2023 Australian Open R16: Novak Djokovic [4] vs Alex de Minaur [22]

Who wins?

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    86
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I think Novak was pumped up for tonight and perhaps firstly because he remembered what De Minaur said last year and secondly because he didn't want Minaur to get any encouragement or lift from the pro Aussie crowd.

I will only believe that Novak has a genuine chance of winning if he can take out a top player who is playing really well at moment like Rublev. If he somehow does get by this match then i will believe he may be able to do it but let's wait and see.
 
"I thank God" re his leg "not hurting" tonight...

Yeah because God is up there to help you win over anybody else... Djesus...

The only person in history of Earth who heals any injury by playing sport and running around like a rabbit...
 
Chanwan said:
Alright Djoko fans, forgive me trolling this thread. But seriously, can you blame me and the others?

All we've heard for the past 2+ weeks have been worry about the hamstring. That Djoko perhaps should just retire and rest up for the next slams. That 'there's no way he's winning this tournament'. And so on and so forth.

And now this masterclass. Serve is perfect, forehand is perfect, BH is perfect, movement is damn near perfect, volleys are perfect. Sure, de Minaur is the best (sorry, worst) possible opponent for Djoko, but still. This is slam winning form and there's nobody in the draw who has a chance against Djoko in this kind of form.

So congrats
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Because of these fanwars , People are forgetting something that Djokovic has lost just One match in last 6 months and that was in a final .
He is in amazing form .
 
Looks like this is Djokovic's to lose but still anything can happen with a off day even if it's not likely.
 
maratha_warrior said:
Because of these fanwars , People are forgetting something that Djokovic has lost just One match in last 6 months and that was in a final .
He is in amazing form .
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He sure is. One of the best hold games in the game, the best return game in the game. Serve is getting almost Federer'sk. And he's hitting his forehand & backhand as big as I've ever saw him do. No weaknesses whatsoever (aside from the overhead).

Would have loved to see him against Rune instead of Rublev, cause Rune at least has belief, but Novak would have beaten Rune as well
 
Djokovic2011 said:
What a rout lol. That's what you get Alex for being so unsympathetic towards somebody's bodily autonomy - Novak doesn't forget these things. :sneaky:
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Until I heard that I kind of liked Alex, but this really is too much nonsense. But who knows, maybe he wasn't convinced himself and just took the shot because it was required. Sometimes such people explicitly hate the ones who are strong enough to resist, because they show them their own weakness.

Or de Minaur really is a vaccination fanatic, then maybe today Djokovic decided to let him one game for every shot he has taken. :-D
 
That was a non-event.

How noble of Ultron to finish fast to enable the doubles players up next to not havie to play to stupid o'clock.
 
Krish872007 said:
I don't think Novak would remember those specific comments from him surely? But as someone else said, ADM as a local hero might effectively be an embodiment of the opponent that he had to face last year in the form of the Australian Govt.
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I mean when you're the only player that's been honest about their vax status (let's not forget that ADM was one of many players to have been investigated for presenting a fake vax certificate at various tournaments last season) and you're under massive public scrutiny from the media which is potentially a drain on your mental wellbeing and then one of your peers (who happens to be Australian) comes out and claims that you're only in the country because you've been engaging in shady activity behind the scenes (which was not the case at all) before any information related to your paperwork or legal case is even publicly available, then yeah, I think you would remember that tbh. Same way Novak no doubt remembers Nadal's comments given the magnitude of what occured and how it affected him emotionally. He's been gracious enough not to let people know about it, but I have no doubt that the nature of the relationship between the two has changed since that event. The support of his peers (or at least abstaining from comment if you don't know what the hell is going on) would have meant the world to Djokovic at the time. He's come out and said as much. Meanwhile these guys went out of their way to do the exact opposite.
 
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As I expected, playing De Minaur was ideal given the circumstances. And Djokovic's aggression was so on point today that this guy's Speedy Gonzales skills were not going to make up for his shortcomings.

Encouraging that Novak felt good too. Hopefully no more zig zag in terms of health as tougher obstacles await. With that in mind, I shed a happy tear that RBA is out. That guy is like the most annoying little mosquito ever lol...
 
-snake- said:
Most of the melodramatic stuff was posted and reposted by butthurt Nedbots. Nolefam was taking it one step at a time, being cautious. Haven't seen anything cocky or disrespectful.
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I remember it as mostly being from Novak fans. And yeah, they weren't being cocky. That's exactly what I said. They've been fearing his immediate withdrawal every second of the tournament. Which - considering today's masterclass - seems a wee bit funny
NoleFam said:
Yea it shot off the court. Long way to go. Just the 4th round but he has played well so far tonight.
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Long way to go, true, but there's no one who can beat Novak in this kind of form. I can understand why you are still cautious (I would too, if it was Federer), but as someone with no emotional attachment left, I can say this: Novak is a very, very heavy favorite to win it from here.
jm1980 said:
Some very encouraging signs in this match. Minimal signs of him struggling with the leg. He started the match still protecting it, but as it went on he seemed to start gaining confidence. Even started to go more for the sliding open stance BH halfway through, which he wasn't really doing in the previous rounds

The caveat is that it was against de Minaur, who didn't really have the weapons to move Djokovic around
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Even less than minimal as per his own words. And yes, there's that caveat. But Rublev? He's not going to be able to blast the ball past Novak for 3 sets. UE will creep in. And Novak can still defend extremely well when he needs to and has the best shot tolerance and defense to offense in the game.
 
weakera said:
HvJbR8A.png



Happy faces all around
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They don’t like Nole losing more than 1 game per set.
 
Really surprised he crushed tricky opponent like DeM. Fake injury accusations will reach new heights now. Djokovic better stop faking it or at least try to hide if not serious. It's damaging his reputation beyond repair.
 
