Sinner, Alcaraz on opposite sides of Australian Open draw

The Australian Open draw is out! Melbourne Park hosted the draw ceremony on Thursday afternoon, when the fields of 128 on both the men’s and women’s sides were revealed.

It was not particularly good news for Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, who could go head-to-head as early as the quarterfinals after finding themselves in the same section of the bracket. On the bright side for those two Grand Slam champs, they are on the opposite side from No. 1 seed and defending champion Jannik Sinner. As for that quarter, Alcaraz could go up against either Jack Draper or Sebastian Korda in the round of 16; Djokovic could face Tomas Machac in the last 32 and Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round.

Sinner has a mostly favorable draw aside from a somewhat dangerous first-round opponent (Nicolas Jarry) and a possible fourth-round clash with either Holger Rune or Hubert Hurkacz.

If the top eight seeds all hold to form through four rounds, quarterfinal contests would be Sinner vs. Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz vs. Daniil Medvedev, Alcaraz vs. Djokovic, and Alexander Zverev vs. Casper Ruud.

First-round matches to watch throughout the draw are De Minaur vs. Botic van de Zandschulp, Hurkacz vs. Tallon Griekspoor, Dimitrov vs. Fabio Fognini, Fritz vs. Jenson Brooksby, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs. Gael Monfils, Matteo Berrettini vs. Cameron Norrie, Ben Shelton vs. Brandon Nakashima, Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Alex Michelsen, Lorenzo Musetti vs. Matteo Arnaldi, Francisco Cerundolo vs. Alexander Bublik, Denis Shapovalov vs. Roberto Bautista Agut, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Jerry Shang, and Lorenzo Sonego vs. Stan Wawrinka.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.