because of all the draws, AC Milan is five points behind front-running Inter Milan.
Turin, Italy – January 25: Weston Mckennie of Juventus Fc controls the ball during the Serie A match between Juventus FC and SSC Napoli at Allianz Stadium on January 25, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by sportinfoto/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
(DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Midfielder Weston McKennie remained in good form, going all the way in Juventus’ 3-0 romp over Napoli — a result that pulled fifth-place Juve within a point of Roma and Napoli. McKennie has started 21 consecutive matches across all competitions heading into the Champions League affair at Monaco.
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Midfielder Yunus Musah’s U.S. outlook remained gloomy after not playing in Atalanta’s 4-0 win over Parma — his second straight match stuck on the bench. He’ll look for minutes Wednesday at Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League.
In the second division, goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann and Cesena lost for the third time in four matches, 2-1 to Bari, leaving them 10 points out of automatic promotion to Serie A.
Germany
Things could not have gone much worse for Mönchengladbach’s two Americans as midfielder Gio Reyna didn’t play because of “muscular problems” and right wing back Joe Scally had an own goal and an overall poor outing during a 3-0 loss to Stuttgart.
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Reyna, who improved his U.S. standing in November, has played a total of 26 minutes in the past four Bundesliga matches.
German tabloid Bild called Scally’s performance “abysmal! He first set up the [opening goal] with his chest. Then he deflected the [second] into his own goal. A total failure.”
Midfielder Malik Tillman came off the bench in a Bundesliga match for the first time since Nov. 8, entering in the 57th minute of a 1-0 win over Werder Bremen. He will aim to rejoin the lineup Wednesday against Villarreal in the Champions League.
Center back Noahkai Banks’ streak of 13 consecutive Bundesliga starts ended by serving a yellow card suspension for Augsburg’s 2-1 shocker at Bayern Munich, the leaders’ first Bundesliga setback of the season.
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Defensive midfielder James Sands played 90 minutes for the fifth consecutive match in lowly St. Pauli’s 0-0 draw with city rival Hamburg. In his third start since joining Hamburg on loan from Southampton, forward Damion Downs made no impression.
In the second tier, left wing John Tolkin received good reviews for his 90-minute effort in a 2-2 draw at Arminia Bielfeld, extending 10th-place Holstein Kiel’s unbeaten streak to six.
Scotland
Center back Auston Trusty experienced an extreme swing of emotions over four days, getting controversially red-carded in the 77th minute of Celtic’s 2-2 draw at first-place Hearts. Earlier in the week, he had scored against Bologna in the Europa League.
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Initially shown a yellow card, Trusty was sent off after the video assistant referee judged the American had denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. The referee concurred.
“No more a red card than a blue card,” Celtic coach Martin O’Neill said.
Netherlands
After sitting out two matches with a minor ailment, right back Sergiño Dest played the first half of PSV Eindhoven’s 2-2 draw with NAC Breda. The result ended first-place PSV’s winning streak in the Dutch Eredivisie at 13. Next up is Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the Champions League.
Spain
Seeking to stand out in a crowded corps of U.S. central midfielders, Johnny Cardoso made his second straight La Liga start and logged 73 minutes in Atletico Madrid’s 3-0 triumph over Mallorca. Unbeaten in four straight overall and third behind Barcelona and Real Madrid on the Spanish circuit, Atletico will close the Champions League’s first stage against Norway’s Bodø/Glimt on Wednesday.
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Mexico
Club America was off this weekend, so U.S. winger Alex Zendejas can’t return from injury until Feb. 1, at the earliest. He missed the first two Liga MX Clausura matches this month and hasn’t played competitively since Nov. 30.
Denver kicker Wil Lutz missed a 45-yard field goal attempt that could have tied the score at 10 with 4:42 remaining in the fourth quarter. New England Patriots defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III tipped the ball with his fingertips, causing the kick to ricochet to the left and fall short.
Following the game, Lutz told reporters that the Broncos may have been lined up a yard further back than they should have because they couldn’t see the yard lines on the field.
“My guess is, unfortunately, you couldn’t see the lines on the field and honestly we might have been a yard short on the snap,” Lutz said, via 9NEWS’ reporter Scotty Gange. “We had to kind of estimate.”
Was it that the Broncos were lined up at the 29-yard line instead the 28? Thus, Lutz’s 45-yard field goal attempt was actually a 46-yard kick?
Would that have mattered? Yes, one yard matters. Especially in a 3-point game. However, Taylor still blocked the kick. Would Lutz have gotten a bit more height on his kick if he had been one yard closer? Would the ball have sailed less to the left had the Broncos been on the presumably correct yard line?
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However, what Lutz apparently meant was that the hold was “a yard short,” rather than where the Broncos were lined up.
Those examining the play, including NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry, noticed that holder Jeremy Crawshaw was actually lined up a yard closer to the line of scrimmage than usual. So the kick was from seven yards behind the line, rather than eight.
If Crawshaw was one yard closer to the line than he should have been, that would have affected the launch point for Lutz’s kick. And it became easier for Taylor to block the attempt.
Despite his postgame remarks, Lutz later took full responsibility for the missed kick in a social media post and said that the hold was lined up correctly.
“We were lined up correctly after looking at the tape,” Lutz posted. “The conditions made it tough to see the lines, but that can never be an excuse. This is on me and no one else. The result of any kick always ends with me.”
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Lutz actually missed two field goal attempts in Sunday’s game. But his 54-yard attempt with 24 seconds remaining before halftime sailed wide right. There was no snow on the field for that kick, though the cold and windy conditions surely made a long kick even more difficult. He appeared to have the distance, however.
The nine-year veteran also admitted to reporters that he had never kicked in the snow before. His first six NFL seasons were with the New Orleans Saints.
During the regular season, Lutz made 28-of-32 field-goal attempts. Two of his misses were between 40 and 49 yards, while his other two were from 50 yards or farther. He and the Broncos agreed to a three-year contract extension in November.
