Five men to watch at the Australian Open

Novak Djokovic is targeting an 11th Australian Open title and record 25th Grand Slam crown but faces an uphill battle against Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

AFP Sport highlights five potential winners of the first Grand Slam of the year, which begins on Sunday:

Novak Djokovic

He may be 37 but the Serb can never be written off on Melbourne Park’s blue hardcourts, where he has enjoyed enormous success.

Ranked seven in the world, Djokovic won Olympic gold in 2024 but failed to collect a major for the first time since 2017, leaving his bid to better Margaret Court’s all-time 24 Slam titles unfulfilled.

Beaten in the Melbourne semi-finals last year by eventual champion Sinner, he has enlisted the help of long-time rival Andy Murray as coach to try and help him achieve the feat.

Should he do so, it will be his 100th career title, just the third man in the Open era to reach the milestone behind Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103).

Jannik Sinner

The Italian won his maiden Grand Slam title in Australia last year, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final, and went on to establish himself as the undisputed world number one.

He won eight titles in 2024, including his second major at the US Open while making the semis at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Sinner completed a sensational year by leading Italy to a successful defence of the Davis Cup, becoming the first player since Federer in 2005 to go through a season without a defeat in straight sets.

But the 23-year-old’s season was rocked by doping accusations that he denies.

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He is still waiting for the outcome of a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal against his initial exoneration for twice testing positive for