Who is Novak Djokovic's first opponent of the 2025 tennis season? All you need to know about the 23-year-old Aussie wildcard

Novak Djokovic is the top seed at the 2025 Brisbane International, a tune-up event to his bid for an 11th Australian Open title in January 2025. The Serb, who is playing at the ATP 250 tournament for the first time since 2009, has received a rather generous first-round match opponent.

World No. 73 Rinky Hijikata will take on the 24-time Major winner in his opener. The Aussie had to take a wildcard entry into the main draw at Brisbane, as his ranking was not in the direct entry cut.

The 23-year-old has achieved his fair share of laurels in singles tennis despite being primarily a doubles specialist. The highlight of his singles ATP Tour-level career includes reaching the fourth round of the 2023 US Open and climbing to a career-high ranking of 62nd in the world in August 2024.

Hijikata has also been dominant on the Challengers circuit, with 10 titles and five runner-up finishes to his name. More recently, he went on a nine-match winning streak between the Sydney and Playford 2 Challenger events before losing to fellow Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Outside of his singles career, Hijikata won the men's doubles title at the 2023 Australian Open partnering with Jason Kubler against all odds. The Aussie also teamed up with countryman Max Purcell to triumph at the ATP 500 tournament in Japan last year. He also reached the semifinal of last year's Shanghai Masters with Cameron Norrie and has reached two more doubles finals on the tour.

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Novak Djokovic and Rinky Hijikata have never met on the ATP Tour

Novak Djokovic looks on during the 2009 Brisbane first-round defeat (Source: Getty)

Novak Djokovic might have his work cut out for him in his first-round match, as he has never played against Rinky Hijikata. That said, the 37-year-old hasn't dropped a first-round outing on tour since the 2018 Barcelona Open, making him the heavy favorite to reach the second round.

Djokovic can then face former World No. 6 Gael Monfils, against whom he owns an unassailable 19-0 head-to-head record, for a place in the third round. Provided the 24-time Major winner navigates through his early-round matches, he is projected to face seventh-seeded Alexei Popyrin, fifth-seeded Sebastian Korda and fourth-seeded Frances Tiafoe en route to the final.

The Serb will be keen on making amends for his last appearance at the Brisbane International, which came in 2009. He was the top seed at the 250-level event back then as well but went out to Ernests Gulbis in straight sets in the first round.