The Australian Open draw ceremony took place on Thursday evening in Melbourne, where the season’s first Grand Slam begins on Monday. A balanced bracket was revealed, although it notably features Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the same half.
Federer is bidding for a third consecutive Aussie Open title, which would mark No. 100 overall in his illustrious career. After triumphing last fall in Basel, the 37-year-old Swiss had chances to reach the century mark at the Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals. However, he fell to Novak Djokovic in a third-set tiebreaker in Paris and was upset by Alexander Zverev in London–both in semifinals.
“Ninety-nine is already an incredible number,” Federer said during the draw ceremony. “I’m so close; I’ll give it a go. Every tournament I go to people might talk about it. Again, I’m not trying to look too far ahead; but if I made 100 at the Australian I’d take it. I’d gladly accept it, and I’ll give it all I have.”
The world No. 3 should coast into the second week before things start getting tricky. He could run into Stefanos Tsitsipas during fourth-round action prior to a possible rematch of last year’s final against Marin Cilic in the quarters. Andy Murray is unseeded in Federer’s section of the draw and the injury-plagued Scot has to face Doha champion Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round.
Nadal is on a collision course for the third round with Australian up-and-comer Alex de Minaur, while that quarter of the bracket also features two-time major runner-up Kevin Anderson and fellow big server John Isner.
Novak Djokovic will likely roll through the top half as a heavy favorite to capture his seventh Aussie Open title, but the story on that side is one especially intriguing quartet. The tournament’s most intriguing first-rounder pits Nick Kyrgios against Milos Raonic, with the winner of that showdown to meet the winner of Stan Wawrinka vs. Ernests Gulbis.
“Nick’s the most dangerous floater by far as he’s beaten all the top guys,” analyst Darren Cahill said on Thursday. “He’s coming into his home Grand Slam fresh, hungry, and no one will want to play him.”
Full men’s singles draw on the Australian Open website
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thoughts?
Rafa’s got a tough draw. Nothing he can’t handle IF he can stay healthy. But DeMinaur will make him work, as will Schwartzman. Coulda been worse. It IS worse for Raonic, Stan and Murray. Cakewalk for Djokovic and Fed, too, at least to the quarters. Boring! Doubt either of them lose a set. Zverev, of course, is a big question mark, as always at a slam. We’ll see if Lendl can work some magic.
I would say Fed’s cakewalk ends in 4th Round, not QF. I can think of a ton of players he would rather see in the 4th round than Tsitsipas. The older Fed gets, the less easy it will be for him to just blow through the younger, more fiery guys. If Fed’s serve is off, or the court is slow, I could easily see Tsitsipas upsetting him in the 4th round. I don’t care that he meekly lost to Fed at Hopman Cup. Fed is a whole other animal at the majors like all the greats, but Tsitsipas may very well show up as a different player himself. I’m not saying that Fed shouldn’t be overwhelmingly favored over Tsitsipas, but let’s not pretend like that matchup doesn’t have the potential for an upset, especially with a 37 1/2 year old Fed and a young, hungry, super athletic Tsitsipas. Just sayin’… At some point Fed is going to start losing consistently to the young guys- even at majors. It’s just a matter of when.
Maybe. Tsitsi just lost to Seppi, which does not inspire confidence. Not sure what he was doing playing this week anyway, unless he really is not taking himself seriously at majors yet.
Nick is 23 and ranked 51 in the world, yet everyone thinks he is a big threat on any surface for anyone. It’s about time he justifies the hype he gets otherwise he’ll soon qualify as a journeyman.
He is a nasty first round draw, especially for Raonic, who is not a great returner. NK’s usual ‘strategy’ lately is to serve as hard as he can and hope for the best. Might work v Raonic. Wawa or Gulbie isn’t a 2nd round I’d choose either! Go Stanimal!
Rafa de minaur can be tasty and a huge banana skin for Rafa
Yeah I agree it will be risky but Rafa still ought to win. We wouldn’t be saying this would be especially risky for fed or Nole would we?
