Australian Open 2020: Top 5 favorites and prediction for men’s singles
By Chris Myson
2. Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal’s dreadful run of hard-court results against Novak Djokovic continued in the final of the ATP Cup.
It was an event where Nadal showed some signs of vulnerability for the first time in around six months, as he also lost to David Goffin.
But Nadal remains world number one and top seed, having came out on top at the US Open in the fourth Grand Slam of last year.
That was part of a 2019 season where he defied his age of 33 and lengthy injury history to reach new heights on the ATP Tour.
While a head-to-head contest with Djokovic could cause a problem, it is, at this stage at least, tough to foresee situation where you would back anyone else against Nadal over five sets at the Australian Open, as he bids to win it for only the second time.
1. Novak Djokovic
A record seven-time champion, Novak Djokovic has made the Australian Open his own.
After losing a little bit of momentum towards the end of 2019 when Nadal pipped him to the year-end world number one ranking and he crashed out of the US Open hindered by injury, Djokovic has quickly rediscovered his touch.
At the ATP Cup he was superb, not only defeating Nadal in straight sets once again but winning all six of his singles matches as well as two in the doubles to help Serbia claim victory.
With the Grand Slam record held by Federer firmly in his sights for 2020, Djokovic starts a new season at the majors as the man to beat.