Novak Djokovic received a huge boost in his pursuit of a 25th Grand Slam title on Sunday.
Djokovic was scheduled to face Jakub Mensik in the fourth round, but the Czech star withdrew from the match citing an abdominal injury.
The Serb will now have an extra day of rest before he plays either Lorenzo Musetti or Taylor Fritz in the last eight.
How far do you think Novak Djokovic will go at the Australian Open?
Should he advance to the semifinals, Djokovic will most likely be faced with defending champion Jannik Sinner.
Sinner has beaten the 24-time major champion in each of their last five meetings, and Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, suggested the Italian will make it six in a row should they cross paths Down Under.
Patrick Mouratoglou analyses Novak Djokovic’s chances of beating Jannik Sinner
In a post on Instagram, Mouratoglou said: “For me, Novak cannot compete with Jannik unless here (mentally) he wants it really, really, really badly, and it’s a big goal for him to win his 25th Grand Slam and I don’t feel that.
“I don’t hear it. I don’t hear that for him it’s so important. I’m hearing that he’s happy to continue playing because of his love for tennis, because of the adrenaline. But not because he wants this 25th Grand Slam more than anything else.
“When he wanted the Olympic Games, he played at a different level than the rest of the season. He’s really like this, Novak.
“He needs to want something really badly to be able to bring his whole body to that level. He’s great. He’s an amazing player, but he’s not the champion.”
The last time Djokovic beat Sinner was in 2023, when he triumphed in straight sets at the ATP Finals.
Patrick Mouratoglou says Jannik Sinner will finish 2026 as the world number one
Sinner held the top spot in the ATP rankings for the majority of 2025, but his rival, Carlos Alcaraz, reclaimed world number one status in September.
Come the end of the 2026 season, however, Mouratoglou thinks Sinner will overtake Alcaraz once again.
The Frenchman explained: “From what I see, I think this season they’re going to still be very close, but I think Sinner might end the season number one and Carlos number two.
A reminder of what happens when Jannik Sinner plays Carlos Alcaraz…
“Because also if you look at 2025, yes Carlos is number one, but Sinner was prevented from playing matches for three months.
“He’s only 500 points away from Carlos, so I think if this didn’t happen, he would probably end the season number one.”
Alcaraz currently has 12,050 ATP points to his name, while Sinner trails just behind with 11,500.
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