The second Quarter Final of the Australian Open will be a Serbian / German battle. The world’s #1 is set to take on the world’s #6 for a place in the semis. Nole is known for his love to this tournament, as he hold 8 title already. However, a scare in his last game keep his fans wondering is he fit enough to battle. It’s Novak Djokovic Vs Alexandre Zverev – Can The Serb Play Through The Pain?
Match Preview
It’s clearly that Novak is playing through the pain, it was shown during his past 2 games. However, the champ refuse to surrender and made it clear that he’s here to compete and write history. Standing his way will be a young German who only lost one set so far this tournament and is more than ready to prove to everyone that he’s worthy of the title. A match like this will definitely require the full fitness and stamina of a player, so can the Serb play through the pain? Let’s discuss the matchup further.
Novak Djokovic
We start with the world #1, who is already writing history having won his 300th match in a Grans Slam. Only Roger Federer have more, 362 total wins, as the Joker is pursuing him to settle the score. In addition, Nole is after his 18th Grand Slam title and chasing an unprecedented 9th AO crown as he is playing through a suspected abdominal muscle tear. We know that mentally he’s one of the toughest players out there, but how long can he risk this injury? Is it worth your health or can history wait till the next season?
The AO to Djokovic is what the Roland Garros is to Nadal, this is his “playground” and he’s the favorite to win it, as long as he is fit and healthy. However, During his third-round match against American Taylor Fritz, Nole slipped and sustained an injury that made him dig deep to get past Raonic and his killer aces. The champ did not practice between matches since the injury, making it clear that if it wasn’t a Grand Slam he would have retired.
Alexandre Zverev
Meanwhile, Zverev wants to demonstrate that he’s a major contender and there is no better time to do that. Going up against the world champion, who is struggling with his fitness lately, could be enough for Zverev to achieve that.
During the tournament, Zverev won his first-round match in four sets. Besides that, he’s won the rest of his matches in straight sets as he’s getting ready to secure a place in the semis. In addition, the German will be the toughest opponent Djokovic had to face so far, and he already won matches against him before. So can he do it again this time? If Djokovic is not fully fit and recovered, Zverev have what it takes to bring him down. It should be an interesting battle. What do you guys think?
Prediction
Zverev will do anything to get past Djokovic today, he could very well take the match to five sets and if the champ was not fully fit he might as well cause an upset and qualify. However, Nole is getting better as we saw during his last game and he should be prepared for this battle. The world’s #1 is known for his ability to take the game long and win. On the other hand, the German is known for the compelte opposite, as he drop matches even from winning positions. Although it will be a tough battle, but Djokovic should have enough in him to hold Zverev and qualify.
Let us know on which side you stand in the comments below.
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