"Novak has helped Rafa get better" - says John McEnroe
ATP
With just seven days to go until Grand Slam tennis returns for the first time in nearly five months, all eyes will be on Melbourne Park for the 2023 Australian Open.
There are countless stories and subplots bubbling away just waiting to be realised on both the men's and woman's sides of the draw, and those of a tennis-loving persuasion are just days away from being put out of their misery.
As has happened for nearly two decades, most of the focus will travel to defending champion Rafael Nadal and former World No.1 Novak Djokovic, to see which one of the duo, if any, will add another notch on their already remarkable Grand Slam tally.
Nadal, who stunned the sporting world with his victory from two sets down 12 months ago arrives in Victoria State having struggled with injury in the latter part of last year and having already been beaten twice in his opening two matches of 2023.
For Djokovic, it's a return to the tournament that propelled him to his rightful place amongst the games all-time greats and a chance to right the wrongs of a year ago when he was detained and then deported due to his Covid vaccination status.
Eurosport experts John McEnroe and Mats Wilander have been discussing the upcoming event and McEnroe took time to mention the role that Nadal, Djokovic and now-retired Roger Federer played in creating an era that will likely never be seen again.
McEnroe, speaking about Nadal and the way he fights for every point, said:
"It looks like every point he plays is the last point he will ever play. I try to teach that to my kids at my academy every day: if you go out and do that, good things will happen, and he’s the greatest example ever. He’s forced Novak to give more, and he’s better because of it, and then Novak has helped Rafa get better because he doesn’t want Novak to go by him, and that helped Roger, so this was a beautiful thing to watch for the last 10, 15 years."- John McEnroe
Djokovic is clear favourite for the Aussie Open and further showed he is still the man to fear on Australian soil with his performance level in Adelaide.
But Wilander thinks, if fit, Nadal will take encouragement from last year's amazing achievement.
"Rafael Nadal is going to be there from the first point of the year at the Australian Open, I am 100 per cent sure because of the sun, because of the conditions, because having won there is huge. He just has to get there healthy. He is going to be an absolute animal and I'm sure that he is going to play his best tennis. He has a big chance to win the Australian Open, as he does the French Open."- Mats Wilander
