Djokovic insists no clear Australian Open favorite

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reacts during the Mubadala World Tennis Championship 3rd Place match at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi, on December 21, 2019. (Photo by – / AFP)

Defending champion Novak Djokovic insisted there are no clear favorites for the next week’s Australian Open despite his ominous start to the season.

The world number two was in fine touch at the ATP Cup, leading Serbia to victory over 23 other nations in the new men’s team event, overpowering Davis Cup champions Spain in the final in the early hours of Monday.

His march included wins over dangerous Canadian Denis Shapovalov, world number five Daniil Medvedev and his long-time rival, the top-ranked Rafael Nadal.

Despite this, and Djokovic’s dominance at Melbourne Park, where he has won the season-opening Grand Slam seven times since 2008, the Serb said there were plenty of players capable of being crowned champion.

“Look, the last hardcourt Grand Slam was in New York, and Rafa won it,” he said of the US Open final where Nadal edged Medvedev in five sets.

“So, you know, I think it’s really open, the Australian Open or any other Slam.

“I don’t think there are really clear favorites. You have obviously Federer, Nadal, myself because of the experience and everything and the rankings that we get to be probably named the top three favourites.

“But then you have Medvedev, (Stefanos) Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem that are really showing some amazing tennis.”

Djokovic pointed to the season-ending ATP Finals in London where Tsitsipas battled back from a set down to beat Thiem.

“They showed that they matured on the big stage, that they can challenge the best players in the world and win against them,” he said.

“So everybody keeps on talking about NextGen player winning a Slam. You know, it seems like it’s getting closer. Hopefully not this year. We’ll see.”

Djokovic enjoyed the ATP Cup hugely, a different start to how he usually begins his season, revelling in the team spirit and the large Serbian crowd support when he played in Brisbane and Sydney.

He called it the “perfect preparation” for a tilt at an eighth title at the Australian Open, which starts on January 20.

“I didn’t know what to expect from the event. Obviously I didn’t know how deep we would go and I was hoping we would pass the group stages and see how it goes,” he said.

“But these kind of team competitions are really, truly special, and I’m personally over the cloud with my emotions, and hopefully I can take that positive energy and use it for Australian Open.”