Schwartzman, 30, does not arrive in his best form at the first Grand Slam of 2023 since he was eliminated in Auckland (New Zealand) against the American Jenson Brooksby 6-1 and left due to a left thigh injury. “Little” awaits the results of the studies that were carried out in the last hours to assess whether or not he will be able to be at the Australian Open.
The porteño reached the quarterfinals in five Grand Slam tournaments, although the furthest he has gone in Melbourne is the fourth round in 2018 and 2020.
For his part, the Serbian Novak Djokovic (5th) will face the Spanish Roberto Carballés Baena (75) in the first round in his return to the tournament after being left out last year after being deported for refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
The Serbian star will thus begin his attempt to reach his tenth title in Melbourne and equal the record of 22 Grand Slam held by the Spanish Rafael Nadal, who will debut against the English Jack Draper, 21 years old and 40 in the ranking.
Djokovic will be seeded fourth in Australia due to the number one in the classification, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, will not play the tournament due to injuryalthough he did announce his participation in the Argentina Open on Thursday from February 11 to 19.
As for the rest of the Argentines, Francisco Cerundolo (30) will play against his compatriot Guido Pella (no rank), Sebastian Baez (41) against Jason Kubler (Australia, 29 years old and 86), Pedro Cachin (59) against Pablo Carreño Busta (Spain, 31 years and 15), Frederick Coria (76) against Marton Fucsovics (Hungary, 30 years and 53), Thomas Etcheverry (80) against Gregoire Barrere (France, 28 years old and 88) and Facundo Bagnis (90) against Daniel Evans (England, 32 years and 27)
In the women’s team, Argentina Nadia Podoroska (192) will face Ajla Tomljanovic (Croatia, 29 and 35), while the first seed and world number one Iga Swiatek, from Poland, will face the German Jule Niemeier in the first round.
In other interesting matches of the first round in the men’s draw, the Norwegian Casper Ruud will play the Czech Tomas Machac, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, finalist in the last two Australian tournaments, with the American Marcos Giron, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas against the French Quentin halys.
The Australian Open will dish out a tournament-record prize pool of just over $53 million, an increase of more than three per cent over 2022, with both men’s and women’s champions earning $1,998,278.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
