MELBOURNE – Novak Djokovic admitted that he has not been playing at his best, as he survived a huge scare to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Jan 17.
The Serb beat home favourite Alexei Popyrin to stay on track for a historic 25th Grand Slam title, but it was not before the world No. 1 showed his trademark mental strength to prevail 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
“I sincerely hope so,” said the 36-year-old, when asked if he needed to raise his level for the next match, in which he will face Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry.
“That’s what it’s going to take for me to go deep in the tournament.
“I haven’t been playing my best, I’m still trying to find my form. Particularly in the early rounds, you play players that have nothing to lose really.
“They come out on the centre court and try to play their best match, their best tennis. I managed to find a way to win in four.
“That’s what counts in the end and, hopefully, I’ll be able to build as this tournament progresses.”
The 10-time champion cruised through the first set, but his unforced error count ticked up in the second and he was broken for the first time in the fourth game, eventually losing the set.
Popyrin asked for a medical timeout when leading 3-2 in the third set and received treatment on his left calf, while the pivotal point in the match came in the 10th game. Three uncharacteristic unforced errors from Djokovic’s racket gave Popyrin three set points but he was unable to capitalise, missing out on a fourth opportunity as the top seed levelled in a game lasting nearly 10 minutes.
Djokovic won the tiebreak to take a firm grip on the match as Popyrin received more treatment on his leg.
It was business as usual in the fourth set as the Serb sealed victory when Popyrin went long, letting out a huge roar.
Djokovic, with 24 Slams under his belt, is gunning for an 11th Australian Open title to pull clear of Margaret Court on the all-time list of Majors.
In other matches, Italian fourth seed Jannik Sinner raced into the third round in Melbourne for the third successive year with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong.
Rising American teenage star Ben Shelton outfought Australian Chris O’Connell 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).
Seventh-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2023 runner-up, also needed four sets to defeat another Australian in Jordan Thompson, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).
Away from the action, Alexander Zverev has said he sees no reason to step down as an ATP Tour player representative, after a German court set May 31 for him to go on trial for allegedly assaulting his former girlfriend in 2020.
Despite the allegations, he was in January elected by his peers for a two-year term to the player advisory council of the ATP.
Asked whether it was appropriate to be on the council ahead of the trial outcome, he said: “Why would it not be?”
He added that he believed players had confidence in him.
“I mean, I think so. Nobody has said anything to me. I don’t have a reason not to believe that,” he said. AFP, REUTERS
