Novak Djokovic is on a mission and nothing can stop him. Not even a torn abdominal oblique muscle which is exactly what he suffered in his third-round victory over American, Taylor Fritz, at the Australian Open.
“I was quite worried. [It] did not look realistic that I could actually play. I didn’t know until two hours before the fourth-round match. That’s when I stepped on the court and played for the first time since the third round,” Djokovic said. “The pain was at the level that was bearable for me. I just accepted the fact that I’m going to have to play with the pain.”
And play he did in defeating Milos Raonic (7-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4), Alexander Zverev (6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6), Aslan Karatsev (6-3, 6-4, 6-2), and lastly the hottest player on the Tour, Daniil Medvedev (7-5, 6-2, 6-2) in the final. All of those wins came after his injury and many are speculating what the scores would have looked like had Djokovic been healthy. Bookmaker a betting site declared him the favorite before the tournament started and he did not disappoint his backers.
This was his ninth Australian title and the 33-year-old Serbian now has 18 Grand Slam titles to his credit, trailing only Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He has two goals in his sights, one of which is being the longest-running No. 1 player in the world, currently held by Roger Federer at 310 weeks.
But more importantly, surpassing both Federer and Nadal in garnering the most Grand Slam titles in history is his primary objective. Both men hold the record with 20 in their respective illustrious careers but the Joker is just two away and playing arguably the best tennis of his career.
Speaking of Federer, he did not make the trip to Melbourne this year after a surgically repaired knee and did not want to put his family through two weeks of mandatory quarantine when landing in Oz. Meanwhile, fellow superstar, Rafael Nadal, was ousted in five sets by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinal round.
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When hometown favorite, Nick Krygios, was asked about the three living legends and where they rank in the pecking order, he was not shy about his affection for the elder statesman.
“I don’t think we have ever seen someone maybe so dominant in their period of time as Novak (Djokovic), like he went on that obviously 60-match winning streak or something really crazy,” said Kyrgios.
“I think in my opinion I believe Roger is the greatest of all time. With his skill set, the way he plays the game, I think it’s pure.
“I actually think talent-wise Nadal and Djokovic aren’t even close to Roger. Talent-wise, just purely based on talent the way Federer plays, his hands, his serving, his volleys, untouchable.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Roger Federer not only prioritizes sleep, he uses half his day for sleep with 12hr/day.<br><br>"If I don't sleep 11 to 12 hours per day, it’s not right. If I don't have that amount of sleep, I hurt myself."<br><br>10 hrs/night + 2 hour naps. <a href=”https://twitter.com/rogerfederer?ref_data-src=twdata-src%5Etfw”>@rogerfederer</a> is the pinnacle of sleep fitness. <a href=”https://t.co/gEubh3hsq2″>pic.twitter.com/gEubh3hsq2</a></p>— Matteo Franceschetti (@m_franceschetti) <a href=”https://twitter.com/m_franceschetti/status/1362554690911621120?ref_data-src=twdata-src%5Etfw”>February 19, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async data-src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
“Rafa you will never see someone so dominant on one surface ever. I don’t think we will ever see that amazing accomplishment on clay, the best clay courter of all time.
“It’s funny because I think Roger is the greatest of all time but not the greatest of the era because his head-to-head against Rafa is not great. But it’s a tough one.”
But the mercurial 25-year-old was not done in assessing his legendary competitors and even took a subtle jab at Djokovic.
“Me personally, I played them all. I actually think Andy [Murray] for me was tougher than Novak to play,” he said.
“I mean, I have only played Novak twice. I have played Andy six times and I’m 1-5.
“I actually think I match up quite well against Nadal. I can serve big and play kind of the right style of tennis to be successful against him. Styles make fights in tennis. All the match-ups are different.
“Roger’s chopped me a couple of times. Roger makes you feel like you’re really bad at tennis sometimes.
“He walks around, he flicks his head, and I’m, like, I don’t even know what I’m doing out here. Roger is the greatest, for me.”
Regardless, the fact is that Joker is the best tennis player alive, at least at this point, and there is little doubt he will have more Slams added to his resume. But the question is whether he can catch Nadal, who is currently No. 2 in the world behind Djokovic, and also has plenty left in the tank for more major titles of his own.
Either way, the tennis world can’t lose because it will be fun to watch going forward.