The Australian Open is about to experience its first highlight with the draw for the men’s and women’s draws scheduled for Thursday night in Italy, but this time Sara Errani will be missing from the list of participants. The Italian veteran, 28 years old in April, was aiming for her 12th participation in the first seasonal slam but in the second round of the qualifiers she was eliminated by the Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova, 18 years old in April, and so there are three Italians registered: Jasmine Paolininumber 4 in the world and only seeded, Elisabetta Cocciaretto (n.52) e Lucia Bronzetti (n.77). The men’s patrol is much larger and together with the world number 1 and reigning champion, Jannik Sinnerincludes two other seeded players, Lorenzo Musetti (n.16 Atp) and Flavio Cobolli (n.32), and also Matteo Berrettini, Matteo Arnaldi, Luciano Darderi, Lorenzo Sonego, Fabio Fognini and Gianluca Nardi. Still in the running for a place are Francesco Passaro and Matteo Gigante. To get the pass the first will have to beat the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, while the second the Portuguese Henrique Rocha (n.174). Sinner, at the top of the ranking for 31 weeks and who will make his debut in 2025 directly in Melbourne in the wake of the 14 consecutive victories with which he closed 2024, starts as a great favorite for the encore but the draw will already give an idea of what his position will be path.
The only certainty for the South Tyrolean is that Alex Zverev, no.2 in the world and therefore destined for the opposite side, will not be on his side of the draw, just as no.3 and no.4, Carlos, will not be able to finish together Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz, but one of the two will end up on the blue side, as well as two seeds seeded between 5 and 8: in the order of Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur, with the Russian and the Serbian much more threatening obstacles towards the title race. In the women’s draw, the No. 1 seed, and also the main favorite, is Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. Paolini could end up on his side of the scoreboard or on that of the n.2. Iga Swiatek, while he will certainly avoid Coco Gauff, n.3. Meanwhile, doubts are emerging about the participation in the tournament of Nick Kyrgios, Sinner’s great “opponent”. The Australian, admitted thanks to a wild card as he has been out of action for almost two years due to a series of injuries, has announced that he will not play the planned charity exhibition match with Novak Djokovic due to “a first degree abdominal strain”. , detected by ultrasound. “Now I will rest and do everything to be fit for the Aus Open,” he wrote on social media.