Before the Australian Open: the minefield «Djoker», the back of Nadal and the double power of Russia – sport

The favorites

With a 3 week delay, the Australian Open will launch on Monday night. If Boris Becker has his way, things will be exciting at the Yarra River: “Due to the lack of preparation of all the players, this Australian Open can be more open than ever. All favorites must be found in the first week. Novak Djokovic (ATP 1) is also not someone who plays his best tennis at the push of a button. “

• By the way Djokovic: The preliminary round of the ATP Cup upset him. Partly because of his unconditional will to win, but also because he was deprived of more preparatory games. The Serbian industry leader remains the top seed at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. On the way to the title, Djokovic nominally has to balance himself through a real minefield. The opponents in week 2 could be called on paper: Wawrinka or Raonic, later possibly Zverev, Thiem and …
• Rafael Nadal (ATP 2). The Spaniard aspires to his 21st Grand Slam title and, therefore, the only record. However, there is a big question mark behind his physical condition. He missed the ATP Cup due to lower back problems.
• The big winners can also do it from the US Open 2020. Dominic Thiem (ATP 3). Although the “Big Three” were missing in New York, the Austrian highlighted the psychological value of the title. The beginning of the year was missed. He first lost to Matteo Berrettini in the ATP Cup, then he also lost the double.
• Again the question arises: will the “next generation” attack this year? After Thiem, will there be a new Grand Slam champion in 2021? In Melbourne, among other things, Russians in strong form are Daniil Medvedev (ATP 4) and Andrej Rublew (ATP 8) as well as Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (ATP 6) and German Alexander Zverev (ATP 7) in the spotlight.

Swiss

• A disease of the crown around Christmas interrupted the preparation of Stan wawrinka (ATP 18) sensitive. But now he feels fit again, the Lausanne native emphasized. He celebrated two close victories in a prep tournament before withdrawing from the event. The draw was initially well-intentioned with “Stan” who was lured to the middle of the table by Djokovic.

• Henri Laaksonen (ATP 136) meets Italian Salvatore Caruso (ATP 76) at the beginning. Laaksonen struggled successfully in qualifying in Doha in mid-January and is one of the first winners this year. Even with a defeat in the first round, the Schaffhausen resident has almost 70,000 francs safe.

What more is there to say?

• Viewer: Starting next week, up to 30,000 spectators will be able to enter Melbourne Park every day. In light of the Corona outbreak in Melbourne on Thursday, an optimistic plan to say the least.
• Weather: The forecasts are again extremely changeable. From a high of 18 degrees at the start, the mercury rises to 31 degrees on Thursday. On Friday it threatens rain again.
• First round blast: The kick-off includes the following explosions: Denis Shapovalov – Jannik Sinner, Matteo Berrettini – Kevin Anderson, Grigor Dimitrov – Marin Cilic, Pablo Carreno Busta – Kei Nishikori.
• Mode: As a reminder, since 2019 a championship tiebreaker with 10 points has been played in Melbourne in the deciding set of 6: 6 games.