Australian Open: Rating Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, & Novak Djokovic’s Round 1 victories

L-R: Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, and Jannik Sinner.
Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, and Jannik Sinner.

A blockbuster Day 2 at the Australian Open saw Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic all take to the court and start their campaigns.

All three were victorious, but how exactly did the leading Australian Open title contenders fare?

We analyse Sinner, Alcaraz, and Djokovic’s performances – and rate just how good they were.

Jannik Sinner

Result: def Nicolas Jarry 7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-1

Based on rankings, Sinner had the toughest opening round of the three against world No 36 Jarry, who just missed out on being seeded – and reached the Italian Open final last May.

The Chilean pushed world No 1 Sinner to three sets when they met at the China Open last Autumn, so it should come as no surprise that the opening stages of this match were so competitive.

Sinner was outhit at points throughout this contest – hitting 24 winners compared to 40 for Jarry – and was unable to break in the opening two sets.

However, while he only hit 12 unforced errors – a +12 differential – Jarry hit 50, and Sinner raised his level in both tiebreaks.

That was enough to put him in complete control, and the defending champion then broke twice to wrap up victory in two hours and 40 minutes.

It was not a vintage performance from the world No 1 – but it was very comfortable, and more than enough to get the job done.

Rating: 7/10

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Carlos Alcaraz

Result: def Alexander Shevchenko 6-1, 7-5, 6-1

Alcaraz is not immune to a big Grand Slam upset – as we saw at the US Open last September.

But there can be no doubt that he was an overwhelming favourite to defeat world No 77 Shevchenko on Monday, having dropped just three games in their previous meeting at the 2024 Madrid Open.

Alcaraz was impressive inside the Margaret Court Arena on Monday, dropping just seven games and wrapping up victory in an hour and 54 minutes.

There was one notable wobble in set two, with Shevchenko breaking and ultimately serving for it at *5-4, only for Alcaraz to break – and concede just one more game throughout the whole contest.

Alcaraz was broken twice in the match but broke his Kazakh opponent an impressive eight times – and hit 38 winners compared to just 26 unforced errors.

Tougher tests will come, but this was a very solid start to his Career Grand Slam quest.

Rating: 7.5/10

Novak Djokovic

Result: def Nishesh Basavareddy 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2

While Alcaraz and Sinner were fairly familiar with their opening opponents, Djokovic faced a fairly unknown quantity in Nishesh Basavareddy, a 19-year-old American rising the rankings.

It was a similar scenario to when Djokovic was pushed to four sets by Dino Prizmic in the opening round a year ago, and again the Serbian was forced to a fourth.

Basavareddy struck as the seventh seed struggled to find his rhythm early on but, as the teenager started to fade a little physically, Djokovic gradually eased closer towards his best tennis.

The 10-time Australian Open champion was comfortable in control from the second set onwards, and wrapping up the match in just two hours and 59 minutes will help him in the long run.

With 23 aces and 51 winners to his name – compared to just 41 unforced errors – the Serbian will likely not be too displeased with his evening’s work.

Rating: 6.5/10

Up next

After an early test against Jarry, Sinner will likely have a more comfortable time against Tristan Schoolkate – an Australian wildcard who beat Taro Daniel in his opening round.

Third seed Alcaraz will take on Yoshihito Nishioka, who beat Aziz Dougaz in round one, while Djokovic faces qualifier Jaime Faria – who defeated Pavel Kotov in straight sets.

You can buy a TNT Sport pass and watch every match of the tournament for a one-off payment of £30.99. 

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