128 of the world's top male tennis stars will battle it out in seven rounds across a fortnight in the grueling Melbourne summer with the sole aim of get crowned as the champion of the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open 2020.
A star studded field which encompassed modern day greats and the torch bearers of the men's tennis are set to enthrall fans with their fancy racquet skills at the net, power packed counter-punching from the baseline and big serving, firing down aces on the fast paced hard courts at the Rod Laver Arena.
With a decade gone by headlined by the dominance of the 'Big 4' who had a stranglehold on all the four majors, a new and young brigade is all charged up to challenge the old war horses with an aim to unleash a much awaited new era.
Top seed Novak Djokovic who has been the most dominant champion at the Australian Open with a record 7 titles will once again be the hot favourite to defend his title. The Serb tennis ace who usually brings out his best tennis at the first slam of the year would have his biggest challenger in the form of his arch rival Rafael Nadal.
Second seed Spaniard Rafael Nadal would be raring to exact revenge for his straight set loss to his Serb rival Djokovic in the last year's Australian Open final. Nadal would also be hungry to add another title to his kitty and equal Federer's record feat of 20 Grand Slam titles by adding a second Australian Open crown to his lone title won way back in 2009.
Aged 38, third seed Roger Federer would still be a major force to reckon with courtesy a phenomenal track record at the Australian Open which has seen him lifting the trophy a whopping six times. The 'Swiss Maestro' has tasted recent success at the AO winning the 2017 and 2018 men's singles titles.
With the 'Big 4' hegemony at the slams in the past decade which saw them winning a staggering 33 out of the 40 titles , the change of guard is very much on the cards with some really high caliber players in Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Theim, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsisipas who did pull off some major wins against the big guns at the ATP Masters Series tournaments last year.Russia's fourth seed Daniil Medvedev seems the most promising off the lot coming into the slam at the back of a sensational 2019 which saw him winning two master series finals, making it to six straight finals and losing a hard fought 5-set US Open final to Rafael Nadal.
Austria's Dominic Theim who has immensely improved on hard courts over the past two seasons and shed off his clay court specialist tag could possibly be another quarterfinal contender. The two time French Open finalist would look to improve his best 4th round performance at the slam.
Greece' rising tennis sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas can also be expected to make it to the last eight after his impressive run on the tour in 2019 which saw him win the ATP Grand Tour Finals in London.The powerful baseliner made it to the semifinals at the 2019 Australian Open beating Roger Federer in the fourth round.Last but not the least big serving and hard hitting baseliner German Alexander Zverev has all the weaponry in his arsenal to make it to the latter rounds at the slams.
Some of the other major players who have the pedigree to make it to the round of sixteen are Frenchman Jo Wilfred Tsonga, Canadian Milos Raonic, Switzerland's Stanislas Warwinka. Bulgarian Grigor Dimotrov, American John Isner, French Gael Monfils and Belgian David Goffin. Meanwhile, one can keep a lookout on Russia's Karen Kachanov and Canada's Denis Shapalov who can be the giant killers or party spoilers on their given day.
Australia's challenge in the men's singles will come in the form of Nick Kyrgios who is known to be one of the most talented yet temperamental players on tour. The big serving Australian can pull off some surprise wins and get to the later stages of the tournament if keeps a cool head on his shoulders.
While the emerging force has been successful in pulling off wins against the 'Big 3' in the 3-set premier events over the past few seasons , the big question remains is whether they have the consistency and caliber in their game to go the distance and beat the best in the sport in the five set grueling grand slam format.
If one were to go by the recent form of the top guns in the build up to the Australian, it seems pretty impressive. Novak Djokovic is in superlative form helping Serbia lift the first ever ATP Cup event beating Spain in the finals. Nadal too had a memorable ATP Cup, spearheading Spain's challenge all the way to the semifinals. Meanwhile, Federer could be a bit sluggish as hasn't had much of competitive tennis on the ATP tour building up to the major.
Nine of the past 10 Australian Open men's singles titles have been won by the 'Big 3', with 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka being the only outsider to prevent a complete sweep.
The tennis world eagerly awaits the long standing status quo to be broken at the very top with the emergence of a new Grand Slam champion in 2020.