Djokovic can return to world primary if he wins one other Australian Open title
| Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 16-29 January |
| Protection: Commentary every single day from 07:00 GMT on BBC Radio 5 Sports activities Further ‘Tennis Breakfast’ dwell from Melbourne, with chosen dwell textual content commentaries and match studies on the BBC Sport web site & app |
Novak Djokovic will proceed his bid for a record-extending tenth Australian Open males’s singles title towards residence favorite Alex de Minaur within the fourth spherical on day eight in Melbourne.
“It is actually a rollercoaster,” mentioned Djokovic of his harm issues. “I am simply very grateful that I am really in a position to play,” he added.
“The best way it regarded simply earlier than the match began, I assumed that it would not be doable. I am nonetheless right here and nonetheless holding on.”
The Serb, 35, is bidding to succeed in his thirteenth quarter-final at Melbourne Park, the place he has not misplaced since 2018.
That successful streak contains three successive titles in 2019, 2020 and 2021 earlier than he was pressured to overlook final 12 months’s match after his visa was cancelled.
The reigning Wimbledon champion can return to world primary if he wins a record-equalling twenty second main males’s singles title – and, harm allowing, he’s favorite to take action.
However he should first overcome 23-year-old Australian De Minaur and a partisan residence help on Rod Laver Enviornment to succeed in the final eight.
Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev or Danish ninth seed Holger Rune await the winner, with Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (24) – up towards unseeded American Tommy Paul – the highest-ranked of the doable semi-final opponents within the backside half of the draw.
Elsewhere on Monday, ladies’s fourth seed Caroline Garcia of France will play Poland’s Magda Linette on Rod Laver Enviornment after Belarusian fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka performs Swiss twelfth seed Belinda Bencic.
On Kia Enviornment, Britain’s Neal Skupski and Dutch companion Wesley Koolhof – the highest seeds – play Nikola Cacic and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi within the third spherical of the boys’s doubles, whereas second seeds Joe Salisbury of Britain and American companion Rajeev Ram face Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski.