The 2018 Australian Open draw ceremony was held on Thursday night at Melbourne Park. It was less chaotic than it might if been Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori had not withdrawn, but there was still plenty of intrigue with several players seeded lower than usual due to injury layoffs.
Novak Djokovic, the No. 14 seed, and ninth-seeded Stan Wawrinka both landed in the bottom half of the bracket. The two former Aussie Open champions find themselves in the same quarter with Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and a solid list of unseeded competitors that includes Steve Johnson, Fernando Verdasco, Hyeon Chung, Donald Young, Frances Tiafoe, and Doha champion Gael Monfils. Djokovic and Monfils could go head-to-head in the second round.
Federer, who did an on-court interview prior to the draw being revealed, should enjoy a routine first week as he begins his title defense Down Under. The 36-year-old Swiss, however, could run into an injury-plagued Milos Raonic in the last 16 and either David Goffin or Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarterfinals.
“It was an amazing final for me and an amazing moment in my life,” Federer said of his 2017 Australian Open title. “I had a great four to six weeks of tennis training, and many months before that to get myself ready for the training. I thought physically I would be ready, but my game and wins weren’t going to come.
“I was thinking perhaps I might get to the quarterfinals;semifinals at best, then run into a red-hot Djokovic, (Rafael) Nadal, or Murray and my game wouldn’t be good enough for that day. But it was, ending with the epic match against Rafa. The fifth set was perhaps the best set I played. It was the highlight of my year, beating my Wimbledon win later in the year.”
As the top two seeds, Nadal and Federer can only face each other in what would be a final rematch. The top-ranked Spaniard heads into Melbourne with knee concerns, but his draw is a favorable one that he can capitalize on if 100 percent.
Nadal will likely cruise through his quarter (under the condition that he is healthy), but plenty of interest in the top half of the field will be generated by the second quarter–or more specifically Grigor Dimitrov’s eighth of the bracket. That is home to Dimitrov, Kyrgios, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andrey Rublev, David Ferrer, and a first-round battle between youngsters Denis Shapovalov and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Draw at the Australian Open website
[polldaddy poll=9915040]
[polldaddy poll=9915033]
[polldaddy poll=9915034]
[polldaddy poll=9915036]
[polldaddy poll=9915038]
Leave a Reply