Novak Djokovic favourite in 'most open' Australian Open in years believes Alex Corretja

Former world No. 2 Alex Corretja chose Novak Djokovic as the top favorite for the title at the 2024 Australian Open, although he acknowledged expecting a more open tournament than in recent years. The Spaniard believes that 'Nole' will face greater challenges if he wants to achieve his 25th Grand Slam title, considering his streak of 28 consecutive victories in Melbourne and a total of 10 titles in the first Grand Slam of the year.

Corretja selected the main contenders and other players who could challenge Djokovic's reign at the Australian Open. According to the 2-times Roland Garros runner-up, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Daniil Medvedev will be the main challenges for the world No. 1.

The 36-year-old tennis player has an incredible record of 89-8 in the tournament, corresponding to a 92% success rate. Djokovic claimed the trophy between 2019 and 2021 and then in 2023, considering he wasn't present in 2022 due to entry restrictions to Australia related to vaccination.

Corretja expressed his opinion that Djokovic will once again be the player to beat in the tournament, although the main draw will be much more contested than in previous years: "He is the main favorite; I think it's going to be one of the most [open] Australian Opens we had in the last few years because we have several players that can do very well and are playing their best, physically," Corretja told Eurosport.

“They're growing, they're getting stronger. And mentally, it's pretty much the first time you have players who believe they can do well in a best-of-five Slam, and sustain their level for a long time,” he added. “After three, four matches, they were already exhausted. But now I think you have players that can really cause problems for Novak [Djokovic]. And that's what I think he is going to be probably the most open Australian in the last years.

“I'm sure. I'm sure that [Carlos] Alcaraz is ready to do well. I'm sure that [Jannik] Sinner is going to be ready to do well. [Daniil] Medvedev, [Alexander] Zverev, [Holger] Rune, [Andrey] Rublev have been playing very well too,” Corretja stated. “[Stefanos] Tsitsipas also likes to play in Australia and some of the young ones that might surprise us, like [Sebastian] Korda and [Ben] Shelton, it's not going to be any easy to beat them," he concluded.