Australian Open draw: Djokovic opens against Struff, Nadal vs. Kyrgio's possible knockout round
The Thursday draw for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year took place in Melbourne. Roger Federer ended up half of NovakDjokovic , who will open against Jan-Lennard Struff . German Alexander Zverevfaces Marco Cecchinato in the first round and could face Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jan 16, 2020, 08:45 am
The entire tennis world is currently looking to Melbourne, where the first Grand Slam title of the year will be played from January 20th. Naturally, even the draw for a major tournament is extremely exciting. For the men, the biggest question before the ceremony was which half Roger Federer will land in.
The answer: The Swiss is in the lower part of the tableau and could therefore face Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Overall, the draw with the 38-year-old meant anything but good, Hubert Hurkcaz could wait in the third round. In the round of 16 or quarter-finals, it would go against Denis Shapovalov or Matteo Berrettini. Federer will open his campaign in Australia against Steve Johnson.
Federer's potential semi-final opponent Novak Djokovic is again the big favorite for the title this year. In the first round there is a crack with Jan-Lennard Struff, in the quarter-finals it might go against Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek opened against Salavatore Caruso.
Round of 16 Nadal vs. Kyrgios?
World number one Rafael Nadal, however, has a rocky road ahead of him for a possible second triumph in Melbourne. The Spaniard initially plays against Hugo Dellien. In the second round, the Mallorcan could face Nick Kyrgios or Karen Khachanov. A possible quarter-final opponent is Dominic Thiem.
The 26-year-old Austrian meets Adrian Mannarino in the first round and has to overcome many major challenges to achieve the goal of his dreams. Here we took a closer look at the draw for the fifth in the world rankings .
Unlike Thiem, German Alexander Zverev will go to the Australian Open with little confidence after weak appearances at the ATP Cup. Zverev will play his first game against Marco Cecchinato and could face Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals. Zverev is in the top half.
As is so often the case with Grand Slam tournaments, there will be some real cracks in the early rounds. The most interesting duel is that between Daniil Medvedev and Frances Tiafoe.
These are the first round opponents of the Germans:
Alexander Zverev vs. Marco Cecchinato
Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Novak Djokovic
Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Marcos Giron
Dominik Koepfer vs. qualifier
Cedrik Marcel-Stebe vs. Benoit Paire
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