Can anyone dethrone Djokovic at the Australian Open?
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Who could beat the GOAT in 2024?…
Novak Djokovic certainly enjoys his time in Australia. The most successful tennis player in the world has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slams down under, including the last four in a row that he played in. Although he isn’t slowing down with his tennis, the 36 year old can’t keep winning forever. So that begs the question - who can beat the king at the 2024 Aus Open?
Here are our three top picks as the main contenders…
Stefanos Tsitsipas
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Although he is yet to win a Grand Slam, the 25 year old made it to the 2023 Australian Open Final against Djokovic, and while didn’t manage to win a set, he still made Novak work for it and took it up to him with two sets settled by tiebreak.
The Greek born player is obviously no stranger to heat, which will surely come in handy with Australia anticipating a hotter than usual summer. Surprisingly though, betting sites offering Australian Open odds have Tsitsipas, who is ranked 6 in the world, paying a whopping 61.00 to win the event - while Novak is the clear favourite at 2.00.
Carlos Alcaraz
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Arguably the most well-equipped player to take the crown from Djokovic, the young Spanien is the current world number 2, and is also the reigning Wimbledon champion, where he defeated the four-time champion himself, Djokovic.
Alcaraz is only 20 years old and has already won himself a US Open Grand Slam to go along with his recent Wimbledon victory. He’ll definitely be looking to add an Australian Open to his repertoire, and to be fair at 20 years old, he very likely will one day.
Daniil Medvedev
The current world number 3, Danniil Medvedev, has made it up to the Australian Open Final twice, only to come short and lose to legends of the game Novak Djokovic (2021) and Rafael Nadal (2022).
Medvedev has recently stated that he has the biggest motivation ever to win and play his best tennis in 2023, after admittingly being mentally worn out in the last few years. Medvedev has struggled at the Aus Open in the past with the unruly Aussie spectators, while playing Australian tennis star Nick Kyrigos back in 2022. At a more mature age of 27, Medvedev will be better equipped to ignore the noise from the locals.
Regardless of who brings home the bacon this January, it’s bound to be a close and entertaining Grand Slam down under.
Rafael Nadal
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Rafa is playing down his chances of doing the ‘impossible’ a year after his last match - a round 2 loss at the last Australian Open. He’s currently ranked a lowly 672 in the world - but the 22-time major champion did win the AO against all odds only two years ago… and in his farewell season, wouldn’t it be wonderful?
Follow all the Australian Open action with expert analysis by John Silk and the team at sister site talking-tennis.com - and of course our very own Jack Edward via his substack.