Melbourne (AFP)
Serbian Novak Djokovic, ranked first in the world, suffered at the beginning of his defense of his title in the Australian Grand Championship, the first of the four major tournaments in tennis, to defeat Croatian Dino Przemek 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Djokovic, looking for his 11th title in Melbourne and 25th Grand Slam tournament, said: I got my money's worth, and it could have been his match. He is an amazing player, mature for his age. He had an amazing game plan, and the answer to everything, he delivered. “Very physical game, he defends incredibly well.”
The 36-year-old added, “He showed great mental strength. It is an amazing performance for an 18-year-old player who has never played before in such a major tournament.”
Despite his loss in the first set, the young Croatian, 18 years old, coming from the qualifiers, who had not yet seen the light when Djokovic participated for the first time in Melbourne in 2005, returned to the atmosphere of the match in his first participation, despite feeling pain in his left thigh after 5 games.
The Croatian, who put a bandage on his thigh, forced his opponent to lose the second set at Rod Laver Arena, although he missed the opportunity to break the Serbian serve (from 3-1 to 3-3), but he succeeded in winning the tie-break during his attempt. Fourth.
At the beginning of the third set, Przemek was able to recover from a broken serve to come back and take a 3-2 lead after fighting the first seed in long exchanges, but the latter rose up again to win four games in a row, and take the advantage two sets to one.
After repeating the same feat in the fourth set, Djokovic put himself away from the danger of the Croatian, despite a late rebound from the latter.
With 24 major titles, Djokovic is considered the most successful Grand Slam player in history, noting that he shares the absolute record with Australian Margaret Court.
For women, Greek Maria Sakkari, seeded eighth, did not make much effort to beat Japanese Nao Hibino 6-4, 6-1.
American Amanda Anisimova completed her return to a major tournament after a break due to mental problems, by defeating Russian Lyudmiya Samsonova thirteenth, 6-3, 6-4.
The 22-year-old American achieved her first victory two weeks after her return to competition in Auckland after an absence that lasted less than eight months.
She said after she decided to stop last May, “I am here and I feel good; “So we succeeded.”
Anisimova, who reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros in 2019, added, “I am here only to participate, and I will see how far I can advance.”
Danish Caroline Wozniacki, formerly ranked number one in the world, who returned last summer after giving birth and being absent for three and a half years, benefited from the withdrawal of Polish Magda Linette, who suffered from back pain, to reach the next round, while the score was 6-2 and 2-0 after less than an hour. .
Wozniacki, 33, reached the final of the US Championship upon her return to the field. Since then, she has not participated in any tournament until the beginning of this month.
She dared to say, “The dream is to win the tournament, it is a reward, but honestly, I think I am playing well, so why shouldn’t I be the winner?”
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