"I'm calling dark horse" - CoCo Vandeweghe picks Alexander Zverev over Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal as Australian Open 2024 title favorite

Former American tennis player Colleen 'CoCo' Vandeweghe has picked Alexander Zverev over Rafael Nadal as the title favorite heading into the 2024 Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic won the Melbourne Major last year, a tournament where Nadal made a second-round exit and then opted to stay on the sidelines for the rest of 2023 to rest and recover from injuries. This time around, there is some fitness concern for the Serbian heading into the season-opening Grand Slam.

Djokovic suffered a shock loss at the United Cup on Wednesday, January 3, losing 4-6, 4-6 to Alex de Minaur. During the match, he had issues with his wrist and had to call for the on-court physio to attend to the matter.

While previewing the Australian Open for Tennis Channel, Vandeweghe stated that Djokovic's injury puts a question mark on his title chances. She also opined that Nadal isn't likely to win a third Slam title Down Under.

"Well especially with Novak having the wrist injury that he had at the United Cup, I think there's always going to be a question mark seeing how Novak can recover. But I don't think he's going to be a favorite in my book, Rafa Nadal. But it's hard to count out a champion like that. It really is," she said.

The 32-year-old then picked Alexander Zverev as her dark horse to win the Australian Open.

"I think my favorite, honestly, going in there is going to be Zverev. I'm calling dark horse Zverev," she added.

Zverev's best performance in Melbourne came in 2020 when he beat the likes of Marco Cecchinato, Egor Gerasimov, Fernando Verdasco, Andrey Rublev, and Stan Wawrinka to reach the semifinals. The German exited the tournament in the last four stage after losing to eventual runner-up Dominic Thiem.

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Rafael Nadal returns to action in Brisbane, defeats Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler to reach quarterfinals

Rafael Nadal at the 2024 Brisbane International.

After sitting out most of the 2023 season, Rafael Nadal returned to action at the ongoing Brisbane International. He began his campaign by beating 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem 7-5, 6-1.

The Spaniard continued his impressive comeback by defeating wildcard Jason Kubler on Thursday, January 4, to book his spot in the quarterfinals. He overpowered the Australian and registered a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 win in one hour and 23 minutes.

Nadal will next take on Jordan Thompson and remains on track for a possible semifinal against second seed Grigor Dimitrov.