Novak Djokovic will lead next week'sVanda Pharmaceuticals Hellenic Championship in Athens. The 24-time Major winner will seek his second ATP 250 title of the season and his 1010st ATP crown.
While a couple of strong players have withdrawn, the Serb will still have to work hard to score four wins and lift a trophy. Karen Khachanov, Jiri Lehecka, Jakub Mensik, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Joao Fonseca will miss Athens.
That opens the door for the veteran, who will open the campaign against Alejandro Tabilo or Adam Walton. Djokovic is 0-2 against Tabilo, losing both matches against the Chilean on clay in the previous two seasons.
Djokovic would love to see Adam Walton on the other side of the net, although he should have the edge over Tabilo on an indoor court if he provides his best tennis and play without physical issues that have bothered him in the previous weeks.
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If he passes the first obstacle, Novak will face Laslo Djere, Nuno Borges or Stefanos Sakellaridis in the quarter-final. Nuno Borges should be the favorite in that group and arrange his first encounter against the legend.
Brandon Nakashima and Fabian Marozsan lead the second quarter-final. Reilly Opelka, the young Bulgarian Ivan Ivanov, Marcos Giron and Pedro Martinez are their rivals. Some of them will face Novak in a potential semi-final.
The Serb would love to avoid Opelka, who stunned him in Brisbane at the beginning of the season. Nakashima is a fine baseliner, but the Belgrade native should find a way to win that potential match if he moves well and endures the exchanges.
The mentioned players could trouble Novak en route to the final. If the 38-year-old gets there, he will have to embrace another challenging duel en route to the trophy.
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Lorenzo Musetti entered the draw after chasing a spot at the ATP Finals. Luciano Darderi, Alexandre Muller and Alexei Popyrin are also among the seeded players and the favorites to reach the final.
Sebastian Korda, Jacob Fearnley, Kamil Majchrzak, Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Martin Etcheverryand Botic van de Zandschulp are also in contention.
