Can anybody stop Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open?

It wasn’t long ago that we witnessed Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem land the French and US Grand Slams, and tennis fans will be just as excited for the upcoming Australian Open. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic was the reasoning behind why we had to wait so long for two of 2020’s major tennis tournaments, and the virus has once again caused a delay to the Australian Open schedule, albeit by a matter of weeks.

The tournament will now get underway in Melbourne on February 8^th, as opposed to its usual January start date, and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will be keen to get going at the magnificent Melbourne Park on the beautiful coast of Australia.

The Serbian is hot on the tails of Roger Federer and Nadal in terms of the most male Grand Slam titles, with the latter both tied on 20 whilst Djokovic is just behind on 17, and he will see the upcoming Australian Open as the perfect chance to close that gap to just two.

Of course, the 33-year-old will be left ruing his missed chances last year. Djokovic won the 2020 Australian Open before the pandemic struck, but with Wimbledon cancelled due to covid-19, his chances of winning the English Grand Slam for a third successive occasion were quashed.

That was obviously out of the Serbian’s hands, but with still the US and French Opens to play for, you’d have expected to him to win at least one more Grand Slam before the end of the year. You could argue that the American-based tournament was his best chance of landing major title number 18, given Nadal’s dominance at Roland Garros, but he was disqualified due to striking a line judge with a ball, and he was of course beaten by the Spaniard in the final of the French Open.

With the Australian Open upon us, the question is whether or not anyone can actually stop Djokovic from winning the title? He has won the tournament for the last two years on the bounce, and for that reason it will come as no surprise that he is the heavy favourite in the 2021 Australian Open odds.

The continued absence of six-time Australian Open champion Federer, who has been left side-lined with a knee injury since last year’s tournament in Melbourne, will obviously be a major boost for Djokovic, and whilst Nadal will be in attendance, the Serbian will be confident that the threat posed by the Spaniard is minimal, given the fact that he has only won the Grand Slam title once and that was someway back in 2009, whilst the Serb also eased to a three-set victory over Nadal in the 2019 final.

Thiem, who took advantage of Djokovic’s shameful dismissal in New York by going on to land his first Grand Slam title of his career, is arguably the Serb’s biggest threat. The Austrian reached the final of last year’s Australian Open, but despite taking a 2-1 set lead over Djokovic, he couldn’t hold on to win the tournament.

Thiem ended 2020 with the US Open triumph and reaching the ATP Final, so he will undoubtedly be heading into the Melbourne tournament feeling confident, but so will Daniil Medvedev, who pipped Theim to the ATP title. The Russian wrapped up 2020 with an impressive 10-game unbeaten streak but has never gotten further than the fourth round in Australia.

Alexander Zverev is also one to watch, he reached the semi-final of last year’s Australian Open before Thiem ended his hopes of reaching the Grand Slam showpiece, the pair met again in the final of the US Open, but the Austrian once again delivered a fatal blow to his hopes of landing that first major title.

The question remains the same though, will anybody be able to stop Djokovic? It’s certainly going to be a tough task, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see him presented with the trophy come the end of next month.

Can anybody stop Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open? to Other Sports

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