Australian Open 2019 Men's Draw: As It Happened: Who will Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal be facing?
The Australian Open 2019 draw took place today at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne. Defending champion Roger Federer graced the ceremony with his presence.
128 players will take part in the men's singles, which includes 16 qualifying spots and 104 direct entries and 8 wildcards. There are 32 seeds who are pre-placed in the draw as the top four are placed in separate quarters.
Andy Murray, who missed a majority of the 2018 season due to injury, enters the tournament with a Protected Ranking.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic enters the tournament as the world no. 1 and the no. 1 seed. Djokovic made a sensational comeback last year after going through a slump of sorts. From being the world no. 22 in June, he came back to win the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open to end the year as the world no. 1
Rafael Nadal enters the tournament as the world no. 2 and the second seed. He had a great year in 2018, winning his 11th French Open title. However, he suffered from injuries towards the end of the year and underwent an ankle surgery as well which put him out of action since the US Open. He made a comeback at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships but had to pull out of that and the subsequent Brisbane Open due to a thigh strain.
Roger Federer, on the other hand, enters the tournament as the defending champion and the world no. 3. He won his 20th Grand Slam in Melbourne last year and even held the world no. 1 for a few weeks.
Here is what happened in the draw:
Novak Djokovic does not have it too easy in his quarter. He could potentially face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round and Denis Shapovalov in the third, and either David Goffin or Daniil Medvedev in the fourth. Kei Nishikori is on the bottom half of the first quarter.
The second quarter consists of Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem on either side of the quarter. There are a few exciting match-ups with Stan Wawrinka to take on Ernests Gulbis in the first round and Nick Kyrgios to take on Milos Raonic in the first round as well.
Roger Federer and Marin Cilic make up the third quarter. Cilic will be up against Aussie Bernard Tomic in a first-round cracker. Meanwhile, Federer could face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round.
Nadal and Kevin Anderson make up the fourth quarter. Nadal has a relatively easy draw but a lot of home side favourites in his draw. Grigor Dimitrov is a part of the quarter as well and could potentially face Kevin Anderson early on.
Potential quarter-finals
Novak Djokovic vs Kei Nishikori
Alexander Zverev vs Dominic Thiem
Roger Federer vs Marin Cilic/Andy Murray
Rafael Nadal vs Kevin Anderson
Roger Federer's potential path
1R - Denis Istomin
2R - Qualifier
3R - Gael Monfils
4R - Stefanos Tsitsipas/Nikoloz Basilashvili
QF - Marin Cilic/Andy Murray
SF - Rafael Nadal/Kevin Anderson
F - Novak Djokovic/Alexander Zverev
Novak Djokovic's potential path
1R - Qualifier
2R - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Martin Klizan
3R - Denis Shapovalov
4R - David Goffin/Daniil Medvedev
QF - Kei Nishikori/Fabio Fognini
SF - Alexander Zverev/Dominic Thiem
F - Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal's potential path
1R - James Duckworth
2R - Matthew Ebden/Jan Lennard Struff
3R - Alex de Minaur
4R - Kyle Edmund/Diego Schwartzman
QF - Kevin Anderson/Grigor Dimitrov
SF - Roger Federer/Marin Cilic
F - Novak Djokovic/Alexander Zverev
Andy Murray's potential path
1R - Roberto Bautista Agut
2R - John Millman
3R - Karen Khachanov
4R - Marin Cilic
QF - Roger Federer
SF - Rafael Nadal/Kevin Anderson
F - Novak Djokovic/Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev's potential path:
1R - Aljaz Bedene
2R - Jeremy Chardy
3R - Gilles Simon
4R - Milos Raonic/Nick Kyrgios
QF - Dominic Thiem
SF - Novak Djokovic/Kei Nishikori
F - Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal
First round matches to watch out for:
Stan Wawrinka vs Ernests Gulbis
Nick Kyrgios vs Milos Raonic
Andy Murray vs Roberto Bautista Agut
Marin Cilic vs Bernard Tomic
Tomas Berdych vs Kyle Edmund