Australian Open 2020: Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic poised to collide

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are in the same side of the Australian Open 2020 draw, meaning Rafael Nadal has been paired with Daniil Medvedev.

Two members of The Big Three had to end up in the same half of the Australian Open draw.

As it turned out, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were placed together, meaning the highest seed in Rafael Nadal’s way before the final is Russian Daniil Medvedev.

After Australia’s number one Alex de Minaur withdrew from the 2020 tournament due to his abdominal injury, the draw took place on Thursday.

The number two and three seeds, Djokovic and Federer, have won the last five Australian Opens between them and are now potential semifinal opponents.

For defending champion and seven-time winner Djokovic, the tournament starts against Jan-Lennard Struff and his path to the last eight does not look overly taxing, with Diego Schwartzman and fellow Serbian Dusan Lajovic the top players with him in section 8.

In the quarterfinals, Roberto Bautista Agut and ATP Finals winner Stefanos Tsitsipas could stand in the way of Djokovic.

Federer, meanwhile, opens against Steve Johnson and the draw looks difficult for him in the first week. Two players who have recently beaten the Swiss star in Slams, John Millman and Grigor Dimitrov, are there with the 38-year-old in section 6.

Millman and in-form Hubert Hurkacz are possible round 3 opponents, while round 4 could come against Dimitrov, highly rated Canadian Denis Shapovalov or Italian wonderkid Jannik Sinner.

Alexander Zverev begins against Marco Cecchinato and David Goffin, a victor over Nadal at the ATP Cup, is a possible round 4 opponent for the German, as is Andrey Rublev.

That group is in the same quarter of the draw as former winner Stan Wawrinka and Medvedev, who has a potentially tricky round 1 against Frances Tiafoe.

World number one Nadal has his first match against Hugo Dellien and his possible initial contests look manageable.

Round 4 could be more of a concern with the top remaining Australian Nick Kyrgios and Karen Khachanov looking to be the most likely opponents.

His possible quarterfinal rival will come from whoever emerges from a competitive section two of the draw, which contains two-time major finalist Dominic Thiem.

Thiem’s chief competition comes in the form of Gael Monfils, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Kevin Anderson.

Roger Federer is perhaps the man who will be most disappointed with his Australian Open draw as we wait to see if anyone can stop Novak Djokovic in Melbourne.