The 23-year-old from Liège, 236th in the world, managed to get through three qualifying rounds while he was only a reserve. For the first time in a Grand Slam final draw, the young Belgian must face one of the players in form at the start of the season, a former 17th in the world. Opelka knocked out Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals in Brisbane last week, however, retiring from the final of the Australian meeting complaining of his back. The American will play for the second time on the circuit against Gauthier Onclin and will seek to erase a defeat suffered in Winston-Salem last year.
Qualified directly for the final draw, David Goffin (ATP 53) will face Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi (ATP 70) in the first round. At 34, he will meet Benjamin Bonzi, 28, for the fourth time. The Liégeois won his three previous duels against the Frenchman, whom he beat in 2021 and 2022 in Montpellier and in 2022 in the Davis Cup.
The Belgian No.1 arrives in Melbourne after a failed preparation, with two defeats in the first round, in Brisbane and Adelaide. After a quarter-final in 2017 and a 3rd round in 2020, Goffin has not won a match in the Australian major since. Beaten in the first round in 2021, 2022 and 2024, he was withdrawn in 2023.
As a reminder, a third Liège resident, Raphaël Collignon (ATP 119), was eliminated in the first qualifying round.
