Novak Djokovic advances to the third round of the Australian Open. Despite this, the superstar is annoyed and worried.
Tournament favorite Novak Djokovic reached the third round at the Australian Open in Melbourne despite some problems on the pitch and trouble in the stands. The Serb prevailed against the French qualifier Enzo Couacaud 6: 1, 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 2, 6: 0.
In the meantime, his opponent put up a surprising amount of resistance, he himself didn’t move very well with a bandage around his injured left thigh – but Djokovic had even more problems with a small part of the fans in the Rod Laver Arena.
One spectator in particular annoyed the 35-year-old. “The boy is completely drunk, he wanted to provoke me from the first point. He’s not here to watch tennis. He just wants to get into my head,” complained the 21-time Grand Slam tournament winner in the fourth set Score of 2:0 with the referee. Djokovic demanded that folders should take care of the troublemakers. A little later the small group of men dressed in red and white with bobble hats on their heads were led out of the hall.
“A lot happened today,” said Djokovic afterwards in the winner’s interview on the pitch, where he heard a declaration of love and then replied: “I love you too!” In the third round, the exceptional player, who has been unbeaten at the Australian Open since 2018, meets the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow, whom he called his “Balkan brother”.
But the muscle problems he has been struggling with for the past two weeks are worrying him. “To be honest, it’s not good at all,” Djokovic replied in the Eurosport interview when asked how his thigh was doing: “I look from day to day. It felt better in the last match than today. It’s right to God to help me.”
At his opening match two days earlier, Djokovic had been warmly welcomed by almost all fans and enthusiastically cheered. “If I had to choose a place and a time, it would be the night session here in the Rod Laver Arena,” Djokovic said afterwards. A year ago, the tennis star was expelled from Australia because of a visa that was declared invalid.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
