The top stars from the men's circuit have gathered in Melbourne for the Australian Open 2025. The season's first Major will start from this Sunday, January 12. The general consensus has defending champion Jannik Sinner as the top pick to win this year as well after his exploits during the 2024 season.
We asked AI to take a crack at predicting which man will go home with the title this year. Google's Gemini AI had Sinner as the leading contender, followed by his rivals Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. The latter two are also gunning to make history Down Under.
Alcaraz is vying to complete the Career Grand Slam, and could become the youngest to achieve the feat, while Djokovic is bidding to win his record 25th Major title. Three-time Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev was also among the contenders picked by the AI, though it incorrectly labeled him as a former champion in Melbourne. He won his only Major title at the US Open 2021.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune were the other two players who made the cut. The former was the runner-up here two years ago, while the latter is yet to reach a Major final. Given the current state of the tour, it's tough to see someone other than Sinner, Alcaraz, or Djokovic going home with the winner's trophy.
Jannik Sinner gunning to be the fourth player to defend his Australian Open title this century
Winning a Major title is no easy task, and defending it is another matter altogether. Only three men have been able to mount a successful title defense at the Australian Open since the start of the new century.
Andre Agassi was the first to do so by winning back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001. Roger Federer followed him by doing the same in 2006 and 2007, and once again in 2017 and 2018. Novak Djokovic, the most successful player in the history of the tournament, has achieved this feat on three different occasions.
Djokovic won three consecutive titles starting from 2011. His unbeaten run came to an end in 2014 but he was back to his winning ways in 2015, and defended his title the following year as well. He claimed another hat-trick of titles between 2019 and 2021.
Jannik Sinner will now aim to join these legends by winning consecutive titles in Melbourne. This will be his first attempt at defending a Major title, so he's venturing into uncharted territory for now. Even Djokovic wasn't able to defend his very first Major title, and fell to Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals during his title defense here in 2009. The Italian has his task cut out for him, and if he maintains his form from last year, then it will be quite difficult to stop him this time as well.
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