Getting into the draw: how the Australian Open draw went for the Russians

As a result of the main draw for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of this season, three Russians and nine Russians learned the names of their closest rivals. The competitions of the strongest tennis players on the planet will start next Sunday and will last until February 1. The main hopes of the Russian fans are connected with Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva, who received experienced and high-class competitors in the first round. The Dutchman Jesper de Jong and the Croatian Donna Vekic will force our guys to play at full capacity.

Men's showdown

The men had no intrigue with the draw — Carlos Alcaraz and Yannick Sinner, almost one hundred percent contenders for the final, were separated at different ends of the grid. These super-players have shared wins in the last eight Grand Slam tournaments, and it will be sensational if even one of them does not make it to the final match this time. However, the Spaniard unexpectedly fired his long-time coach Juan Carlos Ferrero in the offseason, and the Italian, contrary to usual, demonstrated his personal life, appearing everywhere with his beloved Leila Hasanovich. However, all this is unlikely to prevent Carlos and Yannick from arranging a new classic confrontation.

Sinner's grid seems a little simpler. Although the set of possible opponents — Russian Karen Khachanov in the fourth round, ambitious American Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals and the unfading Novak Djokovic in the semifinals — is also a serious test. For comparison, Alcaraz is facing Russian Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina in the fourth round, the rapidly progressing Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan or the idol of the Australian public Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals and last year's finalist Alexander Zverev at the last turn before Yannick. So it's unknown who got lucky. Sensationalism is unlikely, but this is a sport.

As for Medvedev's prospects, he had a difficult tournament path. Maybe it's for the best — a year ago, Daniel suffered two laps with nouns, which became the prologue to a disastrous season. Now our tennis player is entering the "major" after winning the title at a small tournament in Brisbane — a native of Moscow should be in a great mood and on a good move. De Jong, who has completed the first round of the TBS four times, is a strong competitor, although he lacks stars from the sky. This is exactly the kind of opponent you need in order to confidently start a marathon swim at the major. In the third round, Daniil may be met by Poland's Kamil Majchak, with whom our tennis player played quite hard this season, and in the fourth round by Canadian Felix Auger-Alliassim.

The dream of Russian fans is a quarterfinal between Medvedev and Rublev. But given the recent results of our two stars, such an outcome would be an incredible success. Although many experts say that the quarterfinals are now a minimum program for Daniel, in order to emphasize the correctness of the direction of training that he chose after Gilles Servard's dismissal. The first week of the Australian Open will show how realistic such ambitions are. The limit of Medvedev's dreams in the current situation will probably be the semi-finals, but for this he will have to knock Alexander Zverev out of the grid. In previous years, this was a routine task, but lately the Russian German has been much more confident than Daniil.

Medvedev's corner: how the Russian took the title in Brisbane

Daniil secured a lucky draw at the Australian Open, Rublev and Khachanov stopped a step away from the trophy

Women's intrigues

As for the women's tournament, the whole intrigue revolves around Arina Sobolenko. The outrageous Belarusian has been smashing almost everyone in the WTA for a year and a half, but last season she unexpectedly missed out on a number of important titles. Earlier this year, Arina outlined her intentions with a new title in Brisbane, and it's not entirely clear who can stop her in Melbourne. Most likely, Sobolenko is only capable of losing to herself, and not before the finals. In the first round, her victim should be 20-year—old Frenchwoman Tianzoa Rakotomanga, and in the quarterfinals, Italian Jasmine Paolini. Last year's champion, Madison Keys, was seeded only ninth, but as we know, anything is possible in women's tennis.

Mirra Andreeva played one exhibition and one official tournament before Melbourne, and now she is reaching volumes in Adelaide. It cannot be said that the tennis performed by the 18-year-old Russian woman is very impressive, but she continues to praise her coach Conchita Marcines and believes that she is on the right path to overcoming last year's crisis.

"I'm just going to move forward day by day, train and improve," Mirra said at a recent press conference. — I'm doing my best to get better both on and off the court. I like the work that Conchita and I are doing. Our task is to maintain a high level by playing aggressively and without fear of making mistakes.

In the first round, the audience will see a duel between two silver medalists of the 2024 Olympics. Mirra won a medal in Paris in pairs with Diana Schneider, and Croatian Donna Vekic in singles. Now the 29-year-old former Wimbledon semifinalist is recovering from another injury, but she is capable of causing trouble to almost any opponent. Such a competitor is a serious test for Mirra, given that the Russian has relied on preparing for the "major" through playing practice at official tournaments. Andreeva's options are no easier further down the grid, so it will be very difficult for our young star in her current condition to reach the quarterfinals against Coco Gauff. And if that happens, it can be considered a big victory.

Traditionally, there are a lot of Russians in the women's main draw, including recent compatriots who have changed the flag in recent years. But hardly any of them (with the exception of fifth seed Elena Rybakina) has a chance to qualify for the second week of the Australian Open. Ekaterina Alexandrova, who demonstrated serious progress and stability at the end of last year, can become our main hope in Melbourne if Andreeva fails to return to winning ways. Ekaterina's grid still seems simpler, although the prospect of a fourth-round meeting with Jasmine Paolini and a quarterfinal against Sobolenko, of course, leaves a lot of room for imagination.

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The Russians' rivals in the first round

Men

Daniil Medvedev (11) — Jesper de Jong (Netherlands)

Andrey Rublev (13) — Matteo Arnaldi (Italy)

Karen Khachanov (15) — Alex Michelsen (USA)

Women

Mirra Andreeva (8) — Donna Vekic (Croatia)

Ekaterina Alexandrova (11) — qualifier

Lyudmila Samsonova (18) — Laura Siegemund (Germany)

Diana Schneider (23) — Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic)

Anna Kalinskaya (31) — Sonai Kartal (Great Britain)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova — qualifier

Anna Blinkova — Talia Gibson (Australia)

Oksana Selekhmetyeva — Ella Seidel (Germany)

Anastasia Zakharova — Jessica Pegula (USA, 6)