The Serbian star is the headliner on the opening day of this year's tournament, as he takes on Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic during the night session – and his main rival is already considering dethroning the Australian Open kingpin in this year's final.
Djokovic's first-round match will conclude a busy day for the rankings, with Andrey Rublev, Maria Sakkari, Jannik Sinner, Madja Linette and Frances Tiafoe taking to the court for a strong start.
Follow every big talking point and takeaway from day one below.
7.45am: Major change for the global No.1
Written by Rebecca Williams
Although she has been ranked No. 1 the past two years, Iga Swiatek made some minor technical adjustments to her serve before the Australian Open, which she said actually looked “natural.”
Surprisingly, she said it was a move that had been nearly 18 months in the making – and one that had been postponed due to the 2022 US Open win coming as a shock to the Polish star.
“We've been planning to do this for a long time now. It's hard to find the right time, especially when we wanted to do it last year, but suddenly I won the US Open. We were like, 'Why do it after winning a Grand Slam?'” Swiatek said. “.
“The timing was very difficult. We also tried to change something after Wimbledon last year. This time I knew I was ready to stick with it and not go back to my old move, my previous move.
“I mean it's not a big change…. It was enough for me to have a couple of weeks, yeah, to be fully committed, and not allow myself to go back to the old movement.
“I feel like this is natural to me, especially because I served this way when I was younger. It's tighter and smoother — I hope. And that was the goal at least.”
“I think anyone who analyzes my serves can see that the movement, sometimes it wasn't smooth enough. Sometimes when I was getting tighter, it got a little bit worse. Hopefully we can avoid that with my new serve.”
7.20am: Big matches to watch today
7.00am: Can Alcaraz dethrone the king of Melbourne Park?
Written by Chris Kavanagh
The next-generation tennis star who destroyed Novak Djokovic's quest to win all four Grand Slam titles last year says he is ready to dethrone the king of the Australian Open.
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz – currently ranked second in the world behind Djokovic – is on the other side of the draw to the 10-time Melbourne Park champion, putting the pair on a potential collision course for the final.
Alcaraz missed the Australian Open last year after suffering a hamstring injury during training, but he reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros and the US Open, in addition to defeating Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
The Wimbledon title was the rising star's second Grand Slam title, after being eliminated from the US Open in 2022.
“I am an ambitious man,” Alcaraz said on Saturday.
“I always want to play against the best players in the world to see my level and obviously playing against him (Djokovic) in the tournament is a good test as he is almost unbeaten (in it).”
“I'm looking forward to getting to the final and hopefully playing the final against him. It would be great, obviously.
“Knowing these stats (Djokovic’s record in Melbourne) is definitely an extra incentive.”
Alcaraz, dubbed a “complete player” by seven-time Grand Slam winner and tennis commentator John McEnroe, won 65 of 77 matches on the ATP Tour last year.
The 20-year-old, who considers Rafael Nadal his hero, was the youngest player ever to reach the world No. 1 ranking during the 2022 season.
However, he says he's “not perfect” yet and is striving to take another step forward in his game this year.
“I think everyone can be better,” Alcaraz said.
“I have to improve a lot of things on and off the field as well.
“I've prepared well coming into this year. I think now we have to improve on the things I didn't do well last year, for example, and try to be better with my team and myself.
“But I think this year will be good.”
Alcaraz said it would be “more than wonderful” to repeat the 2023 season in 2024, which begins with him facing French veteran Richard Gasquet in the first round of the Australian Open.
Like a number of players, Alcaraz opted to extend his off-season rather than compete in a preliminary tournament in Australia ahead of the first major tournament of the year.
“I would rather have a holiday and spend my days recovering my body and my mind as well,” he said.
“We also discussed with my team that we need about four or five weeks of pre-season to be well prepared this season.
“I'm a guy who doesn't need a lot of competition before a big tournament.
“I think I'm ready to do good things here at the Grand Slams.”
