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The draw for the first Grand Slam of the year 2020, Australian Open, is all set to take place on the 16th of January 2020 in the host city of Melbourne. The 2020 Australian Open (AO) will be the 108th edition of the tournament and the 52nd to be held in the open era.
It will see top Tennis players from all over the world participate and get their hands on the prestigious trophy. The draw will be taken between the top 32 seeds in both men's and women's singles categories. The remaining places will be filled by the players who make it to the tournament after the ongoing qualifiers.
Defending champion and the current World No.2 Novak Djokovic will be in search of his record seventh title in Melbourne as he takes the court next week. He has been in terrific form at the recently concluded ATP Cup 2020 where the Serbian went unbeaten. In the finals against Spain, Djokovic defeated World No.1 Rafael Nadal in the singles match.
Nadal would be seeded first above Djokovic as the Spaniard would look to kick off this year's Grand Slam fight with a victory. He is in contention to level the record of third seed and one of the most decorated players of the sport, Roger Federer.
With one more Grand Slam title, Nadal would equal Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam titles in career. Federer will also play at the Australian Open, looking to win his seventh title at Melbourne Park.
The big three (Djokovic, Nadal and Federer) have been dominating the tournament for years and have been seeded in the top three positions eight times in the last 13 editions of the tournament. Except for 2014, one of the three players has lifted the men's singles trophy since 2006.
The senior players will be given tough competition by youngsters in this edition. Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and others would be desperately looking to win their first Grand Slam of the career and announce their arrival in the big league of tennis. After reaching the finals of the 2019 US Open, Medvedev has come up as quite a threat for the senior players. The fourth-ranked Russian would not meet one of the big three before the semifinals, thanks to his increase in ranking by one position.
Australia's very own Nick Kyrgios will have the support of the supporters behind him throughout the tournament. Known as the controversial kid of Tennis, Kyrgios has had an amazing ATP Cup run where he helped the Australian team reach the semifinals.
In the women's matches, Naomi Osaka would be starting her title defense when she plays in the first round match at Melbourne. The 22-Grand Slam winner, Serena Williams has been a strong contender every year and 2020 would be no different. She will be in high spirits after she won the Auckland Open 2020, her first title of the year.
World No.1 and home favorite Ashleigh Barty will look to better her performance of going beyond the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. She will be the top seed at the tournament in pursuit of her second Grand Slam title. Simona Halep would be yet another strong player in the women's category as the Belgian player looks for her third Grand Slam title. She had won the 2019 Wimbledon and the 2018 Roland Garros.
The 2020 Australian Open could be a comeback Grand Slam for the Indian tennis player Sania Mirza. After a hiatus of more than two years, Mirza is back on the court at the Hobart International 2020 and will be very much excited to take the court at the Australian Open. She was won the doubles title twice in Melbourne.
Here is everything you need to know about Australian Open 2020 Draw:
Date: 16th January 2020
Time: 6 p.m. (GMT+11), 12:30 PM (IST)
Australian Open Live Stream: Tennis TV
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