For all the tennis fans of the world, this first Grand Slam tournament of 2022 could not have been off to a more scrumptious start. The Australian Open 2022 seems to have been in the public eye much more than its predecessors, and not always for good reasons. This year’s ‘Happy Slam’ takes a turbulent turn of events, and here’s how you can get a piece of the action.
As Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer all sit at the legendary 20 Grand Slam title mark, each eager to break the barriers into the history books, it seems only one of them might find themselves actually participating, as the shocking news of ATP No.1 man Novak “Nole” Djokovic’s deportation from Australia over a scrape with the authorities over his VISA cancellation follows the setback of Swiss extraordinaire Federer’s absence from the Open due to a knee injury, which may rule him out for Wimbledon as well. After recovering from a positive Covid-19 test, the returning Spaniard Nadal sets his sights on the fabled 21st Grand Slam win.
The schedule and corresponding dates for the Open are as follows:
- 17th January (Monday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, 1st Round
- 18th January (Tuesday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, 1st Round
- 19th January (Wednesday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, 2nd Round
- 20th January (Thursday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, 2nd Round
- 21st January (Friday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, 3rd Round
- 22nd January (Saturday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, 3rd Round
- 23rd January (Sunday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, Round of 16
- 24th January (Monday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, Round of 16
- 25th January (Tuesday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, Quarter-Finals
- 26th January (Wednesday): Men’s Singles Quarter-Finals + Women’s Singles Semi-Finals
- 27th January (Thursday): Men’s + Women’s Singles, Semi-Finals
- 28th January (Friday): Men’s Singles, Semi-Finals
- 29th January (Saturday): Women’s Singles, Finals
- 30th January (Sunday): Men’s Singles, Finals
For the cord-cutters out there, streaming rights deals can prove quite interferent when you’re living in a geo-locked location and the only way to watch your favorite sports is to pay up, so here are a few tips on how to watch this year’s Australian Open on both Android and Amazon FireStick, all for free.
Watching On Android
If you’re living in Australia, you can download Channel 9’s ‘9Now’ streaming app and get to watch the Open free of any cost, with 9Now Live. All you need to do is create a Nine account (also completely free) by entering in your details.
However, if you’re anywhere else and want in on the action, the best way to do so is by getting yourself a VPN, setting your proxy location to Australia, and then following the above directions.
However, if you don’t mind sifting through some ads to get some HD goodness, albeit with some stream reliability issues, head on over to either tennistream.com or live.tennisstreams.me to catch the live action.
Watching On Amazon FireStick
As with watching on 9Now for Australian users, Amazon FireStick users can also download the 9Now app from the Amazon App Store for free, sign-up for free, and get to watch the Open, you guessed it, for free. All you need to do is create an account, and sign in with that account to FireStick. With 9Now, you don’t just get sports, you get tons of other free content like reality shows, movies, TV series, all without the hassles of cable.
However, if you’re only in it for the Australian Open content, Kodi is your friend. A Kodi is the equivalent of jailbreaking your FireStick, and with the addition of Kodi add-ons, you can unlock droves of free FireStick content.
Kodi is installed by first downloading the Downloader app from your app store (Amazon’s own store or just Google Play Store), and enabling the ‘Unknown Sources’ in your FireStick’s device settings. From there, you can launch the Downloader app, click ‘Allow’ for any prompts and skip the Developer Notes. Clicking the OK button on the remote will prompt you with a keyboard, so go ahead and type in ‘troypoint.com/kodistable’ for Kodi version 19.3 (or /k18 for version 18.9) and click the Go button. After downloading, you may now download Kodi add-ons that allow you to watch the Open for free, like the ‘Sports’ add-on.
None of these apps, however, are licensed to display the content that they do, and you might be at risk of legal action. So, to keep you sufficiently incognito whilst indulging in your favorite sports, VPNs are a useful tool that helps conceal your identity. Be sure to install and activate a VPN before using any Kodi add-ons, preferably VPNs with a dedicated app for FireStick.
Wrapping It Up
Whether you’re on Android or FireStick, streaming the 2022 Australian Open is going to be as convenient as a click and a swipe. Be it a veteran who lifts that Norman Brookes Challenge trophy or an up-and-coming young star who takes the Tennis world by surprise, the experience will be none the heavier on your wallet.
