Australian Open Men’s Draw: Djokovic With Federer, Nadal Seeks 20th Slam

by Staff | January 16th, 2020, 7:31 am
  • 21 Comments

The Australian Open was released a few hours ago in Melbourne and it pits Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the semifinals. That’s 13 Australian Open titles between them, with World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the top half where he’ll be slated to run into Daniil Medvedev in his semifinals.

Nadal is chasing Roger Federer’s record 20 Grand Slam titles and stands just one away from equaling the Swiss. But Rafa has only won the Australian Open once before failing all four times the last decade following his 2009 triumph.

Nadal is also seeking to become the first player in the Open Era to win the Career Slam twice.


Nadal’s draw sees him through Hugo Dellien to start, potentially Pablo Carreno Busta in the third, Nick Kyrgios or Karen Khachanov in the fourth and Dominic Thiem or Gael Monfils in the quarter. In his second, Nadal is the only player to have won a Slam. Kevin Anderson in the only other former Slam finalist.

Medvedev returns to Australia after pushing Djokovic a year ago. But the Russian won’t deal with Djokovic until the final, though could have to beat Nadal then Novak for his first Slam. Before then, Medvedev opens with the men’s match of the first round as he battles 2019 quarterfinalist Frances Tiafoe. He also could run into former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and then 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka in the fourth. The quarters could pit him against David Goffin or Alexander Zverev who are the top players in a weak section. Potentially, Andrey Rublev could emerge.

Federer gets the third seed and could deal with youngsters Hubert Hurkacz and then Denis Shapovalov in the third and fourth rounds. US Open breakout man Matteo Berrettini could be a quarterfinal opponent as the Italian is favored in an open section.

Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas are the favorites in the last quarter. Djokovic was dealt one of the tougher openers against Jan-Lennard Struff. Otherwise, the Serb should breeze. Tstsipas will have to deal with Philipp Kohlschrieber, maybe Milos Raonic and then in the fourth an in-form Roberto Bautista Agut.

Federer, Djokovic and the rest of the bottom half will begin play on Monday. Nadal and Medvedev start their campaigns on Tuesday in Melbourne.



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21 Comments for Australian Open Men’s Draw: Djokovic With Federer, Nadal Seeks 20th Slam

RZ Says:

Look for the Racquet Bracket to be up tonight or tomorrow morning (Pacific time zone)


Django Says:

Looks good


Daniel Says:

Thanks RZ, can’t wait.

If seeds holds this could be a intense draw for Nadal: Kyrgios R16, Thiem QF, Medveved/Zverev semis and Djoko/Federer final.

For a player who is playing for #20 and second career Slam here (in AO his worst Slams with 4 R-ups after his win in 2009), this would be a dream run if he wins it.

Djoko has Tsisi QF or Agut, and apart from Fed in semis, its a great draw. Can not see him losing before QF, maybe loisng a set, if any. Evans, Struff, Edmund, Schwartz, won’t bother him.

Federer has Hurkacz, than Shapoo or Dimi R16 (who kjust finally beat him in USO), but get easy Berrettini in QF. Maybe his QF can be Fognini or Coric, who he doesn´t like playing that much. It has some danger but not Tsisi upset like last year. Think he has overall the safer path to semis. That assuming Tsisi and Agut are there to play Djoko, and even so depends on the day, Djoko had triuble with them but when on a row he has beaten easily before. On paper maybe trick.

Nadal has the worst draw out of the 3.


SG1 Says:

There aren’t anymore easy draws. Just varying levels of difficulty.


Dave Says:

Nadal has easily the hardest draw. I wouldn’t sleep on Hurkacz having a chance against Federer. He is a faster moving and mentally stronger version of Berdych who Federer lost to in slams in the past. Djokovic gets to avoid Wawrinka, Kyrgios and Medvedev who are on the other side of the draw. Tsitspas vs Bautisa Agut could be a grueling fourth round match. Both made big runs last year and almost went to 5 sets last year.

Also,

I realize after watching the first set of Wawrinka vs Djokovic 2015 French Open Final that having a one handed backhand actually has 1 advantage over the 2 handed backhand. And this is a big reason Federer is beating Nadal a lot more. You can get a more acute angle going cross court against your opponent more easily than a 2 handed backhand.


