Australian Open 2016: Novak Djokovic huge favourite to win sixth Australian Open

Novak Djokovic (L) of Serbia holds the trophy as he stands next to second place Rafael Nadal of Spain after winning his Qatar Open men’s single tennis final match in Doha, Qatar, January 9, 2016.

Federer, who lost to Djokovic in the finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open past year, was also very impressed by the manner in which Djokovic thumped Nadal. The last time Nadal defeated the Serbian player was the 2014 French Open final.

“I did a few good things, and I’m happy with the victory, being in the first final of the season in the first official tournament is something great”, Nadal said. The second set also witnessed the 14-time Grand Slam champion losing his serve twice.

Djokovic, the number one seed, is the overwhelming favourite having won 21 of his previous 23 matches against the Czech and neither of those two losses were on a hard court as in Doha. I know nobody playing tennis like this ever.

“He played so insane with incredible shots”, said Nadal. Djokovic was the ascendant but, just as Nadal had done in Melbourne, failed to hammer home a 4-2 final-set advantage.

“I saw him play during the whole week”, Nadal said, reports USA Today. “My thoughts are only directed to Melbourne and what I need to do there”, asserted Djokovic, who will be bidding for his sixth title Down Under.

“I know his character, how big of a fighter he is and how hard he works”, the world No. 1 said, adding that “there’s a reason” why the current world No. 5 is one of the greatest of all time.

Despite the injury concern, Djokovic managed to storm into a 16th consecutive final and is now just two short of Ivan Lendl’s Open Era record of 18 in a row.

Prediction: Nadal couldn’t come close to matching Djokovic past year, but there is plenty of reason to think that their first meeting of 2016 will be a lot more competitive. Mayer looked poise to force a third set but struggled with his serves in the 10th game of the set, allowing the top-seeded serve to recover from a 4-5 deficit. He is going to be travelling to Australia with me.

Marchenko kicked off the tournament with a straight-set win against fourth seed David Ferrer, which was followed by another comfortable 6-4, 6-2 victory against Teymuraz Gabashvili.

When these two met at Roland Garros in 2013, another classic ensued – one which had remarkably similar traits to the pair’s 2012 Australian Open clash.

The Serb and the Spaniard wasted no time in renewing their rivalry in 2016, but Djokovic cruised from the start.