Novak Djokovic begins his bid for an unprecedented third straight Australian Open title today, with growing rival Andy Murray and the great Roger Federer shaping as his biggest challenges.
Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro is the only man besides Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Federer and Murray to win a Grand Slam tournament since 2005, but the Serb said there are plenty of others who could threaten their dominance.
“It’s probably expected that the three of us, and Nadal of course, would still be main candidates to win all the major titles,” Djokovic said.
“But, you know, I wouldn’t underestimate Del Potro, (Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga, (David) Ferrer, (Tomas) Berdych, anybody who is in the top 10.
“I’m sure there’s new young players coming up like (Bernard) Tomic, (Grigor) Dimitrov, (Milos) Raonic.
“I don’t think it’s nice for me to predict that us three will be champions of all Grand Slams this year.”
However, the odds favour Djokovic who is targeting a third straight Australian title, a feat which has not been achieved in the professional era.
Nadal is not playing due to illness but Djokovic will face a stiff challenge from the newly assertive Murray, fresh from his first Grand Slam win and keen to avenge his final and semi-final defeats to Djokovic in Melbourne in 2011 and 2012.
Also pressing hard will be Federer, holder of an unmatched 17 Grand Slams and still hungry for more even though, at the age of 31, he is conceding six years to his younger rivals. Murray, the world No3, was thrashed by Djokovic in the 2011 Australian Open decider, and narrowly lost out in their thrilling five-set semi-final last year.
But the Scot then beat Djokovic on his way to London Olympics gold, and again in the US Open final as he became Britain’s first male Grand Slam singles winner since Fred Perry in 1936.
Meanwhile four-time winner Federer opted out of playing a warm-up tournament. The Swiss has not reached the Melbourne final since his last win in 2010.
David Ferrer, who won the most matches (76) and titles (seven) last year, is the fourth seed and is in good form having claimed a fourth ATP Auckland crown by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets last Saturday.
In Nadal’s absence, he has a chance to climb above the fourth-ranked fellow Spaniard for the first time in his career.
In the women’s draw, Serena Williams is the red-hot favourite in her quest for a sixth title with even world No1 Victoria Azarenka admitting the American is the pla-yer to beat.
Williams gets her 13th Melbourne campaign underway tomorrow against Romania’s Edina Gallovits-Hall, fresh from claiming her 47th career title in Brisbane and with a rare calendar-year Grand Slam in her sights.
“That’s an incredible goal,” she said of the Grand Slam of winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year. “It hasn’t been done since the Eighties. I don’t know if I can do it. We’ll see. But it’s tough to say.”
Williams, who won Wimbledon, the US Open and Olympic gold last year, is also halfway to holding all the major titles at once for the second time, after first completing the non-calendar year ‘Serena Slam’ in 2002-2003.
“I feel like I’m just in the moment right now. I really hope I can keep it up and continue to play well,” she added.
The 15-time Grand Slam winner sits behind Azarenka and Maria Sharapova in the world rankings, but when it comes to the opening Slam of the season, is peerless in the modern game. She won in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010, and another victory would return her to world No1.
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