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For his return to the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic is only two matches away from his 22nd Grand Slam title, which would allow him to equalize Rafael Nadal’s record. He is challenged by the unexpected American Tommy Paul, who will play his first Grand Slam semi-final.
In his garden at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic touches the equalization of Rafael Nadal’s record: a 22e Grand Slam victory. At 35, facing the surprise Tommy Paul, he will aim for his tenth final in Melbourne on Friday January 27 and his 10e Australian Major title
A statistic tells all of Novak Djokovic’s domination in Melbourne: each time he qualified for the semi-finals, he won the tournament in stride. Suffice to say that on paper, the match leans frankly in favor of the Serb.
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He remains on a winning streak of 26 in the tournament since losing in the round of 16 in 2018, and has dropped just one set since the start of the 2023 edition – against lowly Frenchman Enzo Couacaud (191e). Dropped back to fifth in the world due to his truncated year 2022 due to his vaccination status (he had not been able to participate in the Australian Open and the US Open because he was not vaccinated against Covid-19), he should regain his throne at the top of the ATP rankings in the event of a final victory.
The left thigh and controversy as an Achilles heel
An unknown remains, on which Djokovic’s previous opponents have counted: the state of his left thigh, which has been causing him pain for two weeks.
On the edge of the abyss in the second and third rounds, respectively against Enzo Couacaud then the experienced Grigor Dimitrov (28e) which he nevertheless dominated in three rounds, he then proved to be perfectly untouchable against Alex de Minaur (24e) and Andrey Rublev (6e).
“It’s a signal sent to my opponents,” he also commented on Wednesday evening after qualifying for the last four, now claiming to believe in his chances.
PS: Novak Djokovic is not his father. He notably offered his support to former Ukrainian player Sergiy Stakhovsky at the start of the conflict in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/dFw21Hy5EY
— Quentin Moynet (@QuentinMoynet) January 26, 2023
A controversy could nevertheless disturb the preparation of its semi-final. The Serbian’s father, Srdjan, was caught on camera with supporters waving pro-Russian flags during the Australian Open. In the past, Djokovic’s father had already stood out for his verbal excesses, especially towards Federer and Nadal, his son’s two rivals in the tennis pantheon. Nevertheless, the Australian case took a political turn, with the scenes filmed having been described as “shameful” by the Ukrainian ambassador in Canberra.
“It’s a complete catalog. Among the Serbian flags there are: a Russian flag, Putin, the symbol Z, the so-called flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” he tweeted Thursday with a link to the video.
The ghost of American tennis
The controversy, Tommy Paul knows that it can stick to the skin. For a youthful mistake, the American had been withdrawn from the support of his federation and seemed lost for the high level. At his second US Open, aged 20, he had drowned in alcohol his frustration at having lost in the first round against the Japanese Taro Daniel. A way to decompress not reprehensible in itself in the circuit, except that the advanced state of intoxication had made him miss his alarm clock the following day, arrive late for his doubles match alongside his compatriot Steve Johnson, and too tipsy to calculate the least ball…
His relationship with the American federation had been tarnished for a long time, but Tommy Paul knew how to be resilient and vengeful: he surrounds himself, recovers and points to the 35e place in the world ranking before the Australian Open. He is now guaranteed to enter the top 20 for the first time in his career at the end of this tournament. Now he is the first American to reach the semis in Melbourne since Andy Roddick (2009).
Now 25, Tommy Paul will play his first half in the Grand Slam, a category of tournaments where he had never reached the quarters before. He played in the round of 16 once, last year at Wimbledon and had reached, at best, the third round in Melbourne, in 2020 for his first participation.
Tommy Paul seems to be living a dream: “I might have a better chance against Rublev, but playing Novak here in Australia would be wonderful,” he said on Wednesday before knowing his next opponent. But we will now have to wake up to beat the Serb.
