By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday January 11, 2023
The Grand Slam icons cannot meet until the final at this year's Australian Open, but Nadal's path looks a lot more treacherous.
Photo Source: Getty
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will operate out of opposite halves of the men’s singles draw at the 2023 Australian Open. The draw was released on Thursday evening in Melbourne, with defending champion Nadal, the No.1 seed, securing a meeting with rising Brit Jack Draper in his first-round match.
Nadal, the all-time leader in Grand Slam men’s singles titles, faces the following path to the final if the seeds hold:
R1 v Jack Draper
R2 v Nakashima or McDonald
R3 v [31] Nishioka
R16 v [16] Tiafoe
QF v [7] Medvedev or [10] Hurkacz
SF v [3] Tsitsipas or [6] Auger-Aliassime
Djokovic, seeded fourth, is in the buttom half and will face Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the opening round.
Here is Djokovic’s path to the final if seeds hold:
R1 v Carballes Baena
R2 v Hugo Dellien
R3 v [27] Dimitrov
R16 v [14] Carreno Busta or [22] De Minaur
QF v [5] Rublev or [9] Rune
SF v [2] Ruud or [8] Fritz
Four players – Djokovic, Tsitsipas, Ruud or Carlos Alcaraz (who is inactive) can finish the Aussie fortnight as world No.1.
First-Round matchups
In addition to Nadal’s first-round tilt with Draper, we will also see Matteo Berrettini vs Andy Murray in Round 1, as well as Dominic Thiem vs Andrey Rublev.
See the full draw here: