Australian Open 2019 Men's Draw: As It Happened: Who will Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal be facing?

The Australian Open 2019 draw took place today at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne. Defending champion Roger Federer graced the ceremony with his presence.

128 players will take part in the men's singles, which includes 16 qualifying spots and 104 direct entries and 8 wildcards. There are 32 seeds who are pre-placed in the draw as the top four are placed in separate quarters.

Andy Murray, who missed a majority of the 2018 season due to injury, enters the tournament with a Protected Ranking.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic enters the tournament as the world no. 1 and the no. 1 seed. Djokovic made a sensational comeback last year after going through a slump of sorts. From being the world no. 22 in June, he came back to win the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open to end the year as the world no. 1

Rafael Nadal enters the tournament as the world no. 2 and the second seed. He had a great year in 2018, winning his 11th French Open title. However, he suffered from injuries towards the end of the year and underwent an ankle surgery as well which put him out of action since the US Open. He made a comeback at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships but had to pull out of that and the subsequent Brisbane Open due to a thigh strain.

Roger Federer, on the other hand, enters the tournament as the defending champion and the world no. 3. He won his 20th Grand Slam in Melbourne last year and even held the world no. 1 for a few weeks.

Here is what happened in the draw:

Novak Djokovic does not have it too easy in his quarter. He could potentially face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round and Denis Shapovalov in the third, and either David Goffin or Daniil Medvedev in the fourth. Kei Nishikori is on the bottom half of the first quarter.

The second quarter consists of Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem on either side of the quarter. There are a few exciting match-ups with Stan Wawrinka to take on Ernests Gulbis in the first round and Nick Kyrgios to take on Milos Raonic in the first round as well.

Roger Federer and Marin Cilic make up the third quarter. Cilic will be up against Aussie Bernard Tomic in a first-round cracker. Meanwhile, Federer could face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round.

Nadal and Kevin Anderson make up the fourth quarter. Nadal has a relatively easy draw but a lot of home side favourites in his draw. Grigor Dimitrov is a part of the quarter as well and could potentially face Kevin Anderson early on.

Potential quarter-finals

Novak Djokovic vs Kei Nishikori

Alexander Zverev vs Dominic Thiem

Roger Federer vs Marin Cilic/Andy Murray

Rafael Nadal vs Kevin Anderson

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Roger Federer's potential path

1R - Denis Istomin

2R - Qualifier

3R - Gael Monfils

4R - Stefanos Tsitsipas/Nikoloz Basilashvili

QF - Marin Cilic/Andy Murray

SF - Rafael Nadal/Kevin Anderson

F - Novak Djokovic/Alexander Zverev

Novak Djokovic's potential path

1R - Qualifier

2R - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Martin Klizan

3R - Denis Shapovalov

4R - David Goffin/Daniil Medvedev

QF - Kei Nishikori/Fabio Fognini

SF - Alexander Zverev/Dominic Thiem

F - Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal's potential path

1R - James Duckworth

2R - Matthew Ebden/Jan Lennard Struff

3R - Alex de Minaur

4R - Kyle Edmund/Diego Schwartzman

QF - Kevin Anderson/Grigor Dimitrov

SF - Roger Federer/Marin Cilic

F - Novak Djokovic/Alexander Zverev

Andy Murray's potential path

1R - Roberto Bautista Agut

2R - John Millman

3R - Karen Khachanov

4R - Marin Cilic

QF - Roger Federer

SF - Rafael Nadal/Kevin Anderson

F - Novak Djokovic/Alexander Zverev

Alexander Zverev's potential path:

1R - Aljaz Bedene

2R - Jeremy Chardy

3R - Gilles Simon

4R - Milos Raonic/Nick Kyrgios

QF - Dominic Thiem

SF - Novak Djokovic/Kei Nishikori

F - Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal

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First round matches to watch out for:

Stan Wawrinka vs Ernests Gulbis

Nick Kyrgios vs Milos Raonic

Andy Murray vs Roberto Bautista Agut

Marin Cilic vs Bernard Tomic

Tomas Berdych vs Kyle Edmund