By Dave Worsley
What fun the Australian Open men’s draw has been so far.
Six-time champion and second seed Novak Djokovic knocked out in the second round by 117th ranked wildcard Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, and then world No.1 Andy Murray beaten in the fourth round by Mischa Zverev - ranked 50th in the world, but certainly not expected to win with
serve and volley.
The last time the top two seeds lost before the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam was in 2004 when Roger Federer lost to Gustavo Kuerten in the third round and No.2 Andy Roddick was beaten by Olivier Mutis in the second round.
It’s the first time the Australian Open has neither top two seeds in the quarters since 2002.
So who is the favourite to win the men’s draw now?
Canadian Milos Raonic is the next highest remaining seed at No.3 and semi-finalist last year. He is a good player but lacks, charisma, personality and charm. Basically he’s boring on and off the court.
He’s injury prone and could play Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.
The other players remaining in that region of the draw are Dominic Thiem who doesn’t have the maturity yet but hits hard, David Goffin, lacking in power, Grigor Dimitrov who has great form but is mentally weak and Istomin is still around, but isn’t a title contender.
The top half of the draw has an in-form Federer facing Zverev where he should be too good, and then it’s Stan Wawrinka who won the tournament in 2014 and has two other Grand Slam titles. He’s played like rubbish so far, but has still made the quarters.
Then there's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a former finalist in Melbourne.
It’s pretty much a field of old men (by tennis standards) in the top side of the draw - Federer at age 35, Zverev 29, Wawrinka and Tsonga both 31.
Everyone would like to see a Federer versus Nadal final, but there are too many things stacked against this. It’s doubtful Federer would get past Wawrinka in his potential semi if each player gets that far.
And Nadal may struggle with the power of Raonic in the quarters. Which means Raonic will go through to probably play Dimitrov in the semi and then the Canadian will move through to the final to play fourth seed Wawrinka, who then wins his second Australian Open title.
That’s how it should work out – however, it’s not what the people want.
Fed v Rafa one last time anyone?
