For the past decade and more, Novak Djokovic’s domination of the Australian summer has sat alongside death and taxes as one of life’s great inevitabilities. The Serbian world No 1’s last defeat on Australian soil, a fourth-round Australian Open upset at the hands of South Korea’s Hyeon Chung, was six years ago, since when the 36-year-old has compiled a 43-match winning streak.
But that proud record came to an end in Perth, where Alex De Minaur inflicted a 6-4, 6-4 defeat on the 24-time grand slam champion to give Australia the platform for a 3-0 United Cup quarter-final win over Serbia.
Twelve months after De Minaur was, to use his own word, “embarrassed” by Djokovic in Rod Laver Arena, the world No 12 produced one of the finest performances of his career to win all but one of his 34 first serve points, claiming what he described as a “surreal” result.
Just as he when lost to Chung in 2018, however, Djokovic had to contend not only with an inspired opponent but also a nagging injury. For the elbow problem that culminated with surgery then, read a painful wrist that first showed signs of troubling him in Serbia’s group win over the Czech Republic now.
Having received treatment on the area during a three-set win over Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday, Djokovic appeared distinctly unimpressed to be denied a medical timeout on the basis that the injury was a pre-existing one.
“What are you talking about?” the Serb demanded of the physio after sending a forehand long to concede a break in the ninth game. “It’s an injury you treated yesterday. So the logic is that, if it continues getting worse the next day, you won’t treat it because it already occurred yesterday? I said it improved before the match, but the more I’m playing, it’s getting worse.”
The timing of the injury is clearly far from ideal Djokovic, who matched Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 grand slam titles at last year’s US Open and will be aiming to eclipse it with an 11th success in the stadium bearing her name when the Australian Open gets underway on 14 January. Yet we have been here before with the Serb, who triumphed at Melbourne Park with a torn hamstring last year and also hoisted the trophy in 2021 after tearing an abdominal muscle. Djokovic said he expected to be fit in time to defend his title.
“I think I’ll be OK, to be honest,” said Djokovic. “It did have quite an impact, particularly on the forehand and serve. But again, I don’t want to be spending too much time talking about it and taking away credit for the victory from De Minaur.
“The [recovery] process is not strange to me. It’s not unusual. I’ve been in this kind of situation so many times and I know what I need to do, along with my team, to get myself ready.
“[Two out of the last three years I’ve been injured just before Australian Open, and managed to win both Australian Opens. So I hope that I will not be injured this time around. That’s what we’re going to work on, to get my body in the right shape, optimal state, so that I can perform at a high level throughout, hopefully, the entire Australian Open.”
De Minaur sealed the opener with a wrong-footing forehand before holding his nerve down the stretch after Djokovic gifted him a break with a double fault in the seventh game. Pegged back from 40-0 as he served for the win, the Australian finally converted his fourth match point as Djokovic drove a backhand long. Ajla Tomljanovic subsequently defeated Serbia’s Natalija Stevanovic 6-1, 6-1 to give the home team an unassailable lead.
“It’s hard to put into words,” said De Minaur. “It’s a very good feeling. Everything that could have gone well, went well today. I’m happy that I can say I got a win over the GOAT.”
Poland joined Australia in the last four, Hubert Hurkacz Hurkacz defeating Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-4 before Iga Swiatek recovered from 2-0 down to reel off nine straight games in a 6-2, 6-3 win over China’s Qinwen Zheng. Katarzyna Piter and Jan Zielinski then saw off You Xiaodi and Sun Fajing 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 to complete a 3-0 victory for the Group A winners.
“I feel like I’m playing well and making progress compared to last year,” said Swiatek, who has also notched up convincing wins over Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo and Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil in Perth. “I feel like I have more skills to play on these faster hard courts.
“Obviously, every tournament is a different story. A grand slam, it’s always a little bit tougher, there’s more pressure. I’m just thinking about finishing this tournament well and we’ll see what’s going to happen in Melbourne.”