From Crisis To Smooth Sailing, Novak Charts Winning Course AO

By retaining his 10th Australian Open championship on Sunday, Serbian will try to break the previous record.One particular career statistic may put Novak Djokovic at ease as he gets on the stage to take on Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's championship match in Melbourne Nine Australian Open finals played, nine Australian Open finals won.In order to improve that record from 10 to 11, Djokovic will aim to handle any challenging situations with the same composure he shown against Tommy Paul in Friday's semifinals, when he overcame dropping four straight games to win 7-5, 6-1, 6-2.After overcoming his rocky spell to advance to his 10th championship match at the hard-court major, Djokovic remarked, "I'm obviously really thrilled and pleased to be in another Grand Slam final. This is precisely what I had envisioned and hoped would occur when I arrived in Australia with the purpose of competing for a second Australian Open championship."I believe that having prior expertise in this specific event and its conditions is beneficial. I believe that my unbeaten record in Australian Open finals also gives me a lot of confidence going into Sunday.Djokovic beats Paul and sets up a No. 1 match against Tsitsipas in the Australian Open final.But this year in Melbourne, Djokovic is playing for more than simply the Norman Brookes Trophy, unlike many of his previous appearances in the Australian Open final. With a victory over Tsitsipas, he might match Rafael Nadal's record of 22 Grand Slam titles. In addition, the winner will overtake Carlos Alcaraz as the top player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.In their ATP Head2Head series, Djokovic is 10-2 against the Greek, including a five-set comeback triumph at Roland Garros in the title final in 2021. But he won't take anything for granted since he knows the third-seeded 24-year-old has more than enough motivation to perform at his peak at Rod Laver Arena.

Djokovic, who has defeated the Greek in nine of their previous 10 matches at the tour level, added, "Of course, still the job needs to be done on the court." "I'm coming up against Tsitsipas, who is in excellent condition, has been playing some of his greatest tennis, and who is in tremendous shape. He will be undoubtedly driven to capture his maiden Grand Slam championship."I am somewhat familiar with his game. He is an expert at my game. We played on various surfaces several times... Knowing what lies in store for me makes me eager. Fortunately for me, there is always something at stake in every match or event at this level of my career because of all my accomplishments, especially when the Grand Slams are involved.I'm fortunate to be in this situation, and I'm wishing for the best, of course.

Djokovic will certainly need to avoid any performance slip-ups like the one he made against Paul on Friday if he wants to overcome the high-flying Tsitsipas. The