A lot depends on rafa getting his new serve into gear, if he can get that going he will tough things out with de minaur and Anderson imo.
Fed has been lucky. What form is stefanos in? If playing well and the Fed of the second half of last year shows fed could be in trouble. Or it could be Basil he’s been playing well, then Karen, RBA or the Nazi hugger in the quarters.
Just seen Kevin ‘s post which was written the same time as mine. He is saying the same kind of thing as me. Fed getting through isn’t a gimme.
Nole has an easy draw all the way to the final.
And I absolutely stand by my earlier post that I am relieved that rafa didn’t get Nick first round or Stan or berdy. Nick knows how to turn it on when he plays a top player, especially at his home slam. De minaur isn’t as tough as some of the other options.
Great minds think alike, Amy. 😉😉
Yes indeed Kevin!!😁
Who do you see in the final?
I honestly have no idea, Amy. I obviously expect Novak to be there from the top half. I think the bottom half is too hard to read right now. If Rafa’s body can hold up, he is obviously fully capable of storming to the Final. My instinct tells me that last year’s AO was Fed’s last gasp, and that he’s just too old to win another major. Only once in the modern men’s game has someone his age made a deep run at a major (Connors ‘91 US Open), and even then everyone knew that he would eventually run into a top guy like Courier. History is just so not on Fed’s side at this stage. However, I feel like I have to at least give him a puncher’s chance as the 2-time defending champion. And I was surprised at how he looked at Hopman, even though you don’t get ranking points. So I think Fed has a shot. If Fed and Rafa meet in the semis, I’ll have to wait until then before I could make any call on that one. There’s just no way to know how they will look leading into a potential matchup.
I haven’t really examined the draw that thoroughly. Is Zverev in the top or bottom? I feel like he SHOULD be primed for a big moment at a slam. Personally, I would love to Zverev play Novak. Maybe Zverev would take some confidence from his defeat of Novak in the WTF? Doubtful haha, but you never know.
What do you think, Amy?
Haha, Sanju- you said “De Minaur can be tasty”. 😂 I assume you meant “testy”, but it’s still really funny. 😉
The only time Rafa has played De Minaur he blew Alex off the court at Wimbledon for the loss of 7 games…….61 62 64.
Yeah, Nadline, unless Rafa is struggling physically, he will likely wipe the floor with De Minaur. The physical part of that statement is important, though. I’m actually really worried for Rafa that his body might not hold up through the tournament. You can spin it as precautionary or however you want, but at the end of the day it’s never a good thing when a player has to pull out of a tournament leading into the AO. Especially given that Rafa hasn’t played a competitive match since the US Open. I’m just worried for him. I hope my worry proves to be unnecessary.
wont mean much now
Ricky- what won’t mean much now? Rafa not having played since US Open? Or De Minaur?
I think Ricky is saying Rafa blowing De Minaur off the court at Wimbledon won’t mean much now. All I can say is, If Rafa can’t beat De Minaur easily on any surface he should pack it in now.
it was a long time ago on a different surface
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAKch-0hXrM
Nadal vs De Minaur, Wimbledon
As expected, there are SO many good first round matchups. Including the tallest grand slam matchup ever 😂
i wouldnt consider that “good” hahahahahaha
Djokovic certainly doesn’t have a cakewalk – Tsonga/Shapovalov/Medvedev from round 2 to round 4
Its hard to pick a winner at this point for different reasons, Djoko might be favourite but hasn’t been invincible recently
Some great first round match ups…esp Kyrios-Raonic. I’ll take Fed to win it all!
Bad luck for Gulbis. Wawrinka is WAY better than his ranking suggests. Favorable draw for Djoko early on. Demon in the third round is a nasty bit of business for Nadal. He should pull it out if he’s 100% though.
Bad luck for Raonic, too — but who’s to say which Nick’ll show up? It could be a snooze-fest blowout and nobody would really be surprised, would they? I actually think Gulbis-Wawa is more intriguing, but we’ll see.
Andy Murray just announced his retirement from tennis….