Djokovic Dominates, Murray Stuns Berrettini At Australian Open; Nadal, Medvedev Wed.

by Staff | January 17th, 2023, 4:38 pm
  • 18 Comments

Any concerns over Novak Djokovic’s left hamstring were put to rest — at least for now — as the Serb cruised past Roberto Carballes Baena in his Australian Open first round last night 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.

The 9-time champion face a 0-40 hole early but got out of it and rolled to his 22nd straight victory at the event and 35th straight in Australia.

“I really feel very happy that I’m back in Australia, back here on the court where I had the biggest success in my career,” said Djokovic. “This court is the most special court in my life, and I couldn’t ask for a better start to the tournament.


“I guess the more you win on a certain court, the more confident and comfortable you feel every next time you step on it. That’s probably one of the reasons. I’ve been fortunate to win a lot of matches on this court, particularly in the night sessions. If I had to choose one court and conditions, it would be night session on Rod Laver Arena, all night long.”

His good friend, Andy Murray, pulled off the win of the day stunning Matteo Berrettini in five sets 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(10-6) in 4 hours, 49 minutes.

Murray, who had lost three straight to the Italian, was down a match point serving 30-40, 4-5 in the fifth. But Berrettini dumped a sitter backhand pass at the net. Murray would eventually prevail for his biggest win at a Slam in over five years. The 5-time Australian Open runner-up was thrilled with the win.

“I’ll be feeling this this evening and tomorrow, but right now I’m just unbelievably happy, very proud of myself,” Murray said on court. “I’ve put a lot of work into the past few months with my team here to give me the opportunity to perform on stadiums like this and in matches like this against players like Matteo, and it paid off tonight.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever played one of those 10-point tie-breaks. It’s a bit different. When you’re up 6/1, or 7/1 or whatever, it feels like you’re still quite far away,” he added. “He came back really strong and I was just a bit lucky at the end with the net cord.”

“I think at the end some of the tennis was really good. It felt like that playing, I don’t know what it looked like,” Murray said. “He was serving unbelievable and he’s a brilliant competitor as well, one of the best competitors on the Tour. He always fights right to the end, so I did well to get through.”

It was Berrettini’s earliest loss at a Slam since the 2019 Australian Open.

Not long after the Murray win, Alexander Zverev completed his 5-set win over Juan Pablo Varilles of Peru.

A lengthy heat delay in the after and rain in the evening prevented all the matches to finish. But Andrey Rublev hammered Dominic Thiem in straights. Holger Rune, Grigor Dimitrov and No. 2 Casper Ruud were also winners. Ruud needed four tough sets to eliminate Tomas Machac.

Today, Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas are back in action.

WEDNESDAY AUSTRALIAN OPEN SCHEDULE
Rod Laver Arena – 11:00 AM
SWIATEK, Iga (POL) [1] vs. OSORIO, Camila (COL)
PEGULA, Jessica (USA) [3] vs. SASNOVICH, Aliaksandra
Not before: 2:00 PM
NADAL, Rafael (ESP) [1] vs. MCDONALD, Mackenzie (USA)
7:00 PM
RADUCANU, Emma (GBR) vs. GAUFF, Coco (USA) [7]
TSITSIPAS, Stefanos (GRE) [3] vs. HIJIKATA, Rinky (AUS)

Margaret Court Arena – 11:00 AM
SHNAIDER, Diana vs. SAKKARI, Maria (GRE) [6]
MOLCAN, Alex (SVK) vs. AUGER-ALIASSIME, Felix (CAN) [6]
KEYS, Madison (USA) [10] vs. WANG, Xinyu (CHN)
7:00 PM
MILLMAN, John (AUS) vs. MEDVEDEV, Daniil [7]
MUCHOVA, Karolina (CZE) vs. COLLINS, Danielle (USA) [13]


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18 Comments for Djokovic Dominates, Murray Stuns Berrettini At Australian Open; Nadal, Medvedev Wed.

Wog Boy Says:

For everyone who watched match last, the level of the standing ovation that Nole received and you heard out of your TV sets multiple by at least 5 times probably more, that’s how loud it was, I had goosebumps and it didn’t stop until the end of the match.

15 000 people were looking for redemption for what they unjustly did to him last year and they got it.

What Nole did since last year was what Queen Elizabeth was doing all her life “don’t say anything don’t do anything”, I wouldn’t be able to do that if that was done to me.


skeezer Says:

Lol…you meant the Murray match right? That was THE match of the day. Well done Murray!


zed Says:

Looking bad for Nada.

Two sets down and McDonald serving the match out.

Anything can happen of course. Nada may come back but in any case, WB I will see you in about 30 – 45 minutes bro’

We may be drinking sadly for the defending champ’s early exit :)

No Wait!! He’s out LOL :)

That 2022 Asterisk will remain I guess.


Wog Boy Says:

On my way, see you soon.


Wog Boy Says:

Zed, ?


zed Says:

I’m here bto’

Blue jacket


zed Says:

Sitting alone with a pint near a group of three people


zed Says:

In the bar area right?


chrisford1 Says:

Was dreaming of Perth the other day, and ‘Black’ Swan Lager.

