Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to play exhibition eight days before Australian Open

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will meet in an exhibition match in South Korea just eight days before the start of the Australian Open in January.

Alcaraz and Sinner have won the last eight grand slam singles titles between them and their first meeting of the 2026 season will come at the Hyundai Card Super Match in Incheon on 10 January.

The Australian Open will see Alcaraz attempt to complete the career grand slam, with defending champion Sinner aiming to complete a hat-trick of titles. The main draw begins in Melbourne on 18 January.

After clashes in the finals of the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open final over the summer, Alcaraz and Sinner’s most recent meeting came in the final of the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia. Sinner took home a prize of $6m for winning the three-day event.

The organisers of the Hyundai Card Super Match - which previously staged contests between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in 2007 and Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick in 2010 - has not announced details of prize money for the one-off exhibition.

Alcaraz and Sinner are among the group of leading players from both the men’s and women’s game to have pushed the grand slam tournaments, including the Australian Open, for more prize money and a greater share of tournament revenues.

Sinner, 24, reclaimed the World No 1 position from Alcaraz by winning the Paris Masters title on Sunday but Alcaraz, 22, remains the favourite to finish in the year-end No 1 spot ahead of the start of the ATP Finals in Turin this week.