Novak Djokovic has said that Andy Murray should be counted as one of the favourites to win the Australian Open, which gets underway on Monday.

The defending champion believes that the British number one has what it takes to emerge victorious in the tournament despite his problems with injury towards the end of last year.

"Andy, for the last five, six years has been one of the best players in the world," he told reporters.

"In looking at the results that he has made here in Melbourne Park that makes him one of the favourites. We played a little bit in Abu Dhabi.

"He's striking the ball really well. Obviously it's going to take a little bit of time to get into that match play mode. I'm sure that he's going to be just fine."

Djokovic will take on Lukas Lacko of Slovakia in the first round.