Men's Tennis: Tournaments that the "Big 4" will play first-up in 2019

The 2019 tennis season is just 11 days away. In fact, the season will begin on December 31, with the three ATP 250s in Pune, Doha, and Brisbane set to kick things off. Meanwhile, the Hopman Cup too will begin in Perth at the same time.

The 2018 season was quite a memorable one, with Roger Federer winning the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal winning the French Open, and Novak Djokovic making a stunning comeback to win the Wimbledon and US Open titles. Andy Murray, on the other hand, missed the majority of the year as he was still recovering from surgery.

Fondly known as the "Big 4", Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray are all set to kick their respective seasons off on December 31.

Here, we take a look at which tournament each of them would be playing before the Australian Open:

#1 Novak Djokovic

The Serb made a stunning return to form during Wimbledon last year after which there was no turning back for him. From being ranked no 22 in June, he fought his way back up to end the year as the world no. 1.

He was close to equalling Roger Federer's record of winning six year-end Finals titles but fell short against Alexander Zverev in the final.

He will begin his 2019 season by playing in the ATP 250 tournament in Doha. He is a two-time champion there, winning the title in 2016 and 2017, defeating Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray respectively. He was supposed to be a part of this year's tournament as well but pulled out due to an elbow injury.

He is seeded no. 1, with Dominic Thiem being seeded no. 2. The other players in the top 8 include Karen Khachanov, Marco Cecchinato, Nikoloz Basilashvili, David Goffin, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Richard Gasquet.