SYDNEY, :Days out from the beginning of the 2022 Australian Open, Tennis Australia on Thursday has drawn the matchups for the tournament’s first-round commencing on January 17.
Notably, Serbian world no.1 Novak Djokovic was included in the draw. If permitted to play despite being unvaccinated, he would defend the title against fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, ranked 78.
However, Djokovic’s appearance at the tournament is still hinged on a final decision from Immigration Minister Alex Hawke.
Other notable matchups include women’s world no.1 and top female seed, Ashleigh Barty who is set to face a qualifying player in the first round. The Australian could face last year’s women’s singles champion and current world no. 14 Naomi Osaka in the fourth round.
Aussie hothead Nick Kyrgios was also drawn up against a qualifier in his first round, however he could run into world no.2 Daniil Medvedev in the second round.
Rafael Nadal, Spanish world no. 6 will face American world no. 66, Marcos Giron in round one.
German world no. 3 Alexander Zverev was drawn against fellow German Altmaier Daniel, and Russian Medvedev will face Swedish Henri Laaksonen.
Chinese player Zhang Shuai who won the tournament’s doubles champion with Australia’s Samantha Stosur in 2019 will play against Viktorija Golubic.
World no. 103 Wang Xinyu was drawn to play against American world no. 44, Li Ann while another Chinese player, world no. 112 Wang Qiang, will face American world no. 19, Coco Gauff.
The Australian Open will run from January 17 to 30 at Melbourne Park in the Australian state of Victoria.
Earlier on Thursday the Victorian government and Tennis Australia announced that crowds would be capped at 50 percent for this year’s event due to the spiraling Omicron outbreak in the state.
All ticket sales would be paused at 50 percent of capacity for sessions that have not yet sold past that point.
“These updates to arrangements for the Australian Open will mean that fans, players and the workforce can look forward to a terrific COVID-safe event in Australia’s event capital,” Victorian Tourism Minister Jaala Pulford said in a statement.
