Novak Djokovic’s brutal praise for 18-year-old rival who forced him into his longest debut in Australia: ‘He made me run for silver’

“He gave me a hard time”. With that phrase, the Serbian Novak Djokovic praised the work of the Croatian boy Dino Prizmic18 years old, which forced him to play four hours to overcome his longest Grand Slam debut and get his 29th consecutive victory in the Australian Openwhere the world number 1 begins the journey to become the second person in the history of tennis to conquer the Golden Slamwhich consists of winning the “big four” and the Olympic gold in the same season and which so far has only been achieved by the German Steffi Graf in 1988.

This is a very special Oceanic Major for Djokovic and not only because it will allow him to get ever closer to that goal that is between his eyebrows. If he defended his title and added his 11th crown in Melbourne, he would lift his 25th major trophy, breaking a tie with Margherita Corte -which reached its 24th place in 1973- and will become so the first overall winner in the most important category of tennis.

A milestone that could be achieved, curiously, in the first Australian edition in 25 years that hasn’t even happened Roger Federer (retired) nor Rafael Nadal (out due to injury), his greatest rivals and his teammates in that Big 3 that marked an era.

Graf’s own husband and his former coach Andrea Agassi On Sunday he was in the stands of the Rod Laver Arena to watch a very good match, unexpected in the presale period, not for the talent that Prizmic was able to demonstrate, but for the temperance with which he faced his first experience in the main draw in Australia. His legs didn’t tremble.

“He deserves every single applause. He is very mature on the court. This is his moment. He could have won, he had a break lead in the third set. He made me run to win the money tonight”he commented to the audience.

The Belgrade native will have to improve his game if he wants to aspire to what would be his eleventh conquest in Melbourne and the twenty-fifth ‘major’ after the clash with an alarming 65% of points obtained with the first serve.

Djokovic corrected this deficiency and reached 85% in this area in the last set.

It was more inconsistent than usual (49 unforced errors) but, just like on serve, he managed to find a solution and finished with just seven errors in the deciding set.

For his part, Priznic will never forget his meritorious debut in a Grand Slam on the center court of Melbourne Park against the most successful tennis player of all time, who after the clash declared that he would like to be able to sit on his bench in the future.

The Czech, a Roland Garros junior champion, has only three ATP-caliber victories and reached the top-200 for the first time in August 2023.

It was the first time in his young career that he faced a top 10 tennis player and his convincing performance suggests that he will be present in this type of scenario in the coming years too.

Djokovic will face the winner of the Australian duel between wild card Marc Polmas and Alexei Popyrin in the next round.

All the results of the first day of the Australian Open

. Men’s singles (1st round):

Novak Djokovic (SRB/No.1) defeated Dino Prizmic (CRO) 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4

Jaume Munar (ESP) beats Alexander Shevchenko (RUS) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1

Christopher O’Connell (AUS) beat Cristian Garín (CHI) 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5

Taylor Fritz (USA/N.12) beats Facundo Díaz (ARG) 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4

Fábián Marozsán (HUN) beats Marin Cilic (CRO) 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5

Francisco Cerúndolo (ARG/No.22) vs. Dane Sweeny (AUS) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2

Jannik Sinner (ITA/N.4) beats Botic van de Zandschulp (NED) 6-4, 7-5, 6-3

Jesper de Jong (NED) beats Pedro Cachín (ARG) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4

Daniel Galán (COL) vs. Jason Kubler (AUS) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (10/8)

Sebastián Báez (ARG/N.26) beats JJ Wolf (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 3-0 and abandonment

Tomás Machac (CZE) vs. Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) 7-5, 6-1, 7-5

Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) beats Adam Walton (AUS) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-4

Pavel Kotov (RUS) beats Arthur Rinderknech (FRA) 7-5, 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3

Quentin Halys (FRA) vs. Lloyd Harris (RSA) 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 7-6 (7/2)

Andrey Rublev (RUS/N.5) to Thiago Wild (BRA) 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (10/6)

. Women’s singles (1st round):

Maria Sakkari (GRE/No.8) defeated Nao Hibino (JPN) 6-4, 6-1

Elina Avanesyan (RUS) beats Zhuoxuan Bai (CHN) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) to Magda Linette (POL/N.20) 6-2, 2-0 and abandonment

Maria Timofeeva (RUS) beats Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-2, 6-4

Alina Korneeva (RUS) beats Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Leylah Fernandez (CAN/N.32) beats Sára Bejlek (CZE) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2

Alycia Parks (USA) defeats Daria Snigur (UKR) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4

Caroline Dolehide (USA) defeats Léolia Jeanjean (FRA) 6-2, 6-4

Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS) beats Emina Bektas (USA) 6-4, 6-4

Diane Parry (FRA) defeats Xinyu Wang (CHN/N.30) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3

Tamara Korpatsch (GER) beats Jodie Burrage (GBR) 2-6, 6-3, 6-0

Barbora Krejcíková (CZE/N.9) beats Mai Hontama (JPN) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3

Amanda Anisimova (USA) beats Liudmila Samsonova (RUS/N.13) 6-3, 6-4

Lesya Tsurenko (UKR/N.28) beats Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Brenda Fruhvirtová (CZE) defeats Ana Bogdan (RUM) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3