Australian Open 2019: The best Opta Facts as Federer looks to match Djokovic with Melbourne hat-trick
January 12, 2019 09:00 MYT
Roger Federer will start his defence of the Australian Open men's singles title when 2019's first grand slam begins next week.
The Swiss great continued his remarkable renaissance by retaining the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup with victory over Marin Cilic in the final.
He now heads to Melbourne Park with a treble in his sights, the 20-time grand slam champion aiming to achieve a feat only Novak Djokovic has pulled off since the start of the Open Era.
A resurgent Djokovic will do his best to ensure that does not happen and goes into the opening slam of the year as the favourite.
Here, with the help of Opta, we break down the best facts surrounding what looks poised to be a fascinating men's singles competition.
Federer out to replicate Djokovic hat-trick
- Federer won his sixth Australian Open title in 2018, 14 years after his first win at the event; no player has won multiple Australian Open titles over a longer period in the Open Era.
Melbourne @AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/aRoPS046xC
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) January 7, 2019
- Last year Federer won his 20th Grand Slam singles title, the first male player to reach that mark; Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament he has won more often (8 times) than the Australian Open (6).
- The odds are heavily stacked in favour of Federer being in the last four. He has reached at least the semi-final stage in 14 of the last editions of the event.
- Either Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray has been the runner-up in eight of the last nine Australian Open men's finals, Murray losing five times and Nadal three times. Only Cilic in 2018 has also lost an Australian Open final in that span.