Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune among first Kooyong Tennis Classic announcements for pre Australian Open exhibition

Ten stars have agreed to participate in a pre-Australian Open exhibition tournament next year.

The competition will be organised in Melbourne from January 10 and will conclude two days before the start of the first Grand Slam of the year.

Amongst the players who have already agreed to appear in the event, two are from the men’s top-10 list of tennis players in the ATP rankings.

Those include the likes of Denmark’s Holger Rune and Italy’s Jannik Sinner. Both are often termed amongst the brightest young players currently playing in the men’s singles category alongside Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and America’s Ben Shelton.

The tournament director of Kooyong Classic Peter Johnston was ecstatic with the kind of players who will be available to take part in the event.

“It is a massive tick of approval for the tournament to have players who have excelled on the world’s biggest stages identify this event as an ideal way to prepare for the Australian Grand Slam tournament,” he said.

“The five signings announced so far all have aspirations of performing extremely strongly at the Australian Open, and this is a great way for them to hone their form. Each one offers something different on the court, which should lead to compelling matches for tennis fans to enjoy over the three days of the tournament.”