While Novak Djokovic (34) left his lawyers’ office to be taken to the airport, Alexander Zverev (24) trained 1600 meters away in the Rod Laver Arena.
The man from Hamburg (placed number 3) prepared shirtless for his first-round match on Monday against Daniel Altmaier (23).
Instead of playing at 9 a.m. German time in the Margaret Court Arena (7,500 seats), he plays the second game of the evening (around 11 a.m.) in the Rod Laver Arena (14,820 seats).
Djokovic’s expulsion also changes a lot in other respects.
Salvatore Caruso (29/Italy), No. 150 in the world, moves up for the Serb!
And so Zverev’s path seems clear, at least towards the final of the Australian Open.
In the upper half, in which he was drawn, he only has to eliminate three players from the top 10 with Rafael Nadal (35), Matteo Berrettini (25) and Hubert Hurkacz (24). Only in the final could he meet Daniil Medvedev (25), who was seeded at No. 2.
And that could become the final for the top of the world! Since Djokovic now has to give up 2000 ranking points as defending champion of the Australian Open, Medvedev or Zverev could crown themselves as the new number one in the world with a tournament win!
However, only with a delay: since the tournament in Australia only took place in February last year due to the corona, the new number one would have to be patient after winning the tournament, since Djokovic only loses the points in February.
That shouldn’t really matter to Medvedev or Zverev in this case…
.
