Each Australian Open singles main draw contains 128 players.
That means there are 128 places in the men’s singles draw and 128 places in the women’s singles draw. The field is arranged as a knockout bracket, so a player must win seven matches to claim the title: first round, second round, third round, fourth round, quarter-final, semi-final and final.
The 128-player format places the Australian Open alongside the other three Grand Slam tournaments. The field is assembled from direct acceptances based largely on rankings, qualifiers, wild cards and special exemptions. Not every entrant begins in the main draw: many players compete in qualifying for a limited number of additional places.
A frequent counting mistake is to interpret “each singles main draw” as 256 total players. There are 256 singles competitors when the men’s and women’s draws are combined, but each individual singles draw has 128 players. Doubles use a different structure, with 64 teams in each main draw.