Chanwan said:
I remember it as mostly being from Novak fans. And yeah, they weren't being cocky. That's exactly what I said. They've been fearing his immediate withdrawal every second of the tournament. Which - considering today's masterclass - seems a wee bit funny

Long way to go, true, but there's no one who can beat Novak in this kind of form. I can understand why you are still cautious (I would too, if it was Federer), but as someone with no emotional attachment left, I can say this: Novak is a very, very heavy favorite to win it from here.

Even less than minimal as per his own words. And yes, there's that caveat. But Rublev? He's not going to be able to blast the ball past Novak for 3 sets. UE will creep in. And Novak can still defend extremely well when he needs to and has the best shot tolerance and defense to offense in the game.
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Rublev looks a soft kill for Djokovic. He's more chance of being competitive through Simon style junk balling than trying to hit through Djokovic. Like DeMinaur, Rublev simply doesn't have the power in a slugfest.
 
optic yellow said:
I wonder if Djokovic heals more quickly than the average person from tweaks to his hamstring thanks to his far above average flexibility.
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Yes, I am almost certain that’s the case.
Last year he was hanging a painting of a Bosnian pyramids landscape on the wall at his home living room, and he smashed his thumb with a hammer. His medical team timed him at only 24 minutes and 15 seconds to heal that thumb completely.
 
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Sudacafan said:
Yes, I am almost certain that’s the case.
Last year he was hanging a painting of a Bosnian pyramids landscape on the wall at his home living room, and he smashed his thumb with a hammer. His medical team timed him at only 24 minutes and 15 seconds to heal that thumb completely.
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I'm not stanning, just looking at it dispassionately.
 
The_Order said:
I already predicted Djok would win this tournament before it began... the fact that he's avoided all potential threats ... well I predicted that also...

But yeah the fact that this guy went out there with those words written on his racquet bag really does have me laughing in stitches...
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What did the bag say?
 
D_m_a said:
Why is Goran looking so worried ?
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Goran has resting-sad-face.

Chanwan said:
And now this masterclass. Serve is perfect, forehand is perfect, BH is perfect, movement is damn near perfect, volleys are perfect. Sure, de Minaur is the best (sorry, worst) possible opponent for Djoko, but still. This is slam winning form and there's nobody in the draw who has a chance against Djoko in this kind of form.

So congrats
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Yes, if Djokovic plays like this every match for the rest of the tournament, he should win it all.

The_Order said:
Anyone fooled by this "injury" needs to see a shrink...
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Kralingen does not need to see a shrink.

Seriously though, Djokovic is obviously injured, just not seriously. No way he skips practice on off-days to fake an injury that has little practical advantage against his opponents. Just the opposite, it makes them want to try to run him around more on the court, not something a 35-year old needs.
 
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The_Order said:
“Australians have gone through a lot,” he said. “There’s no secret about that. They’ve had it very tough. They’ve done a lot of work to protect themselves and their borders. When you’re coming in, as well as every other tennis player, if you wanted to come into the country, you had to be double vaccinated. It was up to him, his choices, his judgment.”
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If that made Novak angry then literally anything will make Novak angry lol. Blandest statement you could possibly make.
 
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jm1980 said:
Rublev can pummel the ball with his FH, and has a much better serve than de Minaur. He's a completely different beast
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He is and he can. He also has
- a very attackable 2nd serve
- a BH that can be exploited
- subelite movement and defense skills
- lack of variety
- etc. that Djoko can and will exploit.

Djoko in 3 again, 7-10 games for Rublev
 
weakera said:
This is unironically one of the least competitive matches I've seen. It's not necessarily Nadal Basilashvilli but it's not too far.
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Basil did put Nadal through the ringer in USO 18. Took more than 4 hours for Nadal to finish him off, if I remember correctly.
 
weakera said:
Credit to @BeatlesFan she nailed this
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I think anyone not blind or severely mentally hindered couldn't have called this match. And I was wrong in my prediction of Alex's total games, I overstimated ! -

Demon to win 7 total games. He'll be destroyed. Those silly enough to believe in a "hamstring injury" take the term gullibility to an entirely new realm.

He ended up winning 5 games.
 
ChrisRF said:
Until I heard that I kind of liked Alex, but this really is too much nonsense. But who knows, maybe he wasn't convinced himself and just took the shot because it was required. Sometimes such people explicitly hate the ones who are strong enough to resist, because they show them their own weakness.

Or de Minaur really is a vaccination fanatic, then maybe today Djokovic decided to let him one game for every shot he has taken. :-D
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Exactly. It takes great strength to be selfish and uninformed.
 
jm1980 said:
Rublev can pummel the ball with his FH, and has a much better serve than de Minaur. He's a completely different beast
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I agree and this will easily be Novak's biggest test so far. If he gets past Rublev and plays really well in process I will start believing he has good chance at getting his 10th Australian open.
 
jm1980 said:
Rublev can pummel the ball with his FH, and has a much better serve than de Minaur. He's a completely different beast
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He looked like he was carrying a pop gun when Kyrgios dismantled him, from memory in Miami last year. If the ball's sitting there begging to be pummelled I'm sure he can do that. Against players with genuine natural power he looks insipid.
 
What? Novak won? Quelle surprise! TTW said this Minotaur was a tough cake, and onward with predictions of another doom.
 
djokovic is not going to feed andrejs striking zone , of that Im sure. he will target the backhand with depth to open up the court.
But people seem to forget that Djokovic has a forehand that - when its firing - easily dispatches the other " big forehands" in the top 10.

ok Casper Ruud is a Mug but I remember the ATP final, his "Big forehand" was being pummeled into a pulp by novaks FH.
 
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