Mumbai: Novak Djokovic is having a ball at Melbourne Park. He’s playing exhibition doubles against coach Andy Murray, goofing around in the locker room with Carlos Alcaraz, and turning journalist for Alexander Zverev’s press conference. This 24-time Grand Slam winning reporter was granted a question. Fine, a follow-up too.
And so, after a query about Zverev’s love and curiosity for space, Djokovic pressed further on whether the answer to the German winning a Grand Slam lay in space. “I think the answer to winning a Grand Slam is you letting me win one,” the world No.2 shot back.
For a large part of the last decade-and-a-half, that statement, said more in jest, held true. Certainly at the Australian Open. Last year, when Djokovic was kept at bay in Australia by Jannik Sinner and away from any Slam all year round by younger hopefuls, has however forced a tweak.
The question now isn’t so much about whether he can let the others have one; it’s about whether he can get one back in a territory he has ruled 10 times over. Sinner and Alcaraz were out to get him in 2024; he’s out to get them in 2025. The hunted has become the hunter.
‘Fresh’ season
And that, after years of unrelenting uniformity by the Big Three club in which Djokovic was the last entrant, gives this new tennis season and the opening Grand Slam in Melbourne such a fresh feel.
Probably as fresh as when Djokovic, now 37, made his Slam debut exactly two decades ago at the 2005 Australian Open (months before his new coach Murray made his). Since that first-round exit, Djokovic has developed a rich taste for Melbourne — his “poisoning” claims notwithstanding — as a record number of titles show. No better place than those bright blue courts for the Serb to rise again and prove a point.
The point being that when it came to Australia and hard courts, Djokovic carried an aura that made most players give up even before entering the court. That was pricked in stunning manner by a young Italian in last year’s semi-final. Djokovic (Paris Olympics) and Alcaraz (French Open) did split a big final on clay last year, but Djokovic and Sinner on hard courts was all one-way traffic.
Boxes ticked
By all accounts in Melbourne, Djokovic looks good in his quest to redirect that. The Serb has seemingly appeared smooth in practice sets (he beat Alcaraz 7-5), is fresher (he hasn’t played since September), injury free (he had to pull out of the French Open quarter-final last year) and hungrier (in the company of old foe turned coach).
All of those are good signs, yet whether it points to Djokovic being able to blunt Sinner is another question altogether. The Italian was his sharpest self throughout last year, winning 73 of his 79 matches, ending the season without a defeat in straight sets (the first to do since Roger Federer in 2005) and adding a second Slam, in New York, to his first in Melbourne.
That US Open title came amid the cloud of his doping saga, which continues to hover. The 23-year-old showed composure and maturity in wading through that to go all the way at Flushing Meadows. Melbourne Park will warrant a similar mindset and distraction–dismissing abilities from the world No.1.
His abilities will also be tested in being able to back up an almost dream-like 2024 into the reality of 2025. That is where the Big Three greats stood out, in repeating great things year after year. And that is where the young Sinner’s challenge will begin over the next fortnight as the Australian Open defending champion.
That challenge also applies to Alcaraz, who took home the other two Slams of 2024. The season opener has not been the Spaniard’s happy hunting ground, and in that sense the 21-year-old will carry a lot less pressure. The four-time major winner, though, realises he has to step up; not just in Australia but in pushing himself further to match the heights Sinner has scaled.
“The good thing for me is when I am seeing him (Sinner) winning titles, when I am seeing him in the top of the rankings, it forces me to practice even harder every day,” Alcaraz said. “That I think is great for me, having him, having such a great rivalry so far.”
A new rivalry in town, between two twenty-somethings, only fuels the glow around the fresh feel heading into this year’s opening Grand Slam.
Monfils oldest ATP winner
Adds AFP from Auckland: Gael Monfils became the oldest singles champion in ATP Tour history when the Frenchman, at 38 years and four months, beat Belgian qualifier Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Auckland Classic. His 13th tour-level title gave him a record that was held by Roger Federer (38 years, 2 months).
