By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Novak Djokovic’s resurgence tour is still on full display after crushing Grigor Dimitrov in just three sets – 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 – in the ongoing 2023 Australian Open last January 21, 2023.
The legendary Serbian lawn tennis superstar gave the fans a treat after outclassing Dimitrov with his signature court mastery and consistent defensive game in the grueling three-hour duel to advance in the fourth round of the Grand Slam competition.
Known to be a power-hitter, Dimitrov was looking fine in the first set after scoring several ground-stroke winners that kept him within striking distance in the first 40 minutes of the match.
But Djokovic began to read Dimitrov’s baseline attacks and anticipated his ball placement which started his offensive snowball in the second set.
Dimitrov’s heavy backhand game was then neutralized by Djokovic by firing his volley strokes to the forehand side.
With the absence of Dimitrov’s powerful backhand, Djokovic was able to set up his offensive attacks and mixed things up with his serve-and-volley technique heading into the third set.
Dimitrov countered by throwing deep slices and chop strokes in an attempt to disrupt the Serbian’s baseline rhythm but Djokovic still found a way to maintain his composure and momentum.
Despite the huge win against Dimitrov, Djokovic still expressed a lot of worries heading into the next rounds after confirming a minor injury in his left hamstring.
Djokovic had to request a medical timeout midway through the second set after feeling something in his left hamstring.
The Serbian star’s camp had a sigh of relief after telling the match official that he is all good and is ready to suit up for the match again.
“I just found a way to win in such an exciting match, big battle, over three hours for three sets. If I lost one of these sets, we could have gone the distance. God knows how long,” Djokovic said.
With the win, Djokovic will be facing world no. 22 male tennis player Alex de Minaur who is coming off an impressive win against Benjamin Bonzi.
