The potential gauntlet of the world No. 3, No. 2, and No. 1 standing between Novak Djokovic and his twenty fifth Grand Slam title started with Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday. It continues with Alexander Zverev within the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Friday.
Whereas Alcaraz is Djokovic’s greatest rival in the mean time, Zverev has been amongst Djokovic’s most acquainted foes for nearly a decade. The top-to-head sequence stands at 8-4 in favor of the Serb, together with 5-1 on outside laborious courts. Nevertheless, they confronted one another solely as soon as since 2021–when Djokovic prevailed 7-6(5), 7-5 within the 2023 Cincinnati semifinals. They’ve squared off 3 times at majors and the 37-year-old has received all three, together with a 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(6) victory within the 2021 Aussie Open quarters.
Their previous historical past clearly provides an edge to Djokovic, and so does present type. The world No. 7 underwhelmed towards Nishesh Basavareddy and Jaime Faria in rounds one and two, respectively, however he raised his degree in wins over Tomas Machec, Jiri Lehecka, and Alcaraz. Djokovic appeared to wrestle with a groin harm in the course of the first half of his match towards Alcaraz however confirmed no indicators of it the remainder of the way in which en path to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 triumph.
