Alcaraz is the great threat that Sinner has and Djokovic seeks to expand his legend twice

There will be a lot at stake in the Australian Open 2025, which will launch this Saturday night (Sunday in Australia) with some of the main title contenders in action. Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one and champion of the tournament in the last two editions, will play against Sloane Stephens in the third round on the center court – it will begin at 9:30 p.m. with the duel between the Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng and Anca Todoni – and then he will take the field Alexander Zverev, one of the candidates in the male branch, to face Lucas Pouille.

And Melbourne, Carlos Alcaraz He will seek to win the only Grand Slam he is missing and it is the great threat he has Jannik Sinner, the absolute dominator of the ATP circuit in the 2024 season. However, despite his 37 years and several months without titles, Novak Djokovic dreams of exceeding 24 Majors of Margaret Court, standing alone as the top champion and winning his 100th trophy.

Sinner and Alcaraz shared the Grand Slams in 2024. The Italian won Australia and the US Open, while the Spaniard won Roland Garros and his second Wimbledon. They are the players to beat, regardless of the fact that today the ranking shows Zverev in second place, and, as happened with the popular “Big Three” that Djokovic formed together with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, enhance each other.

“The good thing for me is that, when I see him win titles, when I see him at the top of the rankings, it forces me to train harder every day. In training I only think about the things I have to improve to play against him,” said Carlitos this Saturday. “That, I think, is great for me: having him and such a great rivalry, so far, just to force me to give my best effort every day,” he added.

Always, it seemed, the most important laurels in tennis were reserved for Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. And anyone hoping to claim them needed to defeat at least one, and often two, of that trio. Now, the names have changed, but the dynamics are similar.

“I feel that with Jannik and Carlos, in some way, the same thing continues to happen. You have to get past them to win big tournaments. “It’s as simple as that,” said Alexander Zverev, who lost to the Spaniard in the Roland Garros final. “They both won two Grand Slams last year. And they are the two best players in the world, without a doubt,” he added.

Sinner was the undisputed king of tennis in 2024. In addition to his two Grand Slams, he won six other titles and had an excellent record of 73 wins and just six losses. However, he lost the three times he played with Alcaraz, his great rival in a fight that, at times, seems to be two.

Anyway, it’s clear, You should never rule out Djokovic. He is the best tennis player in history and, in addition, he was a ten-time champion in Melbourne and feels more comfortable there than anywhere else in the world. Last year his main goal was the Paris Olympics, the only major tournament he had left to win, and that seemed to sap his energy for the rest of the season.

Now, after a rest period and an intense preseason, the Serbian is determined to fight again for his favorite Grand Slam and automatically becomes a threat to anyone.

The former world number one, located in the lower half of the draw along with Alcaraz, will debut against the American Nishesh Basavareddy, 133rd in the world, while Sinner will not have such an accessible first round when he faces the Chilean Nicolás Jarry (34th) and The Spaniard will face the Kazakh Aleksandr Shevchenko (72nd).

There will be eight Argentines in the men’s draw and two of them could meet in the second round. It is about Francisco Cerúndolo, who will make his debut against the talented and controversial Aleksandr Bublik, and Facundo Díaz Acosta, paired with the Belgian Zizou Bergs. And in the third round, if any of them manages to advance, it could appear in their path Federico Coria, although, of course, La Mojarra will first have to beat the qualy Tristan Boyer and then Alex De Miñaur or Botic van de Zandschulp.

The most disadvantaged by the draw was Mariano Navone, who will have to face the British Jack Draper, while Tomas Etcheverry will clash with the Italian Flavio Cobolli, Francisco Comesaña con Daniel Altmaier, Camilo Ugo Carabelli with Learner Tien and Sebastian Baez as Arthur Cazaux.

In the female branch, meanwhile, there will be a South American clash when Julia Riera face the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia in search of her first victory in the main draw of a Grand Slam. Besides, Nadia Podoroska will have a tough debut against Karolina Muchova, a former top ten, y Lourdes Carlé She will face Amanda Anisimova in her debut in the main draw of the Australian Major.

Djokovic, Alcaraz and Sinner, as well as the Argentine tennis players, will play between Monday and Tuesday. The tournament organization announces that “the order of play will be published around 6:00 p.m. (four in the morning in Argentina) the day before.”

• Anca Todoni (Q) vs Qinwen Zheng
• Casper Ruud (6) vs Jaume Munar
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Sloane Stephens
• Lucas Pouille (WC) vs Alexander Zverev (2)

• Marie Bouzkova vs Mirra Andreeva (14)
• Kei Nishikori vs Thiago Monteiro (Q)
• Paula Badosa (11) vs. Xinyu Wang
• Ugo Humbert vs Matteo Gigante (Q)

• Otto Virtanen vs Arthur Fils (20)
• Diane Parry vs Donna Vekic (18)
• Jiri Lehecka (24) vs Li Tu (WC)
• Anna Blinkova vs Daria Gavrilova (WC)

• Leylah Fernández (30) vs Yuliia Starodubtseva
• Gauthier Onclin vs. Reilly Opelka
• Damir Dzumhur vs Aleksandar Vukic
• Nao Hibino vs Marta Kostyuk

• Bernarda Pera vs Tatjana Maria
• Clara Tauson vs Linda Noskova (29)
• Sumit Nagal vs Thomas Machac (26)