Defending champion Novak Djokovics shared to the press that it’s anybody’s game this season for the Australian Open.
This, as the tennis icon led Serbia to win over 23 countries at the ATP Cup, beating Spain.
His games included wins from Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, tennis top five, Daniil Medvedev and long-time rival, Rafael Nadal who currently sits at the top rank of men’s tennis.
“Look, the last hardcourt Grand Slam was in New York, and Rafa won it. So, you know, I think it’s really open, the Australian Open or any other Slam.” he said of the US Open final where Nadal edged Medvedev in five sets, as per reports from Inquirer.
The tennis icon affirmed that many players can take the top spot for the Australian open.
“I don’t think there are really clear favorites. You have obviously Federer, Nadal, myself because of the experience and everything and the rankings that we get to be probably named the top three favourites. But then you have Medvedev, (Stefanos) Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem that are really showing some amazing tennis,” Djokovic furthered.
“They showed that they matured on the big stage, that they can challenge the best players in the world and win against them,” said Djokovic as he referred to Tsitsipas’ impressive win against Thiem during the ATP Finals in London.
Djokovic enjoyed the ATP Cup hugely, a different start to how he usually begins his season, revelling in the team spirit and the large Serbian crowd support when he played in Brisbane and Sydney.
He called it the “perfect preparation” for a tilt at an eighth title at the Australian Open, which starts on January 20.
“I didn’t know what to expect from the event. Obviously I didn’t know how deep we would go and I was hoping we would pass the group stages and see how it goes,” he said.
“But these kind of team competitions are really, truly special, and I’m personally over the cloud with my emotions, and hopefully I can take that positive energy and use it for Australian Open.”
