Ash Barty’s successor, Ajla Tomljanovic, has been robbed of a precious Australian Open seeding by one week and two rankings spots.The Australian Open has copped a fair few withdrawals in recent days with Naomi Osaka the latest big name to pull out through injury.
Australia’s No.1 female player fell out of the seedings after a knee niggle forced her to withdraw from last week’s United Cup.
The precautionary move could come back to haunt Tomljanovic given she is now vulnerable to drawing a higher-ranked rival – potentially world No.1 Iga Swiatek – as early as the opening round.
AUS OPEN DRAW 2023 IS ON THURSDAY JAN 12 AT 3PM (AEDT)
On the men’s side Nick Kyrgios has been seeded No.20 with Alex de Minaur at No.23.
Both Kyrgios and Tomljanovic suffered by having their stunning Wimbledon results not counted in the rankings after the tournament was stripped of its points following its decision to ban Russian and Belarusian tennis players because of the ongoing Ukraine war.
Kyrgios would have easily been inside the top 20 after finishing runner-up at Wimbledon to Novak Djokovic while Tomljanovic would have been a certainty to be seeded in Australia after a quarter-final appearance at the All England club.
Australia’s leading lady dropped two positions in the rankings this week to world No.35, down from a career-high world No.33 after her stellar 2022 season.
With former world No.1 Simona Halep not contesting the Open, Tomljanovic would have nabbed a seeding had she won a singles match at the United Cup because the new mixed teams’ event offered important ranking points.
Tomljanovic showed she was ready to step up in the absence of the retired Barty, the reigning Open champion, after she became the first Australian female to reach the Wimbledon and US Open quarter-finals since the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1979.
Kyrgios and De Minaur are guaranteed not to come up against top-eight players until at least the last 16.
In the absence of injured world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz, defending champion Rafael Nadal is the men’s top seed with nine-time winner Djokovic named the fourth seed.
Norway’s Casper Ruud is the No.2 seed with Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas at No.3.
Swiatek, the reigning French and US Open champion, leads the women’s seeds from Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur with American Jessica Pegula at No.3.
The Australian Open draw will be revealed at 3pm on Thursday.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DRAW
Osaka, who has not played since September joins Carlos Alcaraz and Venus Williams on the casualty list.
Simona Halep, currently serving a ban for a failed doping test, will not be in Melbourne and neither will Venus Williams who recently handed back a wildcard for the opening slam of the year.
Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from lead up tournaments citing injury while a cloud also hangs over Rafa Nadal, Iga Swiatek and Emma Raducanu.
AUS OPEN DRAW 2023 IS ON THURSDAY JAN 12 AT 3PM (AEDT)
Given Alcaraz’s absence, defending champion Nadal goes into the tournament as the men’s top seed while Swiatek – if fit – will be the women’s No 1.
Novak Djokovic returns to Melbourne Park looking to secure an unprecedented 10th Aus Open title.
Twelve months on from his infamous deportation saga, the Serbian made a winning return to Australia after saving a match point en route to claiming the Adelaide International title in a 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over American Sebastian Korda.
Before his opening clash in Melbourne, Djokovic will play a charity match against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios on Friday at 6:30PM AEDT.
MULLET MAN ON BRINK OF SINGLES BERTH
– LAUREN WOOD
The most famous mullet in Australian tennis is on the brink of a second Australian Open main draw berth.
Wimbledon doubles champion Max Purcell defeated Bosnian Damir Dzumhur to reach the final round of Australian Open qualifying, with the 6-4 7-5 victory what the world No. 204 is hopeful is a key step towards playing at Melbourne Park from Monday.
“It’d be great to get another Aussie into the main draw,” Purcell said.
“I think I’m playing OK.
“It’s not far fetched to see myself in a main draw, particularly in Australia, I don’t think.”
Purcell said he believed “95 per cent of the match was played on my terms”.
“I had a lot of chances to make that a bit more than a single break in the first and the second sets,” he said.
“It took some closing out. I actually think I served the right way on those match points, he just picked it correctly.”
It proved a gruelling day for Australians in the qualifying draw, with Alex Bolt, Marc Polmans, Dane Sweeny and Li Tu all eliminated from the men’s draw.
Astra Sharma and Ellen Perez were both defeated in the women’s draw.
Victorian Destanee Aiava fell narrowly short, eliminated in a super tiebreak in what had hoped to be a fairytale return to tennis.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2023 MEN’S SEEDS
1. Rafael Nadal
2. Casper Ruud
3. Stefanos Tsitsipas
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Andrey Rublev
6. Felix Auger-Aliassime
7. Daniil Medvedev
8. Taylor Fritz
9. Holger Rune
10. Hubert Hurkacz
11. Cameron Norrie
12. Alexander Zverev
13. Matteo Berrettini
14. Pablo Carreno Busta
15. Jannik Sinner
16. Frances Tiafoe
17. Marin Cilic
18. Lorenzo Musetti
19. Karen Khachanov
20. Nick Kyrgios
21. Denis Shapovalov
22. Borna Coric
23. Alex de Minaur
24. Diego Schwartzman
25. Roberto Bautista Agut
26. Dan Evans
27. Miomir Kecmanovic
28. Grigor Dimitrov
29. Francisco Cerundolo
30. Sebasitian Korda
31. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
32. Yoshihito Nishioka
AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2023 WOMEN’S SEEDS
1. Iga Swiatek
2. Ons Jabeur
3. Jessica Pegula
4. Caroline Garcia
5. Aryna Sabalenka
6. Maria Sakkari
7. Coco Gauff
8. Daria Kasatkina
9. Veronika Kudermetova
10. Madison Keys
11. Paula Badosa
12. Belinda Bencic
13. Danielle Collins
14. Beatriz Haddad Maia
15. Petra Kvitova
16. Anett Kontaveit
17. Jelena Ostapenko
18. Liudmila Samsonova
19. Ekaterina Alexandrova
20. Barbora Krejcikova
21. Martina Trevisan
22. Elena Rybakina
23. Zhang Shuai
24. Victoria Azarenka
25. Maria Bouzkova
26. Elise Mertens
27. Irina-Camelia Begu
28. Amanda Anisimova
29. Zheng Qinwen
30. Karolina Pliskova
31. Kaia Kanepi
32. Jil Teichmann
Originally published as Australian open 2023 draw time, date how to watch live: Nick Kyrgios, Novak Djokovic schedule
