2021 Australian Open – Men's singles explained

Champ:	Novak Djokovic
Runner:	Daniil Medvedev
Score:	7–5, 6–2, 6–2
Draw:	128 (16 / 8)
Seeds:	32

See main article: 2021 Australian Open.

Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic^[1] defeated Daniil Medvedev in the final, 7–5, 6–2, 6–2 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 2021 Australian Open.^[2] It was his record-extending ninth Australian Open title and his 18th major title overall.^[3] With his fourth round win against Milos Raonic, Djokovic joined Roger Federer as only the second man with 300 or more match wins in majors.^[4] ^[5]

This marked the first major main-draw appearance for future world No. 1 and four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz; he lost to Mikael Ymer in the second round. At 17 years old, Alcaraz became the youngest man to win a main-draw match at the Australian Open since Bernard Tomic in the 2009 Australian Open, defeating fellow qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp in the previous round.

Aslan Karatsev became the first male qualifier to reach a major semifinal since Vladimir Voltchkov in the 2000 Wimbledon Championships, and the first since Bob Giltinan in December 1977 to do so at the Australian Open.^[6] He was also the lowest-ranked player to reach a major semifinal since Goran Ivanišević (ranked 125) at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships, the lowest ranked to do so at the Australian Open since Patrick McEnroe (also ranked 114) in 1991, and the first man to reach a major semifinal in the Open Era on his main draw debut.^[7]

This was the first major in the Open Era to feature three Russian men in the quarterfinals, those being Karatsev, Medvedev and Andrey Rublev.

Seeds

All seedings per ATP rankings.^[8]

Draw

Top half

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 8

Ranking

The following are the seeded players. Seedings are based on ATP rankings as of 1 February 2021. Rankings and points before are as of 8 February 2021.

Seed	Rank	Player	Points before	Points defending	Points won	Points after	Status
1	1	Novak Djokovic	12,030	2,000	2,000	12,030	Champion, defeated Daniil Medvedev [4]
2	2	Rafael Nadal	9,850	360	360	9,850	Quarterfinals lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas [7]
3	3	Dominic Thiem	9,125	1,200	180	9,125	Fourth round lost to Grigor Dimitrov [18]
4	4		8,695	180	1,200	9,735	Final lost to Novak Djokovic [1]
5	6	Stefanos Tsitsipas	5,940	90	720	6,595	Semifinals lost to Daniil Medvedev [4]
6	7	Alexander Zverev	5,615	720	360	5,615	Quarterfinals lost to Novak Djokovic [1]
7	8	Andrey Rublev	4,429	180	360	4,609	Quarterfinals lost to Daniil Medvedev [4]
8	9	Diego Schwartzman	3,480	180	90	3,480	Third round lost to Aslan Karatsev [Q]
9	10	Matteo Berrettini	3,345	45	180	3,480	Fourth round withdrew due to abdominal strain
10	12	Gaël Monfils	2,860	180	10	2,860	First round lost to Emil Ruusuvuori
11	11	Denis Shapovalov	2,830	10	90	2,910	Third round lost to Félix Auger-Aliassime [20]
12	13	Roberto Bautista Agut	2,710	90	10	2,710	First round lost to Radu Albot
13	15	David Goffin	2,600	90	10	2,600	First round lost to Alexei Popyrin [WC]
14	14	Milos Raonic	2,630	360	180	2,630	Fourth round lost to Novak Djokovic [1]
15	16	Pablo Carreño Busta	2,585	90	90	2,585	Third round retired against Grigor Dimitrov [18]
16	17	Fabio Fognini	2,535	180	180	2,535	Fourth round lost to Rafael Nadal [2]
17	18	Stan Wawrinka	2,365	360	45	2,365	Second round lost to Márton Fucsovics
18	21	Grigor Dimitrov	2,260	45	360	2,575	Quarterfinals lost to Aslan Karatsev [Q]
19	20	Karen Khachanov	2,290	90	90	2,290	Third round lost to Matteo Berrettini [9]
20	19	Félix Auger-Aliassime	2,346	10	180	2,516	Fourth round lost to Aslan Karatsev [Q]
21	23	Alex de Minaur	2,065	0	90	2,155	Third round lost to Fabio Fognini [16]
22	25	Borna Ćorić	1,855	10	45	1,890	Second round lost to Mackenzie McDonald [PR]
23	27	Dušan Lajović	1,785	90	180	1,875	Fourth round lost to Alexander Zverev [6]
24	28	Casper Ruud	1,739	10	180	1,909	Fourth round lost to Andrey Rublev [7]
25	29	Benoît Paire	1,738	45	10	1,738	First round lost to Egor Gerasimov
26	30	Hubert Hurkacz	1,735	45	10	1,735	First round lost to Mikael Ymer
27	31	Taylor Fritz	1,695	90	90	1,695	Third round lost to Novak Djokovic [1]
28	33	Filip Krajinović	1,673	45	90	1,718	Third round lost to Daniil Medvedev [4]
29	34	Ugo Humbert	1,671	10	45	1,706	Second round lost to Nick Kyrgios
30	26	Dan Evans	1,794	45	10	1,794	First round lost to Cameron Norrie
31	35	Lorenzo Sonego	1,588	10	45	1,623	Second round lost to Feliciano López
32	36	Adrian Mannarino	1,561	10	90	1,641	Third round lost to Alexander Zverev [6]