MELBOURNE, Australia – Novak Djokovic smashed a racket and let a piece of the frame fly. Later he flopped there at the back of the blue courtyard, hopelessly as can be.
He dropped the opening set against Alexander Zverev, one of the young boys who tried to push Djokovic and the rest of the Big Three aside. Djokovic trailed 3-0 in the third. And also 3-0 in the fourth, eventually even against a set point.
Ah, but this is Djokovic we’re talking about, the ultimate competitor. And this is Djokovic at the Australian Open, where no one has ever been better. So, of course, Djokovic pulled himself together and took the win, reaching his ninth semifinal at Melbourne Park, knocking out No. 5 seed Zverev 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-4, 7 -6 (6) Tuesday night.
Djokovic is approaching a ninth championship in Australia, which would add to his own record for a man. And an 18th Grand Slam title overall, two less than rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (who plays in the quarter-finals on Wednesday).
Both men wore tapes on their stomachs to help with stomach problems; Djokovic was injured in his third round win against Taylor Fritz.
That didn’t stop the number 1-ranked Djokovic from producing 23 aces, including on the last point.
In the semi-finals, he faces the surprise of the tournament: Aslan Karatsev, a 27-year-old from Russia who is in 114th place and had to go through qualifying rounds to get into a major’s main tournament for the first time.
No one had ever been among the last four in his Slam debut, until Karatsev’s 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 elimination Tuesday of No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov, who was injured by back cramps that left his shoes a whole lot. job.
Zverev, second in the US Open in 2020 and semi-finalist in Melbourne a year ago, once again struggled with the elite competition on the biggest stages. He fell 0-8 against Top 10 opponents at Grand Slam tournaments; he’s 25-29 against such enemies in tour-level matches, otherwise.