The 2025 Australian Open will be played in less than a month and the favorites to win are practicing hard to get to Melbourne at 100% fitness. In the men’s draw, the player to beat will certainly be Jannik Sinner. The Italian ace is not only the number 1 in the world, but he has just experienced the best season of his young career.

The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria suffered only six defeats in all of 2024 and won eight titles, including two Majors, three Masters 1000 and the ATP Finals in Turin. Sinner plays his best tennis mainly on hard courts, which is why he will be the top favorite in the first Grand Slam of the new season (in which he will have to defend his title).

Behind him is Carlos Alcaraz, who is able to reach impressive peaks thanks to his enormous talent. The 21-year-old Spaniard – who won Roland Garros and the Wimbledon Championships this year – has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals in Australia, but is keen to reduce the number of ups and downs throughout the season.

There is great curiosity to understand what result Alexander Zverev will get, who will try to finally break the curse in Grand Slam tournaments. The German champion changed his approach in the latter part of 2024, winning the Rolex Paris Masters and overtaking Alcaraz in second place in the ATP ranking.

Bookmakers invite not to underestimate Novak Djokovic, ten-time champion at Melbourne Park and intent on winning the 25th Major title of his legendary career. The 37-year-old from Belgrade was not brilliant in 2024, in which he did not win a single title, and will be able to count on the support of a legend like Andy Murray in his box. The former world No. 1 has a special feeling with the Australian Open, which is perhaps his absolute favorite tournament.

On the latest edition of the ‘Served with Andy Roddick podcast’, ATP legend John McEnroe revealed who he would like to win the AO: “I am hopeful, in a way, that Nole Djokovic wins it. It would give Andy Murray a little bit, he needs some more positive vibes.

He certainly knows Novak, and they will train exceptionally hard.”

John also added: “Novak is always a step ahead of everyone, coming up with these crazy ideas. But then you are like wait a minute.

I remember when Murray had Ivan Lendl coach him and someone said to me in Australia ‘Did you hear Murray is going to be coached by Lendl’ and I went ‘Oh my God, I cannot believe he hired Lendl’. He brings the amount of knowledge, this guy is a tennis geek and he loves it.”

The current world number 7 will play the Brisbane tournament before moving to Melbourne for the first Major tournament of 2025. Nole’s goal is to play a few matches before the Australian Open, as he missed the last official events of 2024. The 37-year-old from Belgrade has not played an official match since the final of the Rolex Shanghai Masters, in which he was defeated by Sinner.

The former world No.1 has decided not to play the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin – two tournaments in which he was supposed to defend his title – preferring to focus on preparing for next season. In early December, Novak played an exhibition match with Juan Martin del Potro in Buenos Aires.

The 37-year-old from Belgrade will not be followed by Murray in Brisbane, but the two legends will work together during the AO. Andy received several offers after he stopped playing, but Djokovic’s offer convinced him to return to the tour with a new role sooner than expected.In an interview with Eurosport, former WTA star Laura Robson reflected on Murray’s potential impact on Djokovic’s game: “I looked at my phone. I was like: ‘That can’t be real’. And then I looked at the date and thought: ‘No, it’s not April Fools’.

I think it was a total surprise to all of us. We all had the same reaction. We were like, it’s such a surprise, but in a way, it makes total sense.

At this point, I don’t know who else could coach Novak. It’s quite a tough gig because you would need the credentials, you would need the experience, you would need to know how he’s feeling in certain situations.

There’s so few people on the planet who can relate to him the way that Andy can.”

The collaboration between these two legends is truly amazing, considering that Djokovic defeated Murray in four different Australian Open finals.