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Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas brace for Australian Open challenge

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. Photo courtesy of MWTC." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/01/13/02-stefanos-tsitsipas.jpg"/><figcaption>Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. Photo courtesy of MWTC.</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA – World No. 3 Casper Ruud of Norway and World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who are among the 2023 Australian Open (AO) Top 3 seeds, are up for the challenge of contesting the first grand slam of the year.Following the withdrawal of World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain due to a leg injury, Spanish 22-time grand slam champion and World No. 2 Rafael Nadal assumed the top seeding, followed by Ruud and Tsitsipas.Ruud, the 2022 Roland Garros and US Open runner-up, said that he is driven to level up his game this season, especially in the AO and the rest of the grand slams.“I had a good year but I still feel like there is more level in me in a way,” the 24-year-old Norwegian told reporters last month at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/10/23/tennis-jabeur-ruud-still-keen-to-win-a-slam">Ahead of Aussie Open, Jabeur and Ruud still keen to win a slam</a></li></ul>“Australia is obviously where the big points are,” he added. “I’m not saying that this is gonna be the norm… for me to do well in every single grand slam. But it gives you motivation to try to give your best and be physically as well as you can for the grand slams.”Noting the tough competition on the ATP Tour, Ruud revealed that he has to work on being quicker and getting stronger for the Australian summer swing.“I like competing. I like traveling around. I’m still young and my body still feels that I can do it. Let’s see how it goes. I’ve had success over the years, winning several (ATP) 250s throughout the year and getting my ranking up to the position I am. And in the big tournaments, I was able to do better in 2022,” said the former World No. 2.Ruud’s best AO result was a fourth-round finish in 2021. The year after, he pulled out of the slam after suffering an ankle injury during practice.As the No. 2 seed of a slam for the first time, Ruud will be taking on World No. 115 Tomas Machac of Czech Republic, 22, in the first round. Should the higher seeds find success until the fourth round, Ruud is projected to face World No. 9 Taylor Fritz of the United States, 25, in the quarterfinals. For three-time AO semifinalist Tsitsipas, he looks forward to competing this year as a better version of himself.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/01/11/23/djokovic-hot-favorite-for-australian-open-revenge-mission">Tennis: Djokovic hot favorite for Australian Open &#x27;revenge&#x27; mission</a></li></ul>“I really want to have good, deep runs in grand slams and make some sort of an impact on 2023,” declared the 24-year-old Greek.The 2021 Roland Garros finalist said that he has been doing a lot of physical training “to get ready for the new season which will require a different me. The competition is going to be higher.” As the No. 3 seed, Tsitsipas was drawn to face World No. 64 Quentin Halys of France, 26, in the opening round.According to the ATP Tour’s projected quarterfinals lineup by seeding, Tsitsipas could face World No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, 22.Apart from the young stars on the ATP Tour, two formidable opponents in the AO remain to be former World No. 1 aces Nadal, 36, and 21-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 35.When asked about the AO return of Djokovic following his deportation last year due to his COVID-19 unvaccinated status, Tsitsipas commented, “There are not going to be any shortcuts anymore. So everyone needs to be prepared, everyone needs to be ready for a long, tiring season, including me as well.” In the first round, defending champion Nadal will face World No. 40 Jack Draper of Great Britain, 21, while nine-time AO winner Djokovic will play against World No. 79 Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain, 29.The tennis legends could face Russians in the projected quarters: Nadal in a possible 2022 AO final rematch with World No. 8 Daniil Medvedev, 26, and Djokovic in a potential clash against World No. 6 Andrey Rublev, 25.The AO main draw competition will run from January 16 to 29 at Melbourne Park, Victoria.<div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ndfm_Ge-l_w?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

MANILA – World No. 3 Casper Ruud of Norway and World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who are among the 2023 Australian Open (AO) Top 3 seeds, are up for the challenge of contesting the first grand slam of the year.