Novak Djokovic will soon embark on yet another Australian Open title defense, and he named himself the biggest obstacle to winning yet another trophy.
No player has been as dominant at the Australian Open as Djokovic because the Serbian won the event an incredible ten times. He won basically all of the most recent tournaments in Melbourne except the 2022 edition when he was deported.
Had he played, Djokovic likely would have won that as well, so this campaign could have been a race to a 12th instead of the 11th. In any case, he's widely considered as the most likely to win it all again, though some say it might be the hardest to win in recent years.
Some players like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are more than capable of threatening his title defense ambitions, but in his mind, he is the biggest threat to his title defense.
"Myself always first, and then of course all the other best players in the world. Any player is here with, I'm sure, intention to achieve the dream of winning a Grand Slam. Some players are obviously more expected to go further than some others."
The whole title defense will be somewhat complicated for Djokovic, even though he didn't have the toughest draw. It's actually a pretty decent one with a potential showdown against Ben Shelton, the most exciting match out of his first few.
"It's 128 draw. It's a Grand Slam. We know what Grand Slam represents for our sport. It's where every player wants to play their best tennis. Yeah, it's exciting to be a part of another slam."
He'll begin on Sunday, which is a first for both him and the event, and he will face qualifier Dino Prizmic. That's a very playable entry into the event for the 24-time major winner.
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