Novak Djokovic Vs Carlos Alcaraz LIVE, Australian Open: Clash of titans in quarterfinal

Novak Djokovic Vs Carlos Alcaraz LIVE, Australian Open: Djokovic won the last encounter between the two players in the gold medal match of the Paris Olympics

Alcaraz had lost in the quarterfinals of last year’s Australian Open as well, losing to Alexander Zverev. Djokovic has a 4-3 edge in matches with Alcaraz and beat the Spaniard in the Paris Olympics final in their last meeting. However, Alcaraz won their last two Slam encounters, the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon finals.

Having looked almost invincible at various points in the last five years, it has been a comparatively shaky road to the quarterfinals in Melbourne this year for Djokovic. He was pushed in the first round to four sets by the unheralded Nishesh Basavareddy and by 24th seed Jiri Lehecka forced a tie-breaker in the last set of Djokovic’s fourth round match. At the end of that clash, Djokovic walked passed Jim Courier without doing the customary post-match on-court interview as a protest against “disrespect” shown by a senior Australian presenter working for the host broadcaster. There is almost always something more than tennis whenever Djokovic is involved and it is no different this year.

Alcaraz is wary that there is still life in the ageing Djokovic yet, on the veteran’s favourite court where he has lifted the trophy 10 times. “When we are seeing him playing, he seems like he’s young again, it’s unbelievable. He’s in really good shape,” said Alcaraz.

Meanwhile, Djokovic said he was expecting a “big battle” against the heir to Spanish legend and former fellow Big 3 member Rafael Nadal. “We had some long battles, long exchanges. The kind of matches that I played against him remind me of my match-ups versus Nadal in terms of the intensity and the energy on the court,” said the Serb.