– I had one and a half legs and two arms. I have such respect for Carlos, the world’s youngest world number one ever. We will see a lot of him, maybe not as much as I would like but he will be around a lot longer than me. It’s one of the most epic matches I’ve played, says Djokovic in the on-court interview.
Djokovic decided on his first match point after Alcaraz hit the net. The Serb applauded as a disappointed Alcaraz left the court.
When Djokovic took a medical timeout at 4-5 in the first set and returned with a bandaged left thigh and then lost the first set, few believed in the ten-time champion at Melbourne Park.
“Don’t want to reveal too much”
– Since I’m still in the tournament, I don’t want to reveal too much, but the medicine started to work – if I had lost the second set, I don’t know if I would have been able to finish the match. Now I try to enjoy having completed it, says Djokovic.
Djokovic was able to win the drama 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4, a match that ended at 00:57 local time after three hours and 37 minutes at Rod Laver Arena and is in pursuit of his 25th Grand Slam title, a new record.
– I become a little absent because I see that my children are still awake. Why don’t you go to bed? God only knows when I’ll be able to sleep, says a joking world number seven who gets a much-needed extra day of rest and does not face Alexander Zverev in the semis until Friday.
They drove the life out of each other with duels from the baseline that never ended in this rarely demanding match.