Dan Evans or Cameron Norrie could face Rafael Nadal in the third round of the Australian Open
| Conference location: Melbourne Park Events: February 8-21 |
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Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie will play against each other in the first round of the Australian Open.
You are the only British with the men. Kyle Edmund is out due to an injury and Andy Murray is unable to travel due to Covid-19 restrictions.
In the women’s draw, Francesca Jones will make her Grand Slam debut against American Shelby Rogers.
The British number one Johanna Konta, who was placed in 13th place, will face the Slovenian qualification Kaja Juvan first.
The Australian Open – the first Grand Slam of the year – starts on Monday.
The draw has been postponed for 24 hours along with the six warm-up events taking place at Melbourne Park, but the organizers are “absolutely confident” The slam will go on.
The 507 people who were retested for coronavirus after a Hotel employee signed it all returned negative tests.
Who are the British facing?
Francesca Jones, who was born with a rare genetic disease, lost 6-6-3 to French Open semi-finalist Nadia Podoroska this week in the Yarra Valley Classic
The 245th Jones won their place in Melbourne by winning three qualifiers in Dubai last month.
The 20-year-old has a rare genetic condition called ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia syndrome, which means that she was born with three fingers and one thumb on each hand, three toes on the right foot, and four toes on the left foot.
Jones was told she would never play professional tennis, but she defied the doctors and played with a light racket and a very small grip to improve her control.
Heather Watson will play against Czech Kristyna Pliskova, who she defeated in the first round of last year’s tournament Katie Boulter meets the Russian Daria Kasatkina.
Boulter uses their protected ranking to compete in Melbourne after a long break with a back injury.
Evans and Norrie were teammates at the ATP Cup and Davis Cup, but have never met in a single match at the ATP level.
Evans, 30th seed, or Norrie could face Rafael Nadal, world number two, in the third round.
What about the big names?
In the men’s draw, Serbia is number one in the world Novak Djokovic starts its offer for a ninth Australian Open title with record extension against the French veteran Jeremy Chardy.
Djokovic is in the same half of the draw as the US Open champion Dominic Thiem, which he beat in the final in Melbourne last year.
The Austrian Thiem will begin his campaign against the Kazakhs Michail Kukuschkin.
Spanish rival Nadals Preparations for his application for the 21st Grand Slam individual title for men – which would put him off Roger Federer – were hampered this week by a back injury.
The 34-year-old will play against Laslo Djere from Serbia in the opening round.
The American is great in the women’s draw Serena Williams starts against the German Laura Siegemund as she makes another attempt to win a record title in the 24th major individual title.
She could meet Naomi Osaka – widely regarded as a favorite for the title – in the semi-finals, but the Japanese have a tricky game against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova first.
World number one Ashleigh Barty will play her first Grand Slam match in a year against Danka Kovinic from Montenegro.
American defending champion Sofia Kenin starts against the Australian wildcard Maddison Inglis, while the Canadian eighth seed Bianca Andreescu will start her first tournament since October 2019 against Mihaela Buzarnescu from Romania.
Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, withdrew from the warm-up tournaments but said the move was just a precautionary measure after two weeks of quarantine.
