The end of the off-season is approaching and we are now just two weeks away from the official start of the 2024 season.

And it is now less than a month until action begins at the Australian Open, with world No 1 Jannik Sinner hoping to defend his men’s singles title.

Ahead of the new season, we dive into the projected seeds for the draw as things stand.

Projected Australian Open men’s singles seeds (as of December 14, 2024)

1) Jannik Sinner
2) Alexander Zverev
3) Carlos Alcaraz
4) Taylor Fritz
5) Daniil Medvedev
6) Casper Ruud
7) Novak Djokovic
8) Andrey Rublev
9) Alex de Minaur
10) Grigor Dimitrov
11) Stefanos Tsitsipas
12) Tommy Paul
13) Holger Rune
14) Ugo Humbert
15) Jack Draper
16) Hubert Hurkacz
17) Lorenzo Musetti
18) Frances Tiafoe
19) Karen Khachanov
20) Arthur Fils
21) Ben Shelton
22) Sebastian Korda
23) Alejandro Tabilo
24) Alexei Popyrin
25) Tomas Machac
26) Jordan Thompson
27) Sebastian Baez
28) Jiri Lehecka
29) Felix Auger-Aliassime
30) Francisco Cerundolo
31) Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
32) Flavio Cobolli

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Top-8 battles

Sinner is comfortably clear of the rest of the field as the world No 1 and will only not be the top seed should he not play, while Alcaraz is not playing a warm-up event – assuring Zverev of being No 2.

And, with Medvedev also not playing before Melbourne, world No 4 Fritz is assured of being a top-4 seed at a Grand Slam for the very first time.

Below Medvedev, the battle to be inside the crucial top eight positions will be interesting.

The key battle will be between No 8 Rublev and No 9 de Minaur, with the former just 15 points ahead in the rankings as things stand.

Rublev will need to successfully defend his Hong Kong Open title in the opening week of the season and hope de Minaur does not gain too much ground in United Cup action.

World No 7 Djokovic is in Brisbane International action and will look to gain ground on world No 6 Ruud, who will compete for Norway in the United Cup.

What to watch elsewhere

One man under pressure is world No 10 Dimitrov, who defends his 250 champion points in Brisbane right at the start of the season.

Should the Bulgarian fall early, it is possible that the chasing pack of Tsitsipas, Paul, and Rune – the beaten 2024 finalist in Brisbane – could all usurp him, and push him outside the top 12.

Meanwhile, the likes of Draper and Hurkacz will look to hold off world No 17 Musetti and remain a top 16 seed for the first major of the season.

World No 16 Hurkacz is under particular pressure; he has only 40 points more than the Italian and has United Cup points to defend before the seedings cutoff.

Home favourite and world No 24 Popyrin will be looking to hold off the likes of  Machac and stay above 25th in the rankings – and avoid drawing a top seed as early as the third round.

While world No 32 Cobolli will hope he does enough to stay in a seeded position, with world No 33 Alexander Bublik and No 34 Matteo Berrettini in striking distance.

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