Alcaraz will also have high hopes of winning the Australian Open and is projected to meet Djokovic in the final if both players manage to avoid any shock defeats. Sinner, meanwhile, has been put forward as a dark horse as he looks to win his first ever Grand Slam title in Melbourne this month.
Kyrgios, however, is backing Stefanos Tsitsipas to prevail against the odds despite not being among the favourites to get his hands on the trophy. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, the Aussie simply wrote: “I think Tsitsipas wins the Aus Open.”
Tsitsipas booked his place in round four with a convincing win over Luca van Assche on Friday but will face a much tougher test against Taylor Fritz in his next match. The 25-year-old, who is the seventh seed, will certainly have to find his best form to maintain his hopes of going deep into the tournament.
Following his hard-fought victory over Jordan Thompson in the second round on Wednesday, Tsitsipas was asked by tennis great John McEnroe what it would take to win the event after coming close previously. He responded by joking that Djokovic could help him out by being less ‘selfish’, with the pair on a collision course for the quarter-finals in Melbourne.
“It’s one of the two scenarios, numbers don’t lie,” said Tsitsipas in his on-court interview. “Novak has been able to win here 10 times, he’s a very selfish person! I think if he wakes up one day feeling less selfish, a ‘sharing is caring’ type of vibe.
“There are two scenarios: whether someone has to beat Novak that isn’t me, or it has to be me. We will have to find a way, either way.”
Tsitsipas lost to Djokovic in last year’s Australian Open final, with the Serb winning in straight sets despite being taken to two tiebreaks. It came two years after Tsitsipas fell at the last hurdle against the same opponent at the French Open, although he fared better on that occasion by losing three sets to one.
Looking ahead to his next match against Fritz in Melbourne, Tsitsipas insisted that he was under no illusion regarding the scale of the challenge he faces, saying: “Taylor has big weapons that he can execute. I need to defend well. I need to be there, involved, and ready to fight at any given moment.
“I’ve played him before here at the Australian Open, we had a big match. You know, these moments are some of the ones that I do remember the best from this particular tournament. The intensity that I brought with me at that particular match was impressive, and I’m hoping to replicate it and give it my best shot against him.”
