Men's Singles | |
---|---|
2017 Australian Open | |
Champion | Roger Federer |
Runner-up | Rafael Nadal |
Final score | 6–4, 3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–3 |
Novak Djokovic was the two-time defending champion, but lost in the second round to Denis Istomin. It was the first time since the 2008 Wimbledon Championships that Djokovic failed to make it past the second round of a major and the first time since the 2006 Australian Open that he failed to make it to the third round in Melbourne.
Roger Federer won his fifth Australian Open title, and 18th Major title overall, defeating Rafael Nadal in the final in five sets. With the win, Federer became the first male player to win three Grand Slam titles at least five times (five at the Australian Open, seven at Wimbledon and five at the US Open).
This was the first Grand Slam tournament in which Andy Murray started as World No. 1 and top seed. Murray retained the top ranking despite losing to Mischa Zverev in the fourth round, because second seeded Djokovic needed to win the tournament to regain the top seed, but lost in the second round. This was the first time since the 2004 French Open that the top two men's seeds both failed to make it past the fourth round of a major.
This was also the first Grand Slam tournament since the 2002 US Open in which Federer was ranked outside the top ten. He went on to reach and win the final of the tournament, making him the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam final since Ken Rosewall made the 1974 US Open final at the age of 39, and the oldest Slam champion since Rosewall won the 1972 Australian Open at 37. Federer is also the second-oldest man to win a Grand Slam winning 7 best-of-five-sets matches, behind Rosewall and his victory at the 1970 US Open which he won just shy of the age of 36.