The Spaniard will debut in the first grand slam of the year against the British Jack Draper.
The Spanish Rafael Nadal (1) will seek to revalidate his miraculous crown obtained in the previous edition of the Australian Open with the Serbian Novak Djokovic (4) on the lookout, since he could equal his record for the most number of ‘major’ titles (22) in what has been his return to the oceanic country after his deportation for not being vaccinated against covid in 2022.
The Spaniard will have to fight once again against endless adversities to touch the sky in Melbourne Park after the draw gave him one of “the worst possible first rounds”, as the tennis player himself assured, against the British Jack Draper , as well as hypothetical confrontations in the following rounds against the American Frances Tiafoe (16), the Russian Daniil Medvedev (7), the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
“What happened last year is just a sample of what sport is. You are capable of winning a series of games and things can happen. What seems impossible later ceases to be so ”, he explained this Saturday at the press conference prior to the start of the competition.
It is the second time that the man from Manacor defends his crown on the banks of the Yarra River and in his first attempt he had to retire in his quarterfinal match against the British Andy Murray.
The first seed was able to defend the crown up to ten times at Roland Garros but was never able to revalidate a conquest at Flushing Meadows, Wimbledon or Melbourne Park.
He will have a chance to achieve something unprecedented if he can lift the Norman Brooks Challenge Cup again to set the record for the longest time interval between his first Grand Slam title and his last.
In this way, she would surpass the mark of the American tennis player Serena Williams, who has the longest period of 17 years and five months between her first and last ‘major’ crown.
This new edition of the Australian Open could mean a new delivery of the duopoly maintained by the Spanish and the Serbian who have won fifteen of the last 18 Grand Slam competitions.
The Balkan, who arrives in better shape than the Spaniard and with a not-so-demanding squad, will have the opportunity to match his historic rival Nadal with 22 crowns in the race to become the tennis player with the highest number of ‘major’ titles.
“I want to be the best player of all time, there is nothing to hide about it,” he stated emphatically at the press conference prior to the start of the tournament.
Djokovic, who arrives at the first major event of the year as champion in the recent tournament in Adelaide, was able to win back the affection of the Australian public after participating in a charity event and participating in a friendly match against the local Nick Kyrgios.
The nine-time champion at Melbourne Park was deported for not being vaccinated after arriving in the oceanic country last year and generated discontent that spread exponentially among the Australian public sphere.
The Belgrade tennis player will start the competition against the Spanish Roberto Carballés and could face in future rounds the Spanish Pablo Carreño (14), the Russian Andrey Rublev (5), the Norwegian Casper Ruud (2) or the American Taylor Fritz (8). .
The tournament received a hard blow a week after its start when the one who was scheduled to start as the first seed, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, withdrew from the competition due to an injury to his right leg during training.
The Murcian is the last champion of a Grand Slam after his feat at the United States Open that made him the youngest tennis player to champion a ‘major’ after Nadal’s feat at Roland Garros in 2005.
The young tennis player would lose the first world position in the case of Djokovic, Tsitsipas or Ruud winning the title or if the latter reaches the final as long as the first two are the champions.
EFE