Novak Djokovic will go up against a second straight American when he battles Taylor Fritz at the Australian Open on Friday. Fritz beat his best friend in the second round, and now best friends Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime will also square off.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (27) Taylor Fritz
Djokovic and Fritz will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they clash in round three of the Australian Open on Friday. Both of their previous meetings have gone Djokovic’s way; 6-3, 6-0 at the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters and 6-4, 6-2 at the Madrid Masters a few weeks later. A hard court will at least give Fritz a better chance, but that’s obviously not saying a lot.
The 31st-ranked American, who is coming off a great escape in five sets against Reilly Opelka on Wednesday, may be encouraged by compatriot Frances Tiafoe’s performance in round two. Tiafoe lost to Djokovic in a competitive 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 6-3 encounter. The world No. 1 also wasn’t entirely dominant at the ATP Cup, but nonetheless he is sporting a 4-0 record for the season. Djokovic will likely raise his level and finish Fritz in straight sets, but it may not be a complete beatdown.
Pick: Djokovic in 3 losing 11-14 games
(11) Denis Shapovalov vs. (20) Felix Auger-Aliassime
Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime would rather be facing each other much deeper at Grand Slams, and in due time that will probably be the case. But they have to improve their rankings for that to happen on a consistent basis, and for now they will settle for a third-round showdown on Friday. Amazingly enough, the two Canadians collided in consecutive U.S. Open first rounds in 2018 and 2019–both won by Shapovalov (via retirement and then with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 rout). He is 3-1 in the overall head-to-head series, 2-1 on the main tour and 1-0 at the Challenger level.
As it stands right now, it has to be said that Shapovalov handles big-stage pressure much better than his good friend. The 21-year-old owns one ATP title, reached the final of the 2019 Paris Masters, and made a run to the 2020 U.S. Open quarterfinals. Auger-Aliassime is 0-7 lifetime in ATP finals and has been past round three of a major only once (never past the fourth round). Until the 20-year-old’s confidence in these situations improves, Shapovalov has a clear edge.
Pick: Shapovalov in 4
WWW?
Djokovic in 3
Auger-Aliassime in 5
Joker in 3; Shapo in 3.
I can see Auger -Aliassime winning a close 5 setter
Do you believe it? After all that with Thiem, Djokovic now gets injured.
This is too hard. Too many variables. Time to find a new hobbie.
What’s going on? I see that he just dropped the 3rd set.
Hip injury. Not moving.
Oh no! Age is killing rafole!
This match is over. Djokovic should’ve returned during the 3rd set.
This was not a match to roll the dice on 3-0 so it was my fault. It clearly showed Djokovic’s form was sliding for whatever reason. This may have been a lingering issue.
Looks like Nole is done.?
What a comeback by the goat!! Amazing!!
I guess that excruciating abdominal pain wasn’t quite so excruciating on the decider, same old.
Abdominal..not hip
N he says he knows it’s muscle tear n not sure will play next match. Guess what. He will play n win it too
Can’t really trust Djokovic on injuries. He always tends to exaggerate (to say the least). When asked directly he downplays “injuries” (like Roger and Rafa do) but he has people leaking information to the press on how bad it is. He may have felt that Nadal is getting too much attention because of his injury. He probably felt something today but I would be surprised if it’s serious. Sure, I expect him to create cheap suspense around this, act hampered in the next match, ask for physio, etc. And of course pull off another “miracle” win.
You cannot self-diagnose a muscle tear, without any investigation. You might be right after all, but you cannot “know” it.
Surely, I may be wrong and Djokovic could be seriously injured. Given his antecedents, I won’t buy it for a second unless he retires without getting his ass kicked fair and square.
Djokovic is not injured. It’s the same usual crap. He will fake it wit MTO’s till he wins miraculously. Same old endless nonsense. Yawn.
Do you guys know what a muscle tear is? I had a few and I can tell you, it does NOT get better after a half-an-hour break. If you tear a muscle, even a small tear, you need to stop of physical activity on that muscle, depending on the magnitude of the injury it can take weeks, months to heal.
Djokovic on the other hand goes on to win the next set 5 – 2
nuf said
But he said he took highest dose of anti inflammatories
Maybe it worked for short period
Rafa had a bad muscle pull too ao 14 final..he took anti inflammatories n played a 4 setter though lost
Just giving novak slight benefit of doubt
If Djokovic REALLY thought that he has a muscle tear he was incredibly STUPID to continue, because he risked enormous problems. Also he should have been dead sure that he won’t show up for the next match.
That guy is nowhere near as smart as Nadal or Federer and he proved quite reckless at times, but still, he is a professional and has experience with injuries. Would he risk being sidelined for months under the circumstances (a R3 victory)?
Rafa did carry on with the same kind of (reported) problem at AO, but he said that he only did it because it was a final. He was not going to play for a month after that anyway.
So something is definitely wrong here: either it’s not a muscle tear (more likely it’s some kind of cramp) and Djokovic is just looking for sympathy/drama or he lost his mind. We’ll see which is the case soon enough.
Right now on the official AO site we have this headline: “Djokovic drama”. Pretty much just what the doctor ordered.
agreed…Novak does not have a muscle tear..no way! He would have been in a terrible pain and even at the press conference afterwards, when cooled down he would feel the pain.. muscle tear causes uncomfortable pain and bruises…Novak is just acting the way he always does when losing concentration or facing some serious unpredictable opposition: he starts hurting and he actually convinces himself that he is in pain…and then all of the sudden plays his best tennis…it is all in his head…
I guess Raonic likes his chances this time 🙂 1:11 would look better 😉
So how many still have djoko winning the title likely having to beat raonic , zverev n thiem to reach the final
*yawn* Djokovic has been pulling this routine his entire career. See Andy Roddick’s funny presser monologue from USO 2008. Back then he was considered more likely to reach the “retirement” slam than the career slam.
Honestly, I think he’s a bit of a hysteric and it kicks in when he’s losing. Really not that unusual. If you’re concentrated, focused you can ignore quite a lot of pain. Lose the concentration and things start hurting. (I’m an elderly arthritic, that’s how I know.) “I’m losing because my knee hurts or my elbow or a foot, whatever”. The aches and pains are genuine enough. Professional tennis played over long hours *hurts*.
Not that unusual at all , most if not all players get injured these days ,and its often genuine ,esp; the over thirties ,but its easy for fans to use that as an excuse .
Haters gonna hate, winners and Goats gonna win
If he really has torn his oblique then it’d be highly unlikely for him to last one more whole match. You really have to wait and see what the scans say, because self-reports from Novak are not terribly reliable. If they confirm a tear, he’s surely done.
If not…