Four months ago in New York, Novak Đoković defeated in the final of the US Open Danilo Medvedeva and arrived Margaret Court by number of Grand Slam titles.
Now he could be alone at the top. In Melbourne, where he was champion 10 times, the 36-year-old from Belgrade will look for double silver - he will try to lift the trophy called "Norman Brooks Challenger's Cup", which is made of more than six kilograms of that precious metal, and win the jubilee 25th trophy at the biggest tournaments , and it is known that this number is synonymous with silver.
The king of "Rod Laver Arena" is looking for his 29th consecutive victory at the biggest stadium in Melbourne Park against the Croatian qualifier, Dino Prižmić.
The match started at 9 a.m. our time, and the number one racket in the world assures that he has completely healed the wrist injury that plagued him at the beginning of the year.
"I had time after the last match against De Minjaura at the United Cup to recover. I trained well, I didn't feel any pain. Everything looked good. It's not as bad as it was with some other injuries here," Djokovic alluded to the fact that he reached the title last year with a back injury.
The odds that today's best athlete will win the 11th title at the first Grand Slam of the season at world bookmakers is around 2.
With 4,30, he is the second favorite Carlos Alcaraz, who did not play last season due to injury, and was eliminated in the 2022rd round in 3. The young Spaniard will have an additional motive - if he wins the title, he will return to No. 1 on the ATP list.
"I know that Djokovic won 10 titles in 10 finals here. That's why I want to play against him for the cup and beat him. That is an additional motive for me. I am very ambitious and I want to play against the best in the world, to see what level I am at," said the 20-year-old Spaniard.
Alkaras has already done the unthinkable once - he defeated the Serbian ace at his second most successful tournament, Wimbledon.
"It is a real challenge to overcome him in a tournament where he is practically invincible. I hope to reach the finals and face Novak in it. Of course, his statistics in the finals are an additional motivation for me," Alkaras stressed.
Along with the first two on the ATP list, the candidates for the title according to bookmakers are i Janik Siner (7,00) and Medvedev (10), remained far behind.
By winning the Davis Cup and reaching the finals of the ATP Championship, where he defeated Djokovic in the group stage, the Italian announced that he is ready for great deeds, and early this morning he opened the "Rod Laver Arena" with a victory over the Dutchman Botik van de Zandshulp (6:4, 7:5, 6:3).
For the first time after 10 years, during which she played six times in the main draw and four times in the qualifications, Thanks Kovinic not at the Australian Open.
She is the first favorite Iga Sfjontek, they are behind her Arina Sabaljenko, Jelena Ribakina, Koko Goff...
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