Despite injury concerns, Novak Djokovic continues to move through the Australian Open draw. Up next for the world No. 1 during quarterfinal action on Tuesday is 2020 U.S. Open finalist Alexander Zverev.
Usually, an Australian Open match that involves Novak Djokovic is fairly easy to call. The Happy Slam is Djokovic’s personal playground. Not to the extent that Paris is Rafael Nadal’s, but the Serb holds eight Aussie Open titles; when he’s in the draw and healthy, he’s the favorite.
The problem is that he doesn’t appear to be completely healthy. During his third-round match against American Taylor Fritz, Djokovic slipped on the “Melbourne” lettering on the back of the court and sustained some sort of injury to his side. The extent of the injury is still unclear.
Djokovic didn’t withdraw from his fourth-round match. In fact, he looked quite spry against his familiar punching bag in Milos Raonic. The top seed won in four sets, but during his post-match presser Djokovic refused to give more details.
“I understand that you want to know, but I really don’t want to get into it,” he said. “Yes, I did an MRI, I did everything, I know what it is, but I don’t want to talk about it now.”
He didn’t appear overly hampered against Raonic, but the Canadian–who is just short of helpless when Djokovic is across the net–isn’t well-positioned to take advantage, even when the Serb isn’t at 100%
Quarterfinal opponent Alexander Zverev is a different story. The two men played about a week and a half ago at the ATP Cup, when Djokovic was playing at 100 percent. The German took one set and pushed Djokovic hard in the others. It stands to reason if the world No. 1 is ailing at all, it presents quite an opportunity for Zverev.
There are many “ifs” in this match. If Djokovic is still hurt, Zverev will have his chances–and he’s playing well enough to take them. If Zverev serves poorly and gives the Serb too many looks at his dismal second serve, it won’t much matter if Djokovic is only at 75 percent. It seems that while Djokovic isn’t terribly hurt, he’s also not in peak shape. Zverev may just pull off the upset.
Cheryl pick: Zverev in 5
Ricky pick: Zverev in 5
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