{"id":77885,"date":"2025-01-12T01:01:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-12T06:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=77885"},"modified":"2025-01-12T17:31:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T22:31:52","slug":"australian-open-day-2-predictions-djokovic-basavareddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/12\/australian-open-day-2-predictions-djokovic-basavareddy\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open Day 2 Predictions Including Novak Djokovic vs Nishesh Basavareddy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic is hoping his new <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/12\/02\/novak-djokovic-hiring-andy-murray\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">partnership with Andy Murray<\/a> will yield more Grand Slam Titles, Djokovic is not ready to retire and is trying to revive his career, as he faces off with a new generation of talent in men&#8217;s tennis. His first match at the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/australian-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Australian Open<\/a> will be against the in-form Nishesh Basavareddy. Our panelists have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/predictions\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">predictions<\/a> for every Day 2 match.<\/p>\n<p>We split the rest of Monday&#8217;s matches in Melbourne between six other articles. They feature <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/12\/australian-open-day-2-predictions-alcaraz-shevchenko\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Carlos Alcaraz vs Alexander Shevchenko<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/12\/australian-open-day-2-predictions-sinner-jarry\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Jannik Sinner vs Nicolas Jarry<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/12\/australian-open-predictions-fognini-dimitrov\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Fabio Fognini vs Grigor Dimitrov<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/12\/australian-open-predictions-tsitsipas-michelsen\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Alex Michelsen<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/12\/australian-open-day-2-predictions-rinderknech-tiafoe\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Arthur Rinderknech vs Frances Tiafoe<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/12\/australian-open-day-2-predictions-kyrgios-fearnley\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Nick Kyrgios vs Jacob Fearnley<\/a>. Who do you think will advance to Round 2?<\/p>\n<h2>Australian Open Day 2 Predictions<\/h2>\n<h3>Jan-Lennard Struff vs Felix Auger-Aliassime<\/h3>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2193374577\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.498314% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2193374577?et=Zg6i1DGlSCNVYTnbXhGkeg&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=aG9knIO_18_RA2RsZAjBdGnR8SWqmiHmQeFvZra1rrM=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"395\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Steen Kirby: Struff&#8217;s 29 Tour-level wins last year was a career best, Auger-Aliassime just won the Adelaide title and is showing some great form. He was 30-24 last season and is making some significant improvements in his game lately, Auger-Aliassime should have an advantage if he&#8217;s not exhausted.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Auger-Aliassime in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Liam McBride: Fresh off his first-ever outdoor ATP Title, Auger-Aliassime will be looking to carry over this form onto the Grand Slam stage. The Canadian showed so much promise in 2022 but has suffered a difficult couple of seasons since. Struff has the capability to cause an upset. His massive serve and forehand can on occasion be extremely difficult to contain. This will be a fascinating tie, with a slight upset at the end of it.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Struff in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Damian Kust: Auger-Aliassime just won the title in Adelaide and that can be interpreted two ways. His best start of the season in a while, but also plenty of fatigue coming off a title. Historically, the players doing well right before the Australian Open tend to struggle in Melbourne. Considering he\u2019s inconsistent and has a tough first-round opponent\u2026<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Struff in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Jordan Thompson vs Dominik Koepfer<\/h3>\n<p>Steen: Thompson has never found success at the Australian Open, but he remains a hope for home fans. His fitness is in question, his last match he suffered an injury to his calf, and there was questions about whether he would withdrawal from the tournament. Koepfer is outside of the top 100 but he came through qualifying and can be a threatening player at times. If this match continues, Koepfer should prevail due to his fitness advantage.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Koepfer in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Liam: Thompson was forced to retire at the Brisbane International, so it&#8217;s not certain what version of him will turn up to face Koepfer. However, the home favorite serve-and-volleyer has experience at this level and has been draining every bit of potential out of his game in the past twelve months. Koepfer hasn&#8217;t won a Grand Slam singles match in three years and has shown little to suggest that&#8217;s about to change.