Scouting Report: Djokovic seeks 11th Australian Open crown; Alcaraz & Medvedev challenge for No. 1

Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

After a busy start to the 2024 season, including a title run for Germany at the United Cup, the ATP Tour's best players are gearing up for the Australian Open. 

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch at the year's first Grand Slam tournament.

1) Defending Champ Djokovic: The Serbian enters the Aussie Open at No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and on a 28-match winning streak at the event. Champion in each of his past four Melbourne appearances, Djokovic is seeking a record-extending 11th AO title and 25th Grand Slam crown. He will open his 2024 campaign against Dino Prizmic and could meet Andy Murray or Gael Monfils in the third round.

2) Alcaraz Returns: After missing the 2023 Australian Open through injury, Carlos Alcaraz is back. The Spaniard is within striking distance of Djokovic's No. 1 spot, and a final between the rivals would decide who leaves Melbourne atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The Australian Open is the only major at which Alcaraz has not advanced to at least the semi-finals. He will bid to improve upon his 3-2 record in Melbourne when he takes on Richard Gasquet in the opening round.

3) Medvedev Seeks To Make Up For Early Exit: After consecutive final appearances at the year's first major, Daniil Medvedev suffered a surprise third-round exit against Sebastian Korda in 2023. Medvedev bounced back from that disappointment with a strong season that included five tour-level titles and four additional finals, including ATP Masters 1000 trophies in Miami and Rome. After reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals and the US Open final last season, the 2021 US Open champion continues his quest for a second major title. Medvedev faces France's Terence Atmane in the first round.

4) Can Sinner Sustain Surge?: Italy's Jannik Sinner closed 2023 in red-hot form, reaching the Nitto ATP Finals title match and leading Italy to the Davis Cup trophy. Across those two events, he beat Djokovic twice — three times if you include a tie-clinching doubles rubber in the Davis Cup semis. Beginning the new season at a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 4, Sinner is seeking his first Grand Slam final. After reaching the quarter-finals once at each major, he advanced to the 2023 Wimbledon semi-finals for his best Slam result. Botic van de Zandschulp awaits the fourth seed in one of the must-see matchups of the AO first round.

5) Rublev Out To End QF Curse: Rounding out the top five seeds is Andrey Rublev, who reached three Grand Slam quarter-finals in 2023 to make it nine overall in his career. The fan favourite has yet to crack the code at that stage, however, and remains in search of his first major semi-final. If the seeds hold, he will meet Sinner in a blockbuster quarter-final showdown. But first Rublev must turn his attention to Thiago Seyboth Wild in the opening round.

First Grand Slam of the year: your predictions 👇

🏆 Winner…?
🎾 Best match…?
🐎 Dark horse…?
🙌 Biggest surprise…? @AustralianOpen | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/rQGECDDgIY

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 11, 2024

6) Tsitsipas Back At 'Home' Slam: Stefanos Tsitsipas feels right at home at Melbourne Park thanks to the large Greek population in the city and his steady stream of success at the site. After reaching three AO semi-finals, he advanced to his second Grand Slam title match last year in Rod Laver Arena. Before he can think about another deep run, Tsitsipas must survive a brutal opening-round matchup with Matteo Berrettini.

7) Americans Eye Repeat Performance: For the first time in Melbourne since the 2000 Australian Open — and the first Grand Slam overall since the 2005 US Open — three American men reached the quarter-finals last year at the season's first major. Tommy Paul went the furthest, beating Ben Shelton in an all-American quarter-final before bowing out to Djokovic in the semis. Korda, the third American quarter-finalist, upset Medvedev and Hubert Hurkacz in succession before being forced to retire against Karen Khachanov with a wirst injury. Just one of those three Americans was seeded last year in Melbourne: Korda. This year, all three are seeded, along with countrymen Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe.

8) Hard Yards For The Old Guard: Veterans like Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem, Gael Monfils and Gasquet all enjoyed notable moments in 2023 by winning an ATP Tour title (Monfils, Gasquet) or reaching a final (Murray, Wawrinka, Thiem). These fan favourites face tough tests in their effort to add more winning memories in Melbourne. 

Thiem's first-round showdown with 27th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime is one of the early blockbusters, along with Wawrinka's matchup against 20th seed Adrian Mannarino. Murray and Monfils could meet in the second round, with Djokovic potentially beyond that in Round 3.

9) #NextGenATP Stars In Action: France's Arthur Fils, last year's Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up, is among this year's Jeddah contenders in the Melbourne draw. The 19-year-old reached the Hong Kong quarter-finals and the Auckland semis to start his 2024 season and will meet Jiri Vesely in the Australian Open first round. Other #NextGenATP stars in the field include Shang Juncheng (vs. Mackenzie McDonald), Luca Van Assche (vs. James Duckworth) and Alex Michelsen (vs. James McCabe).

10) Will Doubles Crown Remain In Aussie Hands?: All-Australian teams have won each of the past two Melbourne doubles crowns, with Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios' 2022 triumph followed by a title for Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler in 2023. Hijikata and Kubler return as the 16th seeds for their title defense, but will be challenged by the world's best pairs. Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are the first seeds after finishing last season atop the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Teams Rankings, while Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury are seeded third after winning four of their past six tournaments — including 2023 titles at the US Open and the Nitto ATP Finals.