With the Australian Open’s main draw finalised, we now know who’ll face off against who in the tournament’s first round which begins Monday, 16 January.
In the Men’s Singles, World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas will go head to head with France’s Quentin Halys in the opener.
With a little luck, the so called ‘Greek God’ could take Rafael Nadal to task in a quarter final clash before moving on to go toe to toe with Nick Kyrgios in the final – if the stars align.
There’s a chance Tsitsipas could leave the tournament as the new number one, though he’d need to outperform Spain’s Nadal and Norway’s Ruud to do so, if not win the title.
He’s entering the Open after a strong performance at the United Cup earlier this month, where he found success in all four of his singles matches.
Kyrgios will play Russian world No. 99 Roman Safiullin in the first round, seeded 19th, he’ll avoid a top-eight rival until week two, if all goes well.
Renowned for his colourful persona, Kyrgios recently remarked on the stresses of the tournament in the new Netflix series ‘Break Point’.
He said he hoped the behind-the-scenes look into the world of professional tennis would give viewers insight into the demands of high-level competition.
His fight for the top spot might shape up to be an uphill battle as he faces the prospect of playing against some of the biggest names in tennis, not to mention a slew of promising up and comers.
Greece’s Maria Sakkari will go up against China’s Yue Yuan, off the back of the Greek World No. 6’s semi-final exit from the United Cup in Sydney.
It’s the two competitors’ first meeting, both having shown good form last season, though Sakkari’s tipped to secure the match in short order.
She made a strong showing at the United Cup in both her singles and doubles matches, where alongside Tsitsipas she led Greece to the semi’s.
Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis is up against Italy’s Fabio Fognini. The pair went at it in the 2022 Geneva Open, where Kokkinakis comfortably saw off Fognini in straight sets.
Last year, Kokkinakis and Kyrgios defeated fellow Aussies Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell in the Open’s Men’s Doubles final to secure the title in an all-Australian spectacle.
The two are expected to back it up again this year with Kokkinakis confirming that they’ll make another doubles appearance as a duo.
And Melbourne’s own Jamiee Fourlis will play her first match against the Czech Republic’s 17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova.
Fourlis made her Grand Slam debut in 2017 at the AO after winning the Wildcard Playoff, where she defeated Georgian-American Anna Tatishvili in the first round.
This year will be Fourlis’ first Australian Open since 2018 after a shoulder surgery back in 2020.