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Thompson in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Damian: Koepfer had one of the least impressive qualifying displays, but considering he was recently injured it\u2019s just more important for him to get that result and more match practice in. Usually he\u2019d have a fine shot at the upset, just tough to trust that he\u2019ll raise his level by this much in merely a few days since the end of the qualifying competition.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Thompson in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Novak Djokovic vs Nishesh Basavareddy<\/h3>\n<p>Steen: The 19-year-old Basavareddy is playing the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/11\/nishesh-basavareddy-djokovic-clash-generations\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">best tennis of his life<\/a>, but a matchup with Djokovic means you are always facing long odds at an upset. The Auckland semifinalist won 41 Challenger Tour matches last year with two titles. Djokovic lost in the quarterfinals of Brisbane and is still recovering his fitness and form. Basavareddy will push him in this matchup, but if Djokovic is fit enough he&#8217;s still the favorite.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Djokovic in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Liam: A real clash of the generations here, with Djokovic nearly double his opponent&#8217;s age. After his first year without a Grand Slam since 2017, the Serb will be desperate to reinstate his place at the top of tennis. Truthfully, it feels as though that ship has sailed but he should find no issue against Basavareddy. The 19-year-old is one for the future and deserves plaudits for reaching the Auckland semifinal. Ultimately though, the twenty-four-time Grand Slam champion will be in a different league.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Djokovic in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Damian: Narratively it\u2019s a very fun match as Basavareddy has modeled parts of his game after Djokovic. The backhand in general, redirecting skills, aggressive returns. They have similar tools, just utilize them differently in terms of their playstyles. But while it\u2019s going to be great to look at them next to each other, it\u2019s also likely going to be a blowout.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Djokovic in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Alejandro Tabilo vs Roberto Carballes Baena<\/h3>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2193039731\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2193039731?et=jph9uNObS4RHhSgib3Zl1g&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=V3G1NJE5GFAaYBoMEk2tCZ2Gt0xGHVJghNNCcxpLzWo=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Steen: A quarterfinalist in Auckland who won a career best 25 ATP matches last year, RCB put together a really good season on both the ATP and ATP Challenger Tour and is not going to be an easy opponent in round 1. Tabilo won 33 tour level matches last year but struggles outside of clay, so I&#8217;ll go with the upset between the two clay courters.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Carballes Baena in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Liam: There will be a great contrast of styles on show. Tabilo uses touch and his spin-filled left-handed ground strokes to make his opponents uncomfortable. On the other hand, there is little unusual about Carballes Baena&#8217;s game. Respectfully, it&#8217;s very basic and textbook like. Both sit in a similar position in the tennis world though, and will enjoy one enticing battle.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Tabilo in 5<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Damian: Tabilo lost two tight matches to start 2025 and overall doesn\u2019t seem to be at a high point right now. Getting Carballes Baena is still a nice draw, but it\u2019s not like the Spaniard can\u2019t dig deep and make the other player work for it. The Chilean is still the favorite, even if it might take him a long while to get going here.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Tabilo in 4<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic is hoping his new partnership with Andy Murray will yield more Grand Slam Titles, Djokovic is not ready to retire and is trying to revive his career, as he faces off with a new generation of talent in men&#8217;s tennis. His first match at the Australian Open will be against the in-form Nishesh [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1442,"featured_media":71448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[42694,10346,16049,205,2363,7047,15514,1219,15554,4224,15612,1661,15493,41696,42680,22,15556,4730,15501,2373,2369],"class_list":["post-77885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-2025-australian-open","tag-alejandro-tabilo","tag-alejandro-tabilo-predictions","tag-australian-open","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-dominik-koepfer","tag-dominik-koepfer-predictions","tag-felix-auger-aliassime","tag-felix-auger-aliassime-predictions","tag-jan-lennard-struff","tag-jan-lennard-struff-predictions","tag-jordan-thompson","tag-jordan-thompson-predictions","tag-nishesh-basavareddy","tag-nishesh-basavareddy-predictions","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-novak-djokovic-predictions","tag-roberto-carballes-baena","tag-roberto-carballes-baena-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78028,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77885\/revisions\/78028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}