In his tournament, Djokovic does Djokovic things | Tennis News

Mumbai: This is his tournament, as Carlos Alcaraz stated a couple of days ago.

He may have dislodged him as the world No.1 two seasons back. He may even have snatched the Wimbledon crown from him in 2023 and kept it in 2024. But good luck rolling over Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.

This is his tournament. This is his theatre. And he was back to playing GOAT in it.

And so, on set point of the third set, after he had fetched a drop shot, scrambled to get back to a lob and blasted a backhand crosscourt that died on Alcaraz’s racquet, Djokovic placed his finger to his ear and raised both his arms in getting the crowd into the act. He had one leg in the semis.

“One-and-a-half legs,” Djokovic chuckled later when asked by Jim Courier about how he does it.

With a strapped left thigh and from a set down, the 37-year-old Serb flipped the script on the smiling Spaniard in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 quarter-final victory at the Rod Laver Arena that went well beyond midnight in Melbourne. The 24-time Grand Slam champion is into his 50th semi-final, and is now truly alive and kicking in his pursuit of the record 25th.

So also in his fight to hold ground against the younger hunters who’ve increasingly preyed on him. His conqueror of last year, Jannik Sinner may potentially still lurk. But in not letting Alcaraz, who he has now beaten in consecutive high stakes matches, also overpower him in his tournament was significant for Djokovic.

That’s why pulling off “one of the most epic matches I’ve played”, as Djokovic called it, meant more. That’s why the moment it ended, Djokovic let out a belated roar towards his court-side box, where Andy Murray paused for a deep breath. Djokovic went up and singled out coach Murray for a hug. This unique arrangement between two contemporaries was largely designed for matches and moments like these, and the Djokovic-Murray combo has passed its first test with some distinction.

For all the jaw-dropping rallies that this 217-minute slugfest notched up, the match was differentiated by quality of returns and the tactics around it, and the efficiency of serving (while both won similar percentage of points on first serves, Djokovic won 58% to Alcaraz’s 33% on the second).

The young Spaniard worked on tweaking his serve motion and adding more sting to his first strike in the pre-season. Against arguably the greatest returner, though, it still wouldn’t be enough. Djokovic showed why on the very first point of the Alcaraz serve, putting an almost unreturnable serve down the T back in play to induce an error. That got Djokovic the early break, only for Alcaraz to level up immediately.

His smile was up and running, and so were his deft drop shots. In the ninth game Alcaraz won a mesmerising point set up by a drop that got his opponent down on his toes. Djokovic was now moving gingerly, often grimacing. Alcaraz was now attacking his second serves, taking a full swing from deep behind the baseline. As he got the break for 5-4, Djokovic took a medical timeout and went off court. He came back with a strapped thigh and to four big first serves that wrapped up the set.

In apparent physical constraint, Djokovic chose to shorten points. It meant him pouncing on second serve returns and dishing out a forehand return winner off the first to get a break in the second game. It meant him serve-and-volleying. Alcaraz did get the break back again, but these were tricky times for him. Djokovic wasn’t moving freely on some points, yet firing away winners on others. Serving to stay in the set, Alcaraz fumbled with an error. Djokovic then produced a delightful forehand winner and a thunderous backhand return winner. And just like that, Djokovic grabbed the second set, on “one-and-a-half legs”.

“Had to go for my shots more,” Djokovic said of his mindset shift after the injury. “Honestly, sometimes it helps; definitely helped in the second and third sets.”

Alcaraz’s holds were getting increasingly messier, Djokovic’s a lot easier. Partly because the Spaniard changed tactics and began taking a lot of the second serves from inside the baseline with little success. A string of breaks, including off a surprising dip from Djokovic, got them to 4-3 in the third. That’s when Alcaraz delivered a poor game, yelling at himself as Djokovic broke to love and pointed to his ear to rile up the crowd. Soon enough, he would do that again while edging ahead in the contest.

Soon enough, he would earn another early break in the fourth set. Soon enough, after a couple of reels-worthy rallies of over 20 and 30 shots split by both, he would get over the line in this premature last-eight clash of the Paris Olympics finalists.

“I just wish this match was the finals, honestly,” Djokovic said.

It wasn’t. Alexander Zverev is up next. Should he cross that, he could still face another of these younger hunters. But this is Djokovic back to doing Djokovic things. This is his tournament.