Wog and Zed, enjoy your time at the AO. Wish I was around to say hi in person.
I don’t think there is much time left for Nadal. He is famous for bouncing back from injury or sections of certain hardcourt seasons where it appeared to injure him just thinking about his knees on hardcourt..but this is different. He doesn’t have the gas in the tank he used to. Can’t play all the time at top speed and often looks like he is tiring as a match goes on.

Nor is there time for Murray. unless he wants to be another Venus Williams. Famous and not winning anymore, but enjoying hanging around the Tour and playing. Andy hasn’t won anything 500 or above since Dubai in 2017., almost 6 years ago.
Still, he may proudly point to friends and family later in his life that he may not be the player he once was but at times he rose to be the fighter he once was. At the end of his career, like in the 1st Rd of the AO against Berrettini.


Wog Boy Says:

Hi CF1,

Thanks, sorry for the late reply, I try to keep myself away from my mobile and commenting when I am drinking.
I wish you were here last night, though we respectfully disagree on few things we are on the same page on most of the things.
It was great to meet Zed in person and share our thoughts on a few things (tennis wasn’t major part of conversation) over “few” beers. How much we enjoyed it you can judge by us staying in the pub until publican asked us politely to finish our drinks since the pub closing. Waking up this morning was a little bit harder but not that bad, every pleasure has its price 😉

We were enjoying one of few crafts beer (pub serves only its own craft beer), called “Four Wives’ not that I am suggesting anything….,


Wog Boy Says:

More about that particular beer:

“ THE STORY
James Squire loved adventure and brewing beers, but even more than that he loved women, having taken a wife and three mistresses throughout his life. He left all of them something in his will, but thankfully we got the beer.”

https://www.jamessquire.com.au/craft-beer/four-wives-pilsener/


zed Says:

Hey WB and CF1, yes great night and way too much beer for an old man.

We drank to all our friends here on Tennis-X and even to those who disagree with us, that was a lot of drinking.

Re: Rafa.

He turns 37 this June so of course he won’t recover like when he was 21 and given how close in capability professional opponents are to one another, even the slightest vulnerability will show up in the results.

Novak is one year younger and (as far as I can tell) is not as affected by the years on the professional circuit.

Of course Novak will hit the age wall as well, of course Novak will start losing more than he wins, of course Novak will need to one day accept his own mortality just as Roger had to and as Rafa will have to soon enough.

The question is how much time will there be between Rafa no longer winning and Novak no longer winning? Given Novak is one year younger you’d think the answer is at least one year. If you accept that Novak’s body has stood the test of time better than Rafa’s then could we be talking two years?

How many more Grand Slams, 1000’s, 500’s etc can Novak accumulate in two years whilst Roger and Rafa’s totals are forever locked in and frozen in time? The gap is very likely to widen before Novak also retires.

It’s not what Roger and Rafa fans want to hear but I think it’s a likely scenario.

p.s. WB I was genuinely surprised at your resemblance to George Clooney, surely people have mentioned this before?


Wog Boy Says:

😂 Zed,
You made my day👍, thank you for putting me alongside De longhi man.

We handle it well, we walked out in straight line…well, sort of.

Just enjoying my lunch on South Wharf Promenade before I say goodbye to your beautiful city, I visited The Lume and “Monet and friends” exhibition, I was impressed, I wish we have The Lume in Sydney.

Au revoir my friend, until next year.


chrisford1 Says:

I think Wog posted a photo of him in a crowd of Serbs wearing a water polo cap.
And I swear if I wasn’t thinking “another crazy freaking pack of Serb fans” – maybe an older Eric Bana in a water polo cap.

As for Nadal and Novak – Roger extended his career just by being graceful and light on his feet and not giving his hips, knees, and feet the pounding players like Connor, Lendl, Andy Murray and Rafa give them.
Djokovic is light on his feet like Roger, takes care of himself even better than Rafa though sometimes to the point of hypochondria and nutritional and medicine whackiness. He has a lot more kms covered in a match than Roger, having a philosophy that he can have a whole afternoon of 30-shot rallies and it will faze him les than any opponent, even Rafa, and that extra running all his career has to be a factor. But I think all things considered that when Rafa is spent, Novak has not just a year in age difference, but 1-2 years extra grace from having a fluid and light style of play.


Giles Says:

Lol. I see these 2 clowns are in full swing with their cr@p! You know which 2 I’m referring to! Always FOS!


Okiegal Says:

@Giles……Absolutely!! 🤣🤣


Tennispompom Says:

What a stunning match between Murray and Kokkinakis, just wow! I watched the first 2 1/2 sets, but then had things to do, and just surreptitiously followed the scores during the day, night had already started setting in in London when the match finished – with Andy’s victory!!!!
You gotta admire his determination and resilience! Well done Murray! You can’t help but be so proud of him! Now I’ll try to watch the bits I missed …


zed Says:

Giles, what a nasty thing to say when we also drank in honour of yourself! They didn’t have Guinness but we made do with what they had.

Okiegal, we theorised about you as well, agreeing that you’re probably quite a hottie. I put my money on that you’re a cute blonde, WB thinks you’re more likely a fiery redhead.

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