The world number one suffered to achieve victory against a little-known Dino Prizmic in Melbourne. The Serbian, who beat the Croatian 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 and 6-4, praised the young athlete for making it difficult for him on his debut.
The Australian Open has already started and Novak Djokovic He already said that he was present in a land that brings back very good memories. With 10 Grand Slam titles in the oceanic country, the Serbian made his debut in the early hours of this Sunday against Dino Prizmic (178th in the world), 18-year-old Croatian and won a narrow victory by 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 and 6-4. At the end of the entertaining match, Nole congratulated the tennis player who is making his debut on the ATP circuit.
The King of Australia
In what will the search be his eleventh conquest in Australia and his Grand Slam number 25 , Novak Djokovic got off on the right foot and won a valuable victory against Dino Prizmic in four series. The 1st in the world ranking arrived in Melbourne after winning the major tournaments of Australia, France and the United States last year (he only lost Wimbledon to Carlos Alcaraz) .
In his debut, the 36-year-old tennis player had to defeat the Croatian without major difficulties. However, young Prizmic He stood tall on the Melbourne Park court and gave a worthy battle to the multi-tennis champion. With a quiet start in which he only conceded two Games (6-2), Djokovic surprised by 178th place in the ATP rankings who beat him in a close 6-7(5) that had him sweating profusely and running a marathon from side to side.
This explosion of Prizmic This adds to a rather unusual fact on the circuit. Only 5 tennis players had managed to win a tie-break against Djokovic without being Top-100 in Grand Slam: Kiefer (Wimbledon 2007), Witten (US Open 2009), Istomin (Australia 2017), Rune (US Open 2021) and Couacaud (Australia 2023).
Faced with the unusual attack of the young athlete, Nole stepped on the gas and sealed the match with a 6-3 and 6-4 in his favor . However, the difficulty of the match was reflected in the 04:01 how long did the confrontation last since this time is the longest duration of a match in the first round of Grand Slam that you had to face Djokovic in his career.
The words of his idol
Dino Prizmic He was unable to maintain the demanding pace of the game and found himself physically exhausted after facing his greatest reference face to face. Once Novak’s victory was complete, the Serbian was full of praise for the eminent NextGen ATP player. “He deserves all the applause he got tonight.” » Djokovic said after Prizmic left the court cheered by the Melbourne stands. “He is an incredible player, very mature for his age, he handled the situation exceptionally well on the pitch” he pointed out.
“It’s his time, honestly. It could even have been his match. He had a break point in the third set, he fought back when he found himself at 0-4 and a break point in the fourth set. He competed. He showed great mentality and resilience. “It allowed me to make a living tonight.” » said the Beijing 2008 bronze medalist.
Finally, the Balkan player spoke about his performance on the Australian track and the difficulties he had to overcome to qualify for the next phase. “I had a good time. I would have liked to play better and more aggressively, but I haven’t played here for a year, the pre-season was very short and I still feel physically on the pitch. I now have a few days left before my next match, I hope to be at my best by then. hill.
In the second round, the world number one and winner of 24 Grand Slam titles will face the winner of the duel between Alexei Popyrin (43rd) and Marc Polmans (156th).
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Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
