Aus Open draw: Novak Djokovic faces tricky route with Jannik Sinner lurking, Andy Murray gets horror draw

Shahida Jacobs 11 Jan 2024 6:20 AM

Novak Djokovic cheers with the trophy after his victory at the Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic will open his Australian Open title defence against a qualifier, but he could meet the likes of Andy Murray, Ben Shelton and Jannik Sinner before the final.

As the top seed, Djokovic finds himself in Section 1 of the draw and should he get past the qualifier then he will face the winner of the all-Australian clash between Alexei Popyrin and Marc Polmans in the second round.

The 24-time Grand Slam winner could meet his first seed in the third round, but the 30th-seeded Tomas Etcheverry has been handed a tough opener as he takes on former world No 1 Andy Murray in the first round.

The winner of the Etcheverry-Murray match will meet either Gael Monfils or Yannik Hanfmann in round two before a potential clash with Djokovic.

And there could be a rematch of the US Open semi-final as early as the fourth round as Djokovic is projected to meet 16th seed Ben Shelton. The American faces Roberto Bautista Agut first up.

King of Melbourne. Who will it be this year? pic.twitter.com/oFqnvg8wrf

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 11, 2024

Section 2

Seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is the highest-ranked player in the second section, but he has been handed a difficult assignment first up as he faces Matteo Berrettini while 12th seed Taylor Fritz could await in the fourth round with the winner of that clash potentially facing either Djokovic or Shelton in the quarters.

Section 3 and Section 4

Fourth seed Sinner is projected to meet Djokovic in the semi-final, but the rising Italian star – who opens his account against Botic van de Zandschulp – will likely have to get past 15th seed Karen Khachanov in the fourth round and either fifth seed Andrey Rublev or 10th seed Alex de Minaur in the quarter-final.

Bottom Half
Section 8

World No 2 Carlos Alcaraz is the main attraction in the bottom half and the Spaniard faces Richard Gasquet in the first round and, if he wins, either Dan Evans or Lorenzo Sonego will await in the second round with 31 seed Alexander Bublik a likely third-round opponent.

Alcaraz is projected to meet 14th seed Tommy Paul in the fourth round.

Section 7

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev, who faces fellow German Dominik Koepfer in the first round, headlines the seventh section and he is likely to be Alcaraz’s quarter-final opponent.

However, Zverev will likely have to get past 11th seed Casper Ruud or 19th seed Cameron Norrie in the fourth round.

Section 6

World No 3 Daniil Medvedev starts against either a qualifier or a lucky loser while the in-form Grigor Dimitrov is also in Section 13.

Section 5

The winner from the Medvedev-Dimitrov section will likely face either eighth seed Holger Rune or ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-final with that winner projected to meet Alcaraz in the semi-final.