 "Carlos Alcaraz congratulates Novak Djokovic at the end of their gruelling quarter-final battle in the Australian Open. Reuters")
Novak Djokovic defied age and injury to produce a stunning comeback in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open against Carlos Alcaraz, bouncing back from a set down to defeat the Spanish tennis star 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 . In the process, the 37-year-old kept his hopes of a record-extending 11th Australian Open title as well as historic 25th Grand Slam triumph alive.
Djokovic appeared to struggle with his fitness towards the end of the opening set against the third seed, the source of his discomfort apparently on his upper left leg, and he limped around the Rod Laver Arena for a bit before leaving the court along with his physio.
Djokovic returned to the court with the affected thigh strapped up, and was soon back to his best in terms of fitness and performance. After conceding the opening set to Alcaraz, ‘Djoker’ would go on to win the next three sets and setup a semi-final meeting with world No 2 Alexander Zverev.
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Alcaraz, who had also suffered a quarter-final exit in Melbourne Park after losing to Zverev, was seen mimicking Djokovic by limping around the bench in his player box at the end of the third set, the clip of which has gone viral on social media. The 21-year-old was later asked about Djokovic’s injury during the game, to which he gave a vague answer.
“I think everybody saw in the second set he was struggling a little bit (with) moving,” Alcaraz told reporters after his quarter-final exit.
“I don’t know if it was more running to the forehand or running to backhand, but obviously he was struggling. Then the third and fourth set, I didn’t see anything bad from him. So I’m not saying, like, he made a show.
“I’m just saying that, I don’t know, it’s obvious and everybody saw it that he was struggling in the second set. Then the third and fourth set he showed he was really good,” he added.
Spaniard reveals “biggest mistake” in QF loss
Alcaraz also revealed the “biggest mistake” that he committed during the blockbuster contest that lasted three-and-a-half hours and went past 1 am local time.
“Well, honestly, I felt like I was controlling the match, and I let him get into the match again. I’m going to say that was the biggest mistake I made today. In the second set, I had to play a little bit better just to push him even more to the limit. Yeah, he saw that he had issues just moving a little bit in the second set,” Alcaraz added.
Zverev had defeated Tommy Paul in the other quarter-final on Tuesday while defending champion Jannik Sinner, who had sent Djokovic packing the semis last year, and compatriot Lorenzo Sonego face Alex de Minaur and Ben Shelton in the remaining quarter-finals on Wednesday.