One thing is clear heading into the 2019 Australian Open – Novak Djokovic is the man to beat for the men’s singles title.
Djokovic ended the 2018 season in top form by winning Wimbledon, the US Open as well as Cincinnati and Shanghai. At one point, he had a 22-match win streak during his late-season stretch. Despite his loss to Alexander Zverev in the final of the ATP World Tour Finals in London, he is still the man to beat for 2019.
The Australian Open is definitely Djokovic’s favorite major as far as success goes as the Serb has won an Open Era record six singles titles, never losing in a final.
Djokovic will certainly be challenged by his main rivals, a now 37-year-old Roger Federer, the defending champion, and Rafael Nadal, the man who Djokovic replaced as world No. 1 in the Fall.
Federer continues to fend off father time and is in search of his 100th career singles title. Whether his body will still be able to hold up at his age and endure through seven best-of-five-set matches to win the title for a third straight year and a seventh career time will be one of the big questions of the tournament. Nadal missed most of the last quarter of the 2018 season with knee problems, so his fitness and form is a bit in question to start 2019. Nadal has only won the Australian Open once, in 2009, so it is his least successful major tournament.
While the fourth and final member of the proclaimed “Big Four” – Andy Murray – will also be in the Australian Open field, his comeback from hip surgery has not yielded Grand Slam contending results as of yet. The same can be said for three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka who is still trying to find his top 5 form after knee surgery.
Zverev, the No. 4 ranked player, proved that he can now win the big title when he defeated Djokovic to win the ATP World Tour Finals in London. http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/16278 With his new coach Ivan Lendl in his corner, Zverev may seem poised in Australia to finally seize a major tournament title for the “Generation Next” of young ATP Tour players.
When looking through the Australian Open odds, some of the longer-shot candidates who could surprise include 2018 Wimbledon champion Kevin Anderson and 2018 Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic, fresh off leading Croatia to the Davis Cup title to end the 2018 season. If his knee is strong and healthy, 2018 U.S. Open finalist Juan Martin del Potro is certainly a threat as is 2018 French Open finalist Dominic Thiem and 2018 Wimbledon semifinalist John Isner.
