TOURNAMENT organisers in Adelaide would have been thrilled at the announcement that world number two and multiple Grand Slam winner, Novak Djokovic had committed to the tournament for 2020. Djokovic leads a host of young guns who are hoping to upset the heavy favourite at the final warm-up tournament prior to the Australian Open.

FAVOURITE:

It is fairly easy to work out the favourite in Adelaide with Djokovic the only top 15 player in the tournament. He is a worthy favourite, and without his usual rivals in Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer there, it would take a special effort from another contender to stop him winning the title. Djokovic finished the year missing out on the ATP Finals semi-finals, but refreshed and ready to go, as well as having warmed up through the ATP Cup, expect Djokovic to come out firing in preparation for the following week’s Grand Slam.

CONTENDERS:

The home crowd favourite will be Australian young gun, Alex De Minaur who is expected to come of age in 2020 and build on his impressive 2019 – including where he won at this corresponding event in Sydney. He has shown he is capable of winning at big tournaments, taking out Sydney as his maiden title last year, before winning at Atlanta and Zhuhai as well. Against top 10 players he won three of seven which was a good start after previously being 0-9. Now a regular on the tour and seeded at each event he plays, De Minaur will be the biggest danger to Djokovic’s crown.

Felix Auger-Aliassime is another young gun who came a long way in 2019, in his first full season in the ATP Tour. He did not win a title, but went 33-23 in the year, after being 6-10 the previous season. Having only played at the two Grand Slams, Auger-Aliassime still has a long way to go in terms of matching it against the elite (2-8 against top 10 players), but he came agonisingly close to a title in 2019, with four finals losses. Twelve months ago the Canadian teenager was ranked 108th, now he sits at 19th.

After an impressive Davis Cup run – where he won all four singles games – Andrey Rublev fronts up at Adelaide where he is expected to play his exciting brand of tennis. He won a title at Kremlin late in 2019, and had a positive win-loss record against the top 10. The 22-year-old Russian also showed composure beyond his years in closing out tight contests, winning 13 of a possible 17 matches when it came to a deciding set. He is a future top 10 player if he continues to improve at the rate that is predicted for him.

DARK HORSE:

Chilian up-and-comer, Cristian Garin is slowly rising up the rankings and is one who would be a good shout as a candidate for a breakout year. Garin went from 10-16 in 2018 on the ATP Tour to 32-24 this year. Garin won 12 of a possible 16 when it came to deciding sets, and while he is a predominant clay court player, his hard court game was okay and plays on confidence, so a good start is critical for him, winning 25 of a possible 29 games in 2019 when winning the first set, and only seven of 27 when losing it.

ROUGHIE:

A seemingly late bloomer at 29-years-old, Brit Daniel Evans rose from 192nd in the world to now a career high of 42nd. Evans has been a player that has yo-yoed up and down the ATP Tour rankings, and while he is yet to win a tournament, he would be a fairytale story if Evans could break through.