Novak Djokovic is on a charge as he looks for his 25th Grand Slam title at this year’s Australian Open.
The Australian Open is well underway, and there is no man that knows there way around Melbourne Park better than a certain 37-year-old Serb.
Djokovic is searching for a record-extending 11th title down under in 2025, and has gotten off to a strong start.
The Serb dropped the first set of his tournament, before Djokovic beat Nishesh Basavareddy in four sets, to book his spot in the second round.
Next up was a test against the ATP number 125 Jaime Faria, who was playing in a Grand Slam main draw for the first time in his career.
Despite dropping a set once more, Djokovic beat Faria in four, as he set up a third-round clash with Czech star Tomas Machac.
A strong performance for the Serb, and one that was aided by a change at this year’s tournament, that he has noticed a real flaw with.
Novak Djokovic says on-court coaching ‘endangers’ players during the Australian Open
The Australian Open introduced court-level coaching for this year’s event, something that Djokovic said he was happy to see prior to the beginning of the tournament.
Speaking after his win over Faria in the second round, Djokovic gave his thoughts on how he now feels about the change.
“I’m still supportive of that, I think it’s a great new introduction to the tournament,” he said.
“The selected people who are there are selected by all of us internally in the team, we talk about who we think can contribute the most by being on the court.
“I’m happy with the four people that I have there sitting.”
Djokovic went on to joke about how he may have to adjust who he puts in his coaching box in the future.
“It probably will change in the future with the microphone and everything,” he said.
“I’m sure for the fans watching, social media, it would be very interesting to hear what we are talking about.
“I mean, I understand from kind of, like, fun part and stuff going viral, because there will be quite a bit of material there, I’m sure.”
On a more serious note, Djokovic did identify a real issue with the change for this year’s tournament.
“The only thing that I dislike there is the fact that someone from your opponent’s team might be watching the match, and she or he hears that and, of course, then texts the team member, ten seconds later you have the information,” he said.
“That’s the part that I don’t like.
“So I feel like there should be some discretion and privacy in terms of the actual on-court coaching tactics.
“That shouldn’t be out there public, I would say, because then it kind of endangers you live during the match.”
Novak Djokovic set for tough third round match against Tomas Machac
Machac beat Reilly Opelka in the second round of the Australian Open, as he booked his spot in a Grand Slam third round for the fourth time in his career.
Opelka beat Djokovic earlier this month at the Brisbane International, so the Serb may well have been happy to see the big-serving American exit the tournament.
However, he will know that Machac is no pushover, and won’t need to be reminded of what happened when they last played together.
In their second career meeting, Machac and Djokovic went the distance in the 2024 Geneva semi-finals,
The Czech star impressively secured his first-career win over a world number one as he took down Djokovic 6-4, 0-6, 6-1.
Machac has proved to be a tough match-up for the Serb, as he took Djokovic all the way in Dubai the year before, before narrowly coming up short in a third set tiebreaker.
It remains to be seen who will come out on top this time around, as Djokovic and Machac face off in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday, January 17.
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