Novak Djokovic won in the great duel of the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, which ended in the Australian dawn of Wednesday (22). The 37-year-old Serbian defeated Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 21, and continued his journey in an attempt to lift the Grand Slam trophy held in Melbourne for the 11th time.
Current number seven in the men’s ranking, he overcame pain in his left leg to achieve a comeback victory over the number three in the world. With high-level tennis at the Rod Laver Arena, at Melbourne Park, he closed the match in 3 sets to 1, partials of 4/6, 6/4, 6/3 and 6/4, in three hours and 37 minutes.
The star’s next match will be against German Alexander Zverev, second on the ATP (Tennis Professionals Association) list. The other side of the bracket will have the quarterfinals held on Wednesday in Australia, with clashes of Jannik Sinner (ITA) x Alex de Minaur (AUS) and Ben Shelton (USA) x Lorenzo Sonego (ITA).
Djokovic now has a 5-3 lead in clashes with Alcaraz, his victim also in the final of the Paris Olympic Games last year. And he is two games away from setting the absolute record for titles in the Grand Slam series, which brings together the four main tennis players. Today, he has 24, the same number obtained by Australian Margaret Court between the 1960s and 1970s.
The Serb called out the public throughout the match, with whom he has a warm relationship, for better or for worse. Deported from Australia in 2022 for not having been vaccinated against Covid-19, he did not like jokes from a local journalist and refused to give an interview at the end of his previous game, in the quarter-finals. This time, there was only applause.
“I won with my two legs and two arms”, he smiled, willing to do a long on-court interview with former player Jim Courier. “Or a leg and a half. I don’t want to reveal too much about the injury, because I’m still in the championship, but the medication worked, it helped. I took another dose… Well, that sounds horrible”, he added, remembering the vaccine saga.
Novak once again expressed his “utmost respect” for Alcaraz and said he had one of his “most epic matches”. Now, he just wants to rest until the duel with Zverev, which will only take place on Friday (24). “The extra day of rest comes at a good time. I’m just thinking about recovery now.
In the women’s group, Russian Aryna Sabalenka, number one in the world, advanced to the semifinals and will face Spain’s Paula Badosa, 12th in the rankings. The other side of the bracket is still in the quarterfinals, which will take place on Australian Wednesday: Madison Keys (USA) x Elina Svitolina (UCR) and Iga Swiatek (POL) x Emma Navarro (USA).
