The 2019 Australian Open's debut is just a few days ahead. The men's singles contest is headed for an exciting fortnight with the first Grand Slam of the season always being an event of many surprises.
One can find all sorts of players gearing up for this Tennis event. Some are coming back from injury and seek to test their tennis capabilities, others may be trying to explore new dimensions of their game, while others may be eager to keep up the trend from last year. All these players have one thing in common which is winning. Winning a Grand Slam tournament is the biggest reward a tennis player can hope for.
According to ESPN, the 2019 Australian Open may present the answer to some interesting questions, uncertainties and other factors that have been roaming around for a while now. According to the official website of the tournament ausopen.com, the draw ceremony will happen January 10. Both Federer and Wozniacki, last year's singles champions, will headline the event.
Roger Federer will try to defend a two-year reign
Let's proceed on the short list of the favorites with the defending champion from the last two editions. Roger Federer has a thing or two on his mind when it comes to the upcoming event. He seeks a record-breaking seventh title at Melbourne, while simultaneously, the 100th ATP title bid is on.
He comes to Melbourne in a perfect mood after another Hopman Cup title won last week in Perth. Once again, Federer and the young Swiss tennis star Belinda Bencic teamed up perfectly.
Novak Djokovic seeks to cement the No. 1 status
The current world No. 1 and a sixth-time Australian Open titlist, Novak Djokovic sees Melbourne as the perfect opportunity to wash off the relatively slow start of the year from Doha.
The Serb may be on a mission here as some past debt has to be paid off. Last year, he lost to Hyeon Chung in the fourth round while, back in 2017, he suffered a shocking early-exit by the hand of Denis Istomin. A potential triumph at Melbourne Park will guarantee him the world No. 1 seat throughout the first half the season.
Rafael Nadal and his complicated relationship with hardcourts
The Spaniard will make his 2019 official debut at Melbourne Park. He was set to play at Brisbane International but he was forced to withdraw with an injury. Injuries are in fact a big part of Nadal playing on a hard court. Last year, he was able to go all the way at a single such event. It was the Masters 1000 in Toronto that had Nadal in fine form en route to another title.
When it comes to the Australian Open debate, Nadal has only won it once back in 2009 after an epic final that literally brought his opponent Roger Federer to tears.
Cilic and Anderson lead the big-hitters pack
Last year's runner-up Marin Cilic would like to repeat that performance.
Twelve months ago he pushed Roger Federer into a five-set dramatic thriller. Unfortunately, the second part of 2018 saw his tennis output decreasing which also caused his ranking to drop. Currently ranked seventh in the world, the Croatian is still in a good spot and can hope for a favorable draw.
Along with Cilic stands Kevin Anderson, the South African who is a two-time Grand Slam runner-up. Aged 32, he seems to be having a solid start in 2019. He has already won an ATP 250 title in India. Given his style, it might seem curious that he's never got past the fourth round at the Australian Open. Ranked sixth in the world at the moment, maybe it's time for him to have that elusive Down Under breakthrough.
Alexander Zverev bears NextGen hopes
Alexander Zverev has already distanced himself in front of the young generation of tennis stars. Although he's had a successful run over the past two years or so, the limit of his success stayed at the Masters 1000 events. He took a step deeper in the closing stages of 2018 by capturing the Nitto ATP Finals title at the O2 Arena in London. He did that after winning back-to-back matches with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
When it comes to Grand Slam events, he's never got past the quarterfinals. His best result at the Australian Open was reaching the third round twice (2017, 2018).
All tennis specialists come to agree that this might be Alexander Zverev's breakthrough year on the Grand Slam landscape.
Ranked third in the world at the moment, he can reap the benefits of a potentially favorable draw. Or he can gear up for some tense early-on action as a number of former top players are heading to the draw unseeded.
Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Tomas Berdych are just a few names that have had great results there in the past.
