The Australian Open draw left a kind opening for
Rafa Nadal
.
The world number two will face the Serbian
Laslo Djere
, number 56, while the Serbian and current champion
Novak Djokovic
(1) will face the veteran French player Jeremy Chardy.
After stumbling in the last edition in the quarterfinals against Dominic Thiem, the Mallorcan will return to Australia with his sights set on becoming the tennis player with the most Grand Slam numbers and breaking the tie at 20 with Roger Federer.
The Manacor man could not prepare his first date against Djere, a rival he never faced, as he would have liked after suffering some discomfort that prevented him from playing the first two matches of the ATP Cup.
The draw did not have the characteristic brightness of all the years and was held only with the presence of the director of the tournament
Craig Tiley
and provided an affordable first two rounds for Nadal, who in the second round would meet the winner of the match between the also Serbian
Viktor Troicki
and American
Michael Mmoh
, both from the previous one.
Later, in the quarter-final round, they could face off against Greek
Stefanos Tsitsipas
(6) or Italian
Matteo Berrettini
(9).
In his part of the table there are also players of the stature of the Russians
Andrey Rublev
and
Daniil Medvedev
.
Djokovic
, a great favorite for the title for having lifted the crown on the banks of the Yarra eight times, coincided in the same part of the table with last year's finalist and current US Open champion,
Thiem
, German
Alexander Zverev
and the Argentine
Diego Schwartzman
.
Regarding the main casualties of the 2021 edition, the Swiss
Roger Federer
announced at the beginning of the year that he would not be fully recovered from his knee and, therefore, he would not be present for the first date of the year after 21 participations consecutive and six titles harvested.
Nor did Scottish
Andy Murray
, a five-time finalist,
travel to Australia this year
after confirming his positive for covid-19.
The other Spaniards
The second highest Spanish hope,
Roberto Bautista Agut
(12) will start his career in Melbourne against Moldovan
Radu Albot
;
while
Pablo Carreño
(15) will complete his debut with the Japanese
Kei Nishikori
.
Regarding the rest of the Spaniards present in the final
draw
,
Albert Ramos
will debut against the American
Taylor Fritz
(27),
Pedro Martínez
with the Japanese
Yoshihito Nishioka
,
Pablo Andújar
with the French from the qualifying phase
Quentin Halys
and
Feliciano Lópe with the guest player local
Li Tu
.
For his part, the young
Carlos Alcaraz
will debut in Grand Slam competition with the Dutch
Botic Van De Zandschulp
, classified from the previous one;
while
Mario Vilella will
begin his career with the Czech who also agreed from the previous
Tomas Machac
.
Muguruza will debut against Margarita Gasparyan
In the women's
draw
, the local
Ashleigh Barty
(1) will debut against the Montenegrin
Danka Kovinic
, the Romanian
Simona Halep will
start with the Australian invited to the tournament
Lizette Cabrera
, while the main Spanish hope and current finalist,
Garbiñe Muguruza
, will start against the Russian and repechage of the previous
Margarita Gasparyan
.
For her part, Japan's
Naomi Osaka
(3), who could face Muguruza in the second round, will open her way against Russia's
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
;
reigning champion
Sofia Kenin
(4) vs. Australian guest
Maddison Inglis
;
while veteran
Serena Williams will
start against German
Laura Siegemund on
her way to equal Margaret Court's record with 24 major titles.
Regarding the rest of the Spanish present in the final table,
Paula Badosa
will have a staging with the Russian
Liudmila Samsonova
after spending more than twenty days locked in her room after confirming her positive for Covid and could face Muguruza in the second round.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
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See links of interest
2021 business calendar
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Barça - Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Valencia Basket - CSKA Moscow