· The first Grand Slam tournament in 2009 begins in Melbourne on Monday, January 19th and will be held til February 1st.
128 players will be fighting for two weeks for the Australian Open title and 2000 ATP points. The winner will get 2 million euros.
Last year Novak Djokovic lifted the trophy for the first time in his career, beating Roger Federer in the semifinals (7:5, 6:3, 7:6), and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the finals (4:6, 6:4, 6:3, 7:6 ).
The best Serbian player and the third seed of the tournament will start his title defence against a qualifier.
In the second round Djokovic will play against the winner of the match between Daniel Marcos (BRA) and Jeremy Chardy (FRA).
Novak’s potential rivals in the later stages of the tournament are:
3rd round: Paul-Henry Mathieu (FRA, 28), Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
4th round: Robin Soderling (SWE, 16), Mardy Fish (USA, 23), Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
Quarterfinals: Andy Roddick (USA, 7), David Nalbandian (ARG, 10)
Semifinals: Roger Federer (SUI, 2), Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG, 8), David Ferrer (ESP, 11), Marat Safin (RUS, 26)
Rafael Nadal (ESP, 1), Andy Murray (GBR, 4), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA, 5), Fernando Gonzalez (CHI, 13), Richard Gasquet (FRA, 24)… are in the other half of the draw.
Good luck Nole!
