Novak Djokovic could be faced with a huge challenge in his next match at the Australian Open.
Djokovic has been working on his game during the off-season, which has been evident during his two straight sets wins at the Australian Open so far.
The Serbian has made a strong start in his bid to win a 25th Grand Slam title, with even Martina Navratilova being impressed by Djokovic.
While the signs for Djokovic are generally positive, he could actually be at risk of never winning a match at the Australian Open again.
Novak Djokovic faces a huge test at the Australian Open
After winning his 101st match at the Australian Open, Djokovic has set up a third round match against Botic Van de Zandschulp.
While playing the world number 75 does not seem particularly threatening on paper, Van de Zandschulp actually beat Djokovic at Indian Wells last year.
Djokovic is not the only big name who has been beaten by the Dutchman, with Van de Zandschulp also having wins over Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal.
This will likely be on the mind of Djokovic when he takes to the court for his third round match against Van de Zandschulp, who has already knocked out one seeded player in Brandon Nakashima.
If Djokovic was to suffer a second consecutive defeat to Van de Zandschulp, then it could actually be the last match he ever plays at Melbourne Park.
There has been a lot of speculation surrounding when Djokovic could retire from tennis, despite the 24-time Grand Slam champion stating his desire to compete at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
However, a third round defeat at the Australian Open this year may trigger Djokovic to retire from tennis earlier than he had originally planned.
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The Australian Open is Djokovic’s most successful Grand Slam, and he has gone on to win the title in 10 of his 20 previous appearances at the tournament.
Although Djokovic is a 10-time champion in Melbourne, he has also suffered some surprising early defeats at the Australian Open.
However, if he was to lose to Van de Zandschulp then it would be Djokovic’s earliest defeat at the Australian Open since 2017.
This is when Djokovic was stunned by wildcard Denis Istomin in a shock second round defeat.
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Djokovic will be hoping to avoid this when he plays Van de Zandschulp, who he has also beaten once before when they played at the Almaty Open in 2022.
The Serbian will play Van de Zandschulp for the third time in their head-to-head on Saturday, January 24.
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