Australian Open: difficult draw for the Argentines and possible final between Djokovic and Nadal

The Argentine diego schwartzmann25th in the ATP world rankings, he will make his debut against the Ukrainian Oleksii Krutych (22 years old and 188th) in the main draw of the Australian Open, which will be held in Melbourne starting next Monday.

Schwartzman, 30, does not arrive in his best form at the first Grand Slam of 2023. Is that the little He accused a left thigh problem that forced him to withdraw from the Auckland ATP 250 when losing (1-6) against the American Jenson BrookbyThe porteño has reached the quarterfinals of five Grand Slam tournaments, although the most he has made in Melbourne was the fourth round in 2018 and 2020.

What did the draw for the draw bring to the other Argentines? Francis Cerundolo (30th) will play against Guido Pelle (no ranking); Sebastian Baez (41st) will see them with the local Jason Kubler (86th), Pedro Cachin (59th) will have a difficult debut against the Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta (15th), Frederick Coria (76th) will collide with the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (53rd), Thomas Etcheverry (80°) will face the French Gregoire Barrere (88°) e Facundo Bagnis (90°) won’t have it easy against the British Daniel Evans (27th)

The candidates

the Serbian Novak Djokovicc (5th) will face the Spanish Roberto Carballes Baena (75th) in the first round on his return to the tournament after being excluded last year after being expelled by the Oceanic country’s authorities for his refusal to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

The Serbian star will thus begin his attempt to reach his tenth title in Melbourne and equal the record of 22 Grand Slams held by the Spaniard Rafael Nadalwho will make his debut against the Englishman Jack Drapper21 years old and 40th in the standings.

In other interesting matches of the first round in the men’s draw, the Norwegian Casper Ruud (2nd) will play with the Czech Thomas Machacthe Russian Daniel Medvedev (7th), finalist in the last two Australian tournaments, will clash with the American Marco Giron and the Greek Stephen Tsitsipas (3rd) against the French Quentin Halis.

Djokovic will be the fourth seed in Australia because the Spaniard is number 1 in the standings Carlos Alcaraz, will not play in the tournament due to injury, even though in the last few hours he has announced his participation in the Argentina Open from 11 to 19 February. Nole will pass in the lower part of the standings, where a quarter-final against the Russian is projected Andrei Rublev and a hypothetical semi-final against Taylor Fritz (8th) e ruud.

At the top of the standings, meanwhile, the favorite is Nadal, who could meet the American in the round of 16 Frances Tiafoehis executioner in the last US Open, and in the quarterfinals with the Russian Daniel Medvedev (7th), his defeat in the definition last year at Melbourne Park. Tsitsipas and the Canadian also appear in that sector Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Meanwhile, among women, first seeded and world number one, the Pole Iga Swiatekwill face the German in the first round jule niemeier, who comes from the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Swiatek also has Romanian Bianca Andreescu as a possible third-round clash and shortly thereafter to the runner-up of the 2022 Australian Open, the American Daniel Collins.

The only Argentine that appears in the standings is Nadia Podoroska (192nd), who will have a tough debut as he will face the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic (35th), who in the last United States Open took care of expelling tennis Serena Williams.

The Australian Open will hand out a tournament-record prize pool of just over $53 million, an increase of more than three percent from 2022, and the champions, both men and women, will pocket $1,998,278.

Source: agencies