Novak Djokovic warmed up with the title

The first week of the new tennis season ended with the final, which, quite possibly, will be one of the best this year. In the decisive match of the Adelaide International 1, a tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) category 250 with a prize fund of $640,000, Novak Djokovic won match points and in three sets in more than three hours broke the stubborn resistance of the American Sebastian Korda. Having won his 92nd career title, the 35-year-old Serb has caught up with Spaniard Rafael Nadal in this indicator and extended his unbeaten streak of 34 matches on the Australian continent, which began in 2019.

After Novak Djokovic had to with the scandal of leaving Melbourne due to the lack of a coronavirus vaccination required for a stay in Australia at that time, the return of the famous Serbian tennis player to this country was expected with increased interest. The predictions were different. However, those who believed that the Australian public was critical of Djokovic were most likely seriously mistaken. In any case, the first week of the new year showed that he is still loved on the Green Continent.

“Everyone here supported me, even the kangaroos,” the nine-time Australian Open champion admitted on Sunday, playing as well as he did at the end of last season.

In Adelaide, where Djokovic visited for the first time since his victory in 2007, he happened to play five different matches. Among them was a relatively easy meeting of the first round with the Frenchman Constant Lestienne, and a serious test of strength in the 1/8 finals, where another representative of France, Quentin Alice, twice brought matters to tie-breaks. Then there was the quarter-final against Canadian Denis Shapovalov and the semi-final against Daniil Medvedev, Djokovic’s most titled opponent, who failed to take advantage of his slight muscle ailment in his left leg and lost in an hour and a half.

But the most striking and memorable was the finale. There, the future champion was opposed by the American Sebastian Korda, who, occupying the 33rd place in the ranking, did not get into the number of “seeded” and beat several strong opponents. The game got tougher. Suffice it to say that Korda took the first game in a tie-break only from the seventh set point, leading before that 5:4 and 40:0 on his serve. The second tie-break was left for Djokovic, who left the court for a long time after that, and in the third set Korda saved two break points in the fourth game, but in the tenth, winning 40:15, he still could not withstand the stress of the moment, gave four points in a row , including one double error. As a result – 6:7 (8:10), 7:6 (7:3), 6:4 in 3 hours 8 minutes.

Having passed a full test of strength a week before the start of the Australian Open, Djokovic won nine points less than Korda with blows right through, but he made mistakes almost four times less often – only 7 times against 26.

Thus, the Serb extended his Australian unbeaten streak, which began in January 2019, to 34 matches. In addition to the Adelaide International 1, it includes three Australian Opens and two ATP Cup team tournaments. No less remarkable is the fact that Djokovic won his 92nd title and caught up with Rafael Nadal in this indicator. Only three are ahead – Jimmy Connors (he has 109 titles), Roger Federer (103) and Ivan Lendl (94).

As for the position in the ATP rating, for now the Serb will remain fifth there. However, as current leader Carlos Alcaraz was forced to pull out of the Australian Open starting on January 16 due to a leg injury in training, and last year’s Melbourne triumphant Rafael Nadal started the season with two defeats in the United Cup team tournament, which ended with the triumph of the US team, soon Djokovic’s return to the top looks very real. To do this, apparently, it will be enough for him to conquer the Australian Open for the tenth time. Considering that since September 26, Djokovic has lost only one out of 24 matches, it is clear that he will be the main favorite in Melbourne.

Evgeny Fedyakov