 Alright, so the men's Australian Open Draw has officially come out and it is looking very very hard for the defending champion But let's start with the withdrawals from the men's side. Not too many on the couple on the men's side Only a couple we've got Monfice. He's pulled out. Matrizak has also pulled out. Opelka's pulled out Elkres is also pulled out Which was the biggest name on the men's side to pull out the number one in the world and Chilich has also pulled out in The last couple of days due to a knee injury. Alright, let's start at the top of the draw here with Rafa Nadal The number one seed of course 32 seeds in this one No one gets a buy in the first round and Rafa takes on Draper in the first round That is tough. That is really tough for Rafa Nadal winner of that match takes on either Nakashima or McDonald in the second round Then we've got Munar taking on qualifier winner of that match takes on either Ema or Nishioca the 31st seed in the second round Possible 31st versus 1st Nishioca Nadal third round then you've got Hashinov the 18th seed taken on Morales Winner of that match takes on either Baez or Kubla who's been in good form lately in that second round Then you've got Otto versus a qualifier winner of that match takes on either Altmaier or number 16 seed Tiafo in the second round Tiafo Rafa possible fourth round replay of the US Open from last year where Tiafo beat Nadal and upset him in that fourth round That's tough. That's very tough for Rafa in that fourth round if he gets that far like I said Draper's no cakewalk in the first Okay, let's get the next part of this draw because it gets even scarier Hercash number 10 seed takes on Martin as in the first round winner of that takes on either Senego or Borgus in the second round then you've got a qualifier taken on Daniel winner of that match takes on either Lyovic or the number 20 seed Shapovalov in the second round Then you've got Korda the 29th seed taken on Garin winner of that match takes on either a qualifier or Rindanish in the second round then you get the wild card Milman taken on Huzla winner of that match takes on either Giron the number seven seed Mevadev who's in the same quarter as Nadal in the second round there So possible third round between Korda and Mevadev possible fourth round between Shapo Medi between hercash Mevadev and of course the quarter finals could be Nadal versus Mevadev It could be Nadal versus Shapovalov again like last year It could be even be Korda versus Nadal which is no cakewalk either So very tricky section of the draw for Rafa Nadal. Alright, let's go next quarter of the draw We've got the number three seed City pass taking on Hallis in the first round winner of that takes on either a qualifier or Hitchikata in the second round then we've got Gricksport taken on Koli winner of that match takes on either a Vashka or the number 32 seed benders actual in the second round that we've got Moussetti the number 17 seed taken on Harris Winner of that takes on either Corja or Fucovic in the second round now Fucovic has done well in Australia in the past so maybe someone to watch out for then you got Echeverry taking on Barre winner of that match takes on either Edmund made a semi-final back five years ago I think he takes on Sinner the number 15 seed in the first round so Sinner City pass fourth round And I think they played fourth round last year if I'm not mistaken or maybe quarter finals last year either way That could be a really fun matchup. Unfortunately Sinner is a little a little hurt though He's a little under the weather injury wise So let's see if you can get through those first matches and then maybe set up that city pass fourth round All right next part of the draw here We've got the number 11 seed Nori taking on Van Aishe the Frenchman in the first round Winner of that takes on either Montero or Lesdien in the second then we've got you banks taken on Kwan Winner of that match takes on either Le Hedgeka or the number 21 seed Chorich That's a very fun first round matchup Then you got Serendolle the number 28 seed taking on Palla winner that match takes on either Mouté or the wild card Wu in the second round then we've got Molchan taking on Vavrenka That's a fun first round winner of that takes on either Pospasoul or the number six seed Felix Ozealia Seem Very fun matchup in the second round potentially between Felix and Vavrenka very very fun If we're gonna go for the fourth round matches, it could be Chorich versus Felix Ozealia Seem It could be Nori versus FAA and of course this section of the draw will take on the city pass part So quarter final between FAA and city pass possibly FAA and Sinner, city pass Chorich Or even city pass Nori in the quarter finals very fun matchups And of course this section of the draw will take on the rafter section in the semi-finals So maybe we get Nadal taking on city pass by ranking if that happens We could be getting Mehvedev city pass We could be getting Ozealia Seem versus Nadal or Mehvedev and a bunch of other matchups But man, it is a very top-heavy draw just like the ladies draw very very top-heavy Andre Rubelev the number 5 seed taking on Dominic team the wild card. That is wild That is a wild first round matchup We're gonna be watching that for sure Epic matchup to start the tournament Winner of that takes on either a qualifier or russivori in the second round Then we've got Galen taking on Shadi Winner of that match takes on either Bagnes or the number 25 seed Evans in the second round Then we've got the number 19 seed Kiryos taking on Sefulin Tough first round matchup there for Keegs Sefulin played well here this time last year Winner of that takes on either Gaskay or Umbair in the second round So Kiryos Umbair certified 5-setter as we've seen it many times over the last couple years Then you've got Kresi taking on Ramas Finoles Winner of that match takes on either Kriyanovic for the number 9 seed Runa in the second round So Runa versus Kiryos third round Kiryos Rubelev fourth round potentially Next part of the draw Pablo Kirinobusta at a 14 seed takes on Kashiin in the first round Winner of that takes on either a qualifier or Bonsi in the second Then you've got Izner versus Matarino Winner of that match takes on either another qualifier or the number 22 seed Diminor in the second round Diminor is going to nice draw there Then you've got the number 27 seed Dimitrov taking on Karatsov Which two years ago was a 5-setter at this event So that could be epic Winner of that match takes on either a qualifier or Jera in the second round Then we've got a qualifier taken on Dilian Winner of that takes on either Bayana or the number 4 seed Djokovic in the second round Djokovic Dimitrov third round Kirinobusta Djokovic fourth round but again I think Nolei likes his draw He's got a very good draw compared to Rafa for example Quarterfinal opponent potentially we've got Rubelev taking on Djokovic We could have Runa versus Djokovic in the quarterfinals or even Kiryos versus Djokovic In the quarterfinals Quarterfinals onwards are going to be tough for Nolei But he has got a good start to the week With those first couple opponents I would say are very winnable And the final section of the draw the final quarter we've got Fritz Number 8 seed taken on Basilashvili Winner of that takes on either Seng or Popperin in the second round Then we've got Shelton taking on Zhang Winner of that takes on either a qualifier or Kichmenovic The 26th seed in the second round Then we've got Schwartzman the 23rd seed taking on a qualifier Winner of that match takes on either JJ Wolf or Thompson in the second round That's a fun first round Then you've got Gophane versus a qualifier Winner of that match takes on either another qualifier Or Alexander Zverev the number 12 seed And Zverev's got a nice draw But unfortunately he's not 100% backed yet But we could have Fritz versus Zverev Fourth round opponent potentially If we're going by the seeds Kichmenovic also played well here last year In Djokovic's absence So maybe keep an eye on Kichmenovic as well He could play Zverev or maybe even go past Fritz In past Zverev and get to the quarterfinals But pretty open draw there I'd say obviously Fritz the favourite And the final section of the men's draw We've got Berettini number 13 seed taken on Andy Murray Okay, alright We'll watch that That's pretty epic Huge first round match and it gets bigger from there Because Kokonakis and Vanini Will play to play the winner of Murray versus Berettini So first second rounds there are going to be fun In that little section Two qualifiers are going to go at it Winner of that qualifier battle Will take on either Souza or the 24th seed Batista Ragu Then we've got Devadovic Fakina the 30th seed Taken on Bublik Winner of that takes on either a qualifier Or Paul in the second round Then we've got O'Connell taken on Brooksby Winner of that takes on either Machak Or the number two seed Casper Rude In the second round This bottom section is wide open You know Rude, he hasn't been great this year so far Been a little bit sketchy He lost last week in Auckland in an upset Berettini Murray, I mean that's epic Berettini could get through this section This could be the Berettini section If he can get through Murray And possibly Kokonakis And of course this section of the draw Will take on the Fritz section So we could get Rude versus Fritz If we're going to base it off ranking We could get Berettini versus Fritz as well Or we could get Zverev versus Berettini Which would be an epic quarterfinal Either way it's an open section I feel like we could get maybe a random player Out of this section But I'm thinking it might be Berettini Of course the semifinalists Between this section and the section above We could be getting Rude taking on Djokovic Based on the seeds Djokovic-Berettini Djokovic versus Fritz Maybe Djokovic versus Zverev If we're going to keep on putting Djokovic in the semi I think Djokovic You know Rubelev's also up there But I think Djokovic He loves it He's got to love this draw So there it is The Australian Open draw for 2023 for the men And like I said with the women's draw It's very top heavy That top section with the number one seed is Rafa Nadal Very very tough As it was tough for Shriontek as well But let me know down in the comments below If you're watching this later Who do you think is going to win the Australian Open? Do you think it is Djokovic's to lose now? Because even though he's injured He does have a pretty good draw And he avoided the big guns Being Medvedev in that quarter final And obviously Nadal until the final So he doesn't have to play those two very tough players Until the very last match I'm sticking with Djokovic I mean I can't not pick him Baratini is a dark horse But definitely Djokovic For me it's his to lose