With Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari among the favorites for this year’s award, the Australian Open starts on Monday. The event, which began in 2005 as the Australian Championship at the Melbourne cricket ground, evolved into the Australian Championship with trips to Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and New Zealand (Christchurch and Hastings), went professional in 1969 and since 1972 year has a permanent place. in Melbourne.

Tournament organizers hope that this year’s event will be the protagonists of the event, rather than events that will overshadow competitive efforts. A constant problem is high temperatures, but in previous years … fires were the brakes, and then a pandemic. Last year, Novak Djokovic was expelled for being unvaccinated.

This year, the Serbian tennis player does not need to … be afraid of this, since the players will not be required to take the test. Thus, even sick tennis players can be on the courts. Novak Djokovic is the player with the most Australian Grand Slam trophies (9) and will look to add a tenth trophy to his collection this year. He will start against Roberto Carbagez Baena. During the tournament, he will face more difficult opponents, as he was played on the same side with Andrei Rublev, Nick Kyrgios, Rafa Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Melbourne’s first Grand Slam of the year with all the celebrities in attendance.

The first opponent of the Greek tennis player will be Kendin Alice (French, 64th in the world), and if he is in good shape, he will be able to advance in the tournament, as he will face strong opponents in the last rounds. If he advances to the semi-finals, he could face (depending on the rankings) one of Felix Ozer-Aliassime and Cameron Norrie, while in the other quarter-final Nadal and Medvedev could face each other, with the winner playing (theoretically always) with our rival. champion. Sports experts also consider Rafa Nadal to be the favorite for the title. The men’s trophy is named after former Australian tennis player Norman Brooks.

Maria Sakkari’s first opponent will be China’s Wei Wang (119), and in the second round she will face Diana Schneider or Katerina Kutsova. According to the rankings, she could play Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals and Iga Swiontek in the semi-finals. The Polish tennis player, daughter of Olympic rower Tomasz Swiodek, reached the semi-finals last year, but this year she will aim for more. She ranks 1st in the world rankings, 2nd is Ons Zambert from Tunisia and 3rd is Jessie Pegula. Maria Sakkari is ranked 6th in the world. Tennis players do not hesitate to include 18-year-old American Coco Goff in their favorites. The women’s trophy is named after former Australian tennis player Tufni Eyhurst.