As expected, Djokovic and Swiatek get No. 1 seedings ahead of Australian Open

Playing true to their rankings, defending champion Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek will be the top seeds at the Australian Open in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year which begins Sunday at Melbourne Park.

The men's seedings mirror the ATP rankings as of Wednesday from Nos. 1-32, with 24-time major winner Djokovic followed by Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, the only player to beat him a Grand Slam event in 2023.

The women's seedings followed the WTA rankings from Nos. 1-8, then Barbora Krejcikova is promoted to No. 9 at Melbourne Park because of the injury enforced absence of her fellow Czech Karolina Muchova, the French Open finalist last year.

Muchova hasn't played since losing to eventual champion Coco Gauff in the U.S. Open semifinals last September.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is pregnant and skipping the year's first major and last year's U.S. Open semifinalist Madison Keys has an injured shoulder, taking the players ranked 17th and 18th out of the equation for Australia.

The seedings mean that players in the top 32 avoid each other in the early rounds when the brackets are determined for the major tournaments. The top two seeded players cannot meet before the final.

Here is a list of the seedings:

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Men

1. Novak Djokovic

2. Carlos Alcaraz

3. Daniil Medvedev

4. Jannik Sinner

5. Andrey Rublev

6. Alexander Zverev

7. Stefanos Tsitsipas

8. Holger Rune

9. Hubert Hurkacz

10. Alex de Minaur

11. Casper Ruud

12. Taylor Fritz

13. Grigor Dimitrov

14. Tommy Paul

15. Karen Khachanov

16. Ben Shelton

17. Frances Tiafoe

18. Nicholas Jarry

19. Cameron Norrie

20. Adrian Mannarino

21. Ugo Humbert

22. Francisco Cerundolo

23. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

24. Jan-Lennard Struff

25. Lorenzo Musetti

26. Sebastian Baez

27. Felix Auger-Aliassime

28. Tallon Griekspoor

29. Sebastian Korda

30. Tomas Martin Etcheverry

31. Alexander Bublik

32. Jiri Lehecka

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Women

1. Iga Swiatek

2. Aryna Sabalenka

3. Elena Rybakina

4. Coco Gauff

5. Jessica Pegula

6. Ons Jabeur

7. Marketa Vondrousova

8. Maria Sakkari

9. Barbora Krejcikova

10. Beatriz Haddad Maia

11. Jelena Ostapenko

12. Zheng Qinwen

13. Liudmila Samsonova

14. Daria Kasatkina

15. Veronika Kudermetova

16. Caroline Garcia

17. Ekaterina Alexandrova

18. Victoria Azarenka

19. Elina Svitolina

20. Magda Linette

21. Donna Vekic

22. Sorana Cirstea

23. Anastasia Potapova

24. Anhelina Kalinina

25. Elise Mertens

26.Jasmine Paolini

27. Emma Navarro

28. Lesia Tsurenko

29, Zhu Lin

30. Wang Xinyu

31. Marie Bouzkova

32. Leylah Fernandez