Seventh gear

"Ugh, Alkaras against Djokovic in the quarterfinals, we just have to get there and that's it, we're satisfied!".

That's what we thought before the start of the Australian Open, but now it's definitely not like that. We are not satisfied with just getting to that.

Just like last season, we were not completely satisfied when Novak took "only" the Olympic gold, although before the beginning of the season we all said in unison that we would immediately sign the season without a single Slam, but with a gold medal.

Just as we will not be satisfied if Djokovic beats Alcaraz, and then is eliminated by Zverev or Paul, and not by Sinner or any other rival in the eventual final.

Why? Because we are spoiled. Because Novak spoiled us. He told us that he would win and we would celebrate -- and we got used to that.

Novak won so much that he became the greatest tennis player of all time, and at least one of the greatest athletes in history. And then he said no to retirement.

He said he wants to win more, and we said -- no problem, we're not ready to go to rehab anyway. At least not yet.

However, it's not quite as easy as it used to be. Some new kids aren't kids anymore, and the vulnerability of 2024 has made many tennis players much braver when they see Novak on the other side of the net.

It wasn't enough for them in Melbourne, but neither are they, with all due respect, to be compared to the challenges that are yet to come, whose names are Sinner, Zverev and Alcaraz.

Yes, if Novak Djokovic wants to win the Australian Open, he will have to beat the number one, two and three tennis players in the world within six days. That campaign starts a few hours after the publication of this text.

In order not to go further into the future and talk about whether it would be the biggest Grand Slam triumph in the history of tennis, we will stay on the next match, the one scheduled against Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday around 10:30 a.m. CET.

• Wilander predicted Djokovic - Alcaraz outcome: "He will win, for two reasons"

 

Does Djokovic - Alkaras H2H tell us something?

Djokovic is playing against Alcaraz for the eighth time in his life, and it is currently 4-3 in favor of the Serbian tennis player.

They played twice on concrete, and only once in the open like this -- in the Cincinnati 2023 final when Djokovic won 5:7, 7:6, 7:6 after an epic spectacle just a week after Alcaraz was better in the Wimbledon final.

We could go on and on about other head-to-head encounters and how they played out, but the truth is that none of that has much to do with what we're going to watch tonight.

The only thing that seems to be able to connect is the last duel between the Serb and the Spaniard played in Paris last year, in the final of the Olympic Games, when Novak played insanely well and won 7:6, 7:6.

The impression is that he will have to play at that level again in order to win. That is, let's explain it like this.

If all tennis players have, say, six gears, and Novak and Carlos are both in their sixth gears in this match, Alcaraz will have the advantage.

The difference is that Djokovic is still the only one in tennis who owns the seventh gear, but he is no longer able to hit it so easily and so often. He managed to do that in the OI final, and whether he will do it today -- no one can know.

Personal conclusion and expert opinion

As for the impressions from the scene, I tried in the previous days to give you an impression of Novak from the beginning of the tournament, and nothing has changed in the meantime.

It is not that he is focused, but it seems that he has not been this motivated and "turned up" to win a Grand Slam for a long time. As one colleague would say: "He entered his psychosis".

Will that ultra focus help him win? It will definitely help him, but whether it will be enough -- no one can know. The conclusion is, certainly, that Novak will be 100 percent ready for this match.

My opinion is that only Alcaraz has a chance to achieve a relatively easy victory, and that if Djokovic triumphs, we are in for a marathon spectacle that will be recounted for years.

If I really have to -- and I don't have to, come on -- I will predict the exact result of 3:2 for Novak, which is something similar to what the other Serbian colleagues who have been in Melbourne have predicted since the first day of the tournament.

My opinion of 3:2 for Djokovic is shared by Jelena and Dušan, while Miloš and Saša believe in an even more convincing victory, they think it will be 3:1 in Novak's favor. Vuk decided not to comment on this topic, probably not wanting to backbite...

What do you think? Write your exact result of the match in the comment!