#6. David Goffin
The Belgian first came into prominence when he made to the fourth round of the French Open as a lucky loser and within the next three years, entered the Top 20 of the ATP rankings through a number of decent runs in major ATP tournaments.Last year’s World Tour was Goffin’s most consistent of his career as he reached his first Masters 1000 semi-final at Indian Wells which was followed by another semi-final at the Miami Masters. A decent clay-court season was ended by his first ever Grand Slam quarter-final at the French Open. Goffin produced a number of decent performances following the French Open and as a result, reached a career-high ranking of 11 which would also be his year-end ranking. He also played one match at the World Tour Finals in London as a reserve for the injured Gael Monfils.Goffin’s best performance at the Australian Open is last year’s fourth round appearance where he lost to Roger Federer in straight sets. This year, Goffin has been handed a relatively easy draw where he would be expected to easily reach the fourth round with 20th seeded Ivo Karlovic being the only formidable opponent he might have to face. In the fourth round, Goffin would most likely face eighth seed Dominic Thiem who beat him in the quarter-finals of the French Open last year.Even though Thiem has been in decent form lately, there is a good chance that Goffin might get the better of him as his game has improved immensely in the last 4-5 months. However, the quarter-finals may be the farthest Goffin might reach as he would be up against six-time champion and second seed Novak Djokovic. Nonetheless, Goffin would be a formidable opponent for any player and he could well be one of the dark horses to watch out for in Melbourne.
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