• Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will begin their 2023 seasons in Adelaide and Sydney.
• The pair have won a combined total of 43 Grand Slam championships (Djokovic has 21, Nadal 22).
• Both are aiming to defend their Australian Open titles.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, seasoned pros and fierce competitors, will begin their 2023 seasons this week in Adelaide and Sydney, respectively, with a view toward defending their Australian Open titles.

With a combined total of 43 Grand Slam championships (Djokovic has 21, Nadal has 22), the stage is set for a thrilling matchup at Melbourne Park in January.

Both Nadal and Djokovic have won the Australian Open multiple times, with Nadal being the defending champion.

EPIC 40-shot rally, a taste of what was to come in this final 💪@RafaelNadal v @DaniilMedwed#AusOpen 🔜 #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/jeF7bvIj4T

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) December 7, 2022

Djokovic is making his first trip back to Australia since he was famously arrested and then expelled from the country in the run-up to the 2022 Australian Open for refusing to acquire the Covid-19 vaccine.

After a rocky and abbreviated year in which he missed two majors because to his vaccination status, his pursuit of an incredible 10th Australian Open championship begins at the Adelaide International on Sunday.

Djokovic had been banned from entering Australia before 2025, but the new administration in Canberra overturned the ban, allowing him to compete for more Grand Slam hardware at the site where he had previously won the most.

“Over the years I’ve been incredibly lucky to start very good in Australia, and I love playing there,” the current number five player in the world remarked in Dubai last week, after finishing 2022 with a record-tying sixth ATP Tour Finals title.

After what happened earlier this year, I’m just hoping for a favourable reception there so I can play some excellent tennis and redeem myself.

In Adelaide, he will compete against a strong field that includes world number six Felix Auger-Aliassime, world number seven Daniil Medvedev, and world number eight Andrey Rublev.

Spanish great Rafael Nadal won the Australian Open after defeating Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling five-set match and followed that up with his 14th French Open title in Djokovic’s absence this year.

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