Novak Djokovic has not held any practice sessions in the last two days to recover from his adductor injury, but Australian Open director Craig Tiley has assured that the former world No. 1 will play the semifinal against Alexander Zverev tomorrow.
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The 37-year-old from Belgrade reached his 50th semifinal in a Major tournament and became the oldest player to reach the semifinals of the Happy Slam alongside Roger Federer and Ken Rosewall. The Serbian legend needs to be in his best physical condition if he wants to defeat Sascha, who is playing great tennis and lost only one set during his run.
The German champion has never beaten Nole in a Grand Slam tournament and wants to prove to the whole world that he has finally overcome all the mental blocks that have characterized his career so far.
Djokovic wants to surpass Margaret Court
On the latest edition of the 'Australian Open Courtside', former British champion Tim Henman analysed Djokovic's chances of reaching the final at Melbourne Park: "Reflect on the Australian Open, he's won 10 times, I think he's only lost one semi-final in Melbourne in the past.
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He owns the place. Secondly, he's never lost to Zverev in a best-of-five set match. So all the stars are aligning: 25th Slam in 2025, Djokovic is going to get it done."
It is not the first time that Nole and Sascha have faced each other in this tournament.
These two champions had already faced each other in the 2021 edition of the Australian Open, when the Serbian ace prevailed at the end of a very balanced battle decided by very few points.
Former World No.1 Justine Henin also expressed her opinion on this match: "I will go with Tim, even though you all have the good arguments," she said. "He's going to be ready, capacity of the rest to provoke him. We will see."
Djokovic and Zverev will play the first semifinal, while in the night session Jannik Sinner will face Ben Shelton.
