Opinion
With only eight players still in the hunt to win this year’s Australian Open men’s singles title, which one of these men has what it takes to go all the way?
Let’s start with Canadian Milos Raonic. Rated at number 32 overall, Raonic has shown his incredible talent with the racket in hand. Arguably one of the fastest servers in the tournament, Raonic has beaten both Marin Cilic and also Stefanos Tsitsipas this Australian Open to make his way into the quarter-finals. These two gentlemen have by far been his biggest competition so far this tournament, however, the big Canadian is yet to drop a set.
Raonic and young German Alexander Zverev are the two outsiders that could potentially cause an upset and go all the way. Raonic will take on defending champion Novak Djokovic on Tuesday in the quarter-finals. Djokovic is the favourite to win the title again for the eighth time.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Speaking of Alexander Zverev, he too has played some fantastic, brutal tennis and is yet to drop a set in the tournament so far. Zverev beat world number 17 Andrey Rublev on Monday to book his spot in the quarter-finals against 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka. Wawrinka dramatically beat world number four Daniil Medvedev on Monday in a brilliant five-set match to book his spot in the quarters, which sets up a mouth-watering contest with Zverev on Wednesday.
Then there’s world number 100 Tennys Sandgren, who takes on Roger Federer in the quarter-finals. Sandgren has beaten some handy opponents this tournament, including world number 12 Fabio Fognini and world number eight Matteo Berrettini. Federer will be by far his biggest challenge, but the Swiss has had his own battles. He only narrowly beat Aussie John Millman in a five-set thriller and then beat Marton Fucsovics in a four-set match.
Obviously, Federer has spent more time on the court so a big question remains over how well he will recover from these longer games. However, he’ll be too good for Tennys Sandgren. Federer manages to find a way and his class will be shown yet again. Federer can’t go all the way, though, and win the Australian Open title again due to the large amounts of time already spent on court. He won’t be able to deal with this.
Meanwhile, world number five Dominic Thiem has once again been the quiet achiever this tournament. The Austrian has had some scares, only just beating young Aussie Alex Bolt in a five-setter, losing two sets in tie-breakers.
However, on Monday, he showed his class by beating Frenchman Gael Monfils in straight sets to advance to the quarter-finals where he’ll meet world number one Rafael Nadal. Nadal has been impressive this tournament, only dropping one set to Australian Nick Kygrios on Monday night when he was tested but showed great class and skills to beat him in four sets.
(Lev Radin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
So, who wins from here? It will fascinating to watch how the quarter-finals play out. Tennis can be such an unpredictable game sometimes, and as seen in the women’s draw, upsets can quite easily occur.
However, based on what’s gone on so far, this year’s final will be played between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The pair have both shown their elite abilities this tournament and they’ll prove to classy in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Last year Djokovic and Nadal played off in the final and this year will be a similar case. They both have spent minimal time on the court so far, only dropping one set each. And not only have they been dominant, but also consistent.
Nadal is able to work over his opponent with his freakish forehand. This is combined with him also covering the court extremely well, making the hard shots look easy. Djokovic is similar. He works his opponents over and has a brilliant tennis brain. Along with Nadal, Djokovic makes difficult shots look easy.
Whatever happens from here, as we get set for four epic quarters-finals and then two semi-finals, we will be treated with some classic matches and some tremendous tennis.
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