Dave Says:

I forgot to add that Evans could be dangerous for Djokovic. He has a lot of power and when he is on can be kind of like Wawrinka. Also, Djokovic doesn’t adjust very well at times when he is playing someone for the first time.


chrisford1 Says:

Good interview with Fed, Dave. Thanks for the link.
And the end, Roger says something I enjoyed for the wisdom of it – that when he 1st saw up and coming Rafa, he thought the kid was good enough to win a French Open or two, not 12! And with Novak, same. Thought young Novak was good enough to maybe win a Slam some day. Said he thought when he himself started that if he was fortunate, he might retire with a Slam win.
Players have difficulty assessing their own prospects as well as others potential.
And sportswriters are just as bad, if not more, in assessing the potential of players.


Wog Boy Says:

I know we were talking about who do we want (don’t want) for Nole in the SF, Federer or Medvedev, but looking at way the draw is done it’s already decided befor the draw that #1 plays #4 and #2 plays #3. Is that the rule for all draws (ATP/ITF) or only for GSs or even only for AO?!
Does anybody knows rule book about this?
Have a look at last year draw (also projected SFs were Nole vs Zverev and Rafa vs Roger), just start from 20:40 in the clip, it’s only few seconds and tell me if I am right, thanks:

https://youtu.be/lhDPVZkvQxI


Wog Boy Says:

Dave,
Very agree about Hurkacz and Evans, watched them both in ATP cup, I was impressed by Hurkacz.
I watched him against Borna Coric, I was sitting right behind where the girls with towels are in the first row, I could almost touch him (but he was too sweaty;)
He is such a clean player, flat hitting, with such a nice demeanour that is impossible not to like him, and he dismantled Borna Coric with such ease that Borna didn’t know where is the way out. You are right, improved Berdych version.
I watched Evans against De Minaur and Rublev last night, he impressed me too, particularly against De Minaur, that was the match UK shouldn’t have lost, J Murray and his doubles partner are kicking themselves for not using 4 MPs.
Another player to watch is Rublev, he really improved, his FH is beauty to behold, it’s up there with Rafa’s and Thiem’s, he can hit any spot he wants with that FH, but literally so.


Dave Says:

Jamie really choked on the one match point. And he hit it way long in the open court. That was a shot he makes in his sleep basically. Your right about Hurkacz. He’s gotta be the most likeable guy on the tour. Just seems very humble. After seeing him in the ATP Cup, I put him easily in the top 4 for these Next Gen Players. He is flying under the radar, which he probably loves. But i would be really surprised if he doesn’t reach number 1 in the future. He’s that good when he’s on.


RZ Says:

Bracket is up! https://www.tourneytopia.com/RacquetBracketAussieOpenATP/TennisXersAussieOpen2018/default.aspx (the URL says 2018 but it’s the 2020 bracket)
You have until Sunday 1/19 at 7PM Eastern Standard Time to enter. All are welcome to play!


Andy Mira Says:

Thank u mucho RZ!!👍😙


Wog Boy Says:

Since nobody wants to talk to me:( I checked last year draws for GSs.
AO, FO, and Wimbledon followed the pattern and match #1 against #4 and #2 against #3, only USO matched #1 against #3 and #2 against #4.
It’s either not a rule or ISO is braking the rules, but if we have a closer look on the name behind ranking numbers it’s obvious that USO wanted Nada vs Federer final, that’s why they did what they did, no?


Dave Says:

Wog Boy,

It’s supposed to be a draw each time. So it’s not a guarantee that it ends up 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. The one thing that I am not big on, which I know they use at the Australian Open is that they use a computer to do the draw. I’m not big on that as I don’t feel it’s random enough. I notice more patterns when it’s done with a computer.


Wog Boy Says:

Thanks Dave, but if you checked last year clip you will see that AO actually already matched #1 and #4 and #2 and #3 before they started the draw, so it wasn’t random, they decided who is going to play who within top 4, which I don’t think it’s fair, I haven’t watched last night draw but there is no reason it’s different.


Wog Boy Says:

You don’t have to watch entire clip, only few seconds from 20:40 onwards.


Wog Boy Says:

I wish mat4 and another poster from Belgium (sorry I forgot your nik) are around, they were good when it comes to draw fixing.


Ronn Says:

Dave, I do believe that Djoko has played Evans before. Evans can be a tough opponent to Djoko when he’s in-form, but I don’t see him beating Djoko at this point because Djoko is healthy and in good form too.


Dave Says:

It says on the ATP Website that they have 0 official matches against each other. And I honestly don’t remember them ever playing each other before.


Ronn Says:

You guys are right. I was thinking about Kyle Edmund. Sorry for the mistake.

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