The Serb has looked as dominant as ever but sleeping on his opponent’s storming season would be a misstep in Melbourne
In the wake of his merciless fourth-round demolition of Alex de Minaur, Novak Djokovic discussed a men’s Australian Open field that contained no other grand slam champion in the draw. Djokovic identified Stefanos Tsitsipas as the most experienced player left but as he spoke of the various milestones in Tsitsipas’s career, Djokovic’s memory failed. “I think he has never played a finals, am I wrong?” he asked.
Tsitsipas’s conqueror in his only grand slam final just so happened to be Djokovic, who recovered from two sets down in their 2021 French Open final to win. It was another reminder of how much Djokovic has achieved. When you have reached 33 finals, it is not easy to remember all of them.