Australian Open: Novak Djokovic removed from the draw – these players benefit from the expulsion of the stars

It is only the fourth time since the beginning of the Open Era in tennis in 1968 that a Grand Slam tournament has to take place at short notice without the number one seed.

This was last the case in 2009 when Rafael Nadal was absent from Wimbledon. In the 1999 season there were two such cases: Marcelo Rios did not start at the Australian Open, Pete Sampras had to do without the US Open – especially from a sporting point of view, severe losses for the tournaments.

This is no different in the case of Djokovic.

“Regardless of how this point was reached, Novak is one of the greatest champions of our sport and his absence from the Australian Open is a loss for the game,” said the professional organization ATP.

EurosportExpert Barbara Schett, who reached Melbourne’s round of 16 four times, also described the absence of the record tournament winner as a “sporting loss”.

The bad luck of the number one in the world is now helping the number 150 in the ranking to be lucky. Salvatore Caruso failed in the last qualifying round 4: 6, 3: 6 at the Japanese Taro Daniel.

Djokovic judgment has an impact on Zverev

As a lucky loser, he is now replacing Djokovic. The 29-year-old’s best result in Melbourne is last year’s second round.

And the Djokovic case could also have an impact – at least indirectly – on Germany’s hopeful Alexander Zverev.

As number three in the world, the Hamburger was positioned in the same half of the tableau as the Serb. If the two top players had filled their roles as favourites, they would have met head-to-head in the semi-finals.

Zverev’s chances of winning the first Grand Slam title of his career have increased a little.

Podcast Das Gelbe vom Ball – Becker looks ahead to the Australian Open