FULL DRAW 🖨

Full Printable Draw (credit to @fogmount for putting together decent PDF’s)

Top Half:

Bottom Half :

DRAW TL;DR

Top Half - QF’s If Seeds Hold

🇷🇸 Djokovic vs Nishikori 🇯🇵

🇩🇪 Zverev vs Thiem 🇦🇹

— Top Half starts play on Tuesday.

Bottom Half - QF’s If Seeds Hold

🇭🇷 Cilic vs Federer 🇨🇭

🇿🇦 Anderson vs Nadal 🇪🇸

— Bottom Half starts play on Monday.

PROJECTED PATHS FOR BIG 4 🔮

Djokovic (Top Half)

R1 - Krueger (Q)

R2 - Tsonga/Klizan

R3 - Shapovalov

R4 - Goffin/Medvedev

QF - Nishikori/CarreñoBusta/Fognini

SF - Zverev/Coric/Thiem

F - Nadal/Federer

Summary: Decent draw (overall) for Djokovic. Tsonga could be a borderline banana skin, but in current form Novak should have little trouble against Jo over 5 sets. Shapovalov is short on form and match play, having been dumped out of Auckland early by Sousa. The real bonus was getting A.Zverev and Thiem as his projected semi-final opponents (the whole Zverev quarter is incredibly soft). Thiem pulled out of practice sessions today, and hasn’t won a match, competitive or exhibition, in 2019 so far. And Zverev comes in to the tournament with a pulled hamstring and rolled his ankle (enough to stop a practice set) today (that’s all before you take into account Zverev’s ropey slam track record). Tough to find reasons why Novak won’t make the final.

Murray (Bottom Half)

1R - Roberto Bautista Agut

2R - John Millman

3R - Karen Khachanov

4R - Cilic

QF - Federer

SF - Nadal

F - Djokovic/Zverev

Summary: Horrible first round against one of the fittest, and most solid, guys on tour (who also just won the Doha title). Given reports of Murray’s shape in practice, Andy would do well to make it to the 2nd Round.

Update: Andy has announced his intention to retire at Wimbledon this year. Although, given the condition of his hip, it may be sooner. Not sure about you, but I’m going to try and enjoy watching him while we still can.

Federer (Bottom Half)

R1 - Istomin

R2 - Evans/Ito (Q)

R3 - Monfils/Fritz

R4 - Tsitsipas/Basilashvili

QF - Cilic/Khachanov/RBA/Murray

SF - Nadal/Anderson

F - Djokovic/Zverev/Thiem/Nishikori

Summary: Monfils may look dangerous so early in the draw, but the Frenchman withdrew from Auckland with a thigh injury and is very short on match play. Tsitsipas/Basilashvili could get interesting, but Federer should get through them if he’s close to his Hopman Cup level. Tough to know how the quarter-finals onwards will pan out: Cilic has been struggling with a knee injury so may not make it that far, the fast AO surface (of the last two years at least) doesn’t suit Khachanov, and Bautista Agut’s has never made it past the 4th Rd of a slam. An OK draw for Federer, with a couple of banana skins scattered around, but it’ll probably open up based on his projected opponents form/fitness.

Update: Evans (Q) could be a tricky 2nd round, especially given his form in qualifying. Federer should still come through with ease (and has done vs Evans in the past), but the Brit is definitely one of the harder qualifiers to face.

Nadal (Bottom Half)

R1 - Duckworth

R2 - Struff/Ebden

R3 - De Minaur

R4 - Edmund/Schwartzman

QF - Anderson/Dimitrov/Isner

SF - Federer/Cilic/Khachanov/Tsitsipas

F - Djokovic/Zverev/Thiem/Nishikori

Summary: Drew the short straw by getting Federer in his half. De Minaur is a potentially nasty R3, especially on home soil (although still doesn’t possess the weapons to beat the big guys unless they have an off-day). And Schwartzman also pushed Nadal hard last year here, and then again at the French Open. If it pans out that way, De Minaur, into Schwartzman, into Anderson, into Federer, into Djokovic, would be a lot of consecutive, tough tennis for a player (Nadal), who hasn’t seen any match play since September last year.

EARLY MATCHES TO WATCH OUT FOR 🔥

🔥 - Potentially Good

🔥🔥 - Potentially Great

🔥🔥🔥 - GRAB THE POPCORN

—

Rd 1’s:

Kyrgios v Raonic 🔥

Paire v Thiem 🔥

Bautista Agut v Murray 🔥

Berdych v Edmund 🔥

Wawrinka vs Gulbis 🔥🔥🔥

Cilic vs Tomic 🔥

Dimitrov vs Tipsarevic

—

Rd 2's (possible):

Djokovic vs Tsonga 🔥

Nishikori vs Karlovic 🔥

Wawrinka/Gulbis vs Kyrgios/Raonic 🔥🔥

Coric vs Fucsovics 🔥

Federer vs Evans 🔥

PLAYERS REACT TO THEIR DRAW 😮

— TFW Djokovic just beat you 6-1, 4-1 in a practice match, and your first round opponent beat Djokovic a week ago in Doha.

— Novak, Sascha and Dominic gather to find out their semi-final projected path.

— “Raonic first round? Of course bro.”

Zverev when his team realises Sascha can’t be trusted to not injure himself.

— Kyle Edmund trying to find Berdych in the locker room before their 1st Rd match.

PREDICTIONS 🏆

Quarter-Finals

🇷🇸 Djokovic vs Nishikori 🇯🇵 (H2H: 15-2) (Hard H2H: 9-2)

Prediction: Djokovic in 3

🇩🇪 A.Zverev vs Coric 🇭🇷 (H2H: 1-3 ) (Hard H2H: 1-2)

Prediction: Coric in 5

🇨🇭 Federer vs Bautista Agut 🇪🇸 (H2H: 8-0) (Hard H2H: 6-0)

Prediction: Federer in 3

🇪🇸 Nadal vs Anderson 🇿🇦 (H2H: 5-0) (Hard H2H: 4-0)

Prediction: Nadal in 4

Semi-Finals

🇷🇸 Djokovic vs Coric🇭🇷 (H2H: 3-0) (Hard H2H: 1-0)

Prediction: Djokovic in 3

🇪🇸 Nadal vs Federer🇨🇭 (H2H: 23-15) (Hard H2H: 9-11) (AO H2H: 3-1)

Prediction: Need to see tournament form first. In current form, and with questions about Nadal’s lingering injury, Federer is more likely to get to this stage than Nadal. So hypothetically, Federer makes the final.

Final 🏆

🇷🇸 Djokovic vs Federer 🇨🇭

(H2H: 25-22) (Hard H2H: 19-17) (AO H2H: 3-1) (Slam Finals: 3-1)

Prediction: Djokovic in 4

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GAME, SET & MATCH👋

— The Racquet is created, and written, by Matt.

— You can find me on Twitter here.

See you on Monday for Day 1 of the Australian Open! 🙌