Novak Djokovic Lays Out His Biggest Challenge For Australia Open Final: 'My...'

Novak Djokovic, set to challenge for his 25th Grand Slam in the Australian Open final on Sunday (February 1), admitted that his biggest challenge would be matching opponent Carlos Alcaraz physically.

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38-year-old Djokovic is chasing a record 11th Melbourne title, which would see him surpass Margaret Court and become the oldest men’s champion at the tournament. Alcaraz, 22, is aiming to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.

Both players reached the final after punishing five-set semi-finals. Djokovic battled past Jannik Sinner in over four hours, saving 16 of 18 break points, while Alcaraz endured a tournament-record 5hr 27min win over Alexander Zverev.

“My preparation is as it should be, and I won against him last year here, you know, also in a gruelling match,” said Djokovic, as quoted by AFP. “Let’s see. Let’s see how fresh are we both able to be. He also had a big match, but he has 15, 16 years on me. You know, biologically I think it’s going to be a bit easier for him to recover.”

Djokovic leads their head-to-head 5–4, though recent meetings have been tightly contested. Regardless of the outcome, Alcaraz will stay world number one, with Djokovic set to climb to third in the rankings.

Alcaraz himself was struggling with cramps in the semi-final and said afterwards that he had left a bit of scope to be better physically.

“Obviously, my body could be better, to be honest, but I think that’s normal after five hours and a half,” Alcaraz said after the gruelling test, suggesting he may even have an abductor issue. “Hopefully it’s not going to be anything at all, but after five-hours-and-a-half match and that high level physically, I think the muscles are going to be tight. I just got to do whatever it takes to be as good as I can for the final.”