Novak Djokovic Beats Taylor Fritz but Is Hurt at Australian Open

Djokovic is scheduled to face Milos Raonic of Canada in the fourth round on Sunday. Raonic will bring one of the biggest serves in tennis to a match that could present Djokovic, if he plays, with one of his biggest challenges since he started dominating on the hardcourts in Australia.

For Djokovic, a 17-time Grand Slam champion, a loss would have brought a third straight major tournament that ended in disappointment. He was defaulted out of the United States Open in September when he swatted a ball and accidentally hit a line judge. In October, he lost badly to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final.

He came to Australia in search of his championship form, though he pulled out of an exhibition in Adelaide with bad blister on his hand. Still, he breezed through his first-round match against Jeremy Chardy of France in 91 minutes.

In the second round though, he was pushed to the limit against Frances Tiafoe of the United States, who stretched him to four sets over three-and-half-hours on a steamy afternoon, even though Djokovic served 26 aces. Like a prize fighter jabbing at a cut, Tiafoe saw Djokovic struggling to reach wide forehands and continually forced him to stretch to his right.

Still, he gave no hint that he was in any kind of significant distress after the match and entered the night against Fritz, who is from San Diego, as a heavy favorite.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/sports/tennis/novak-djokovic-hurt-australian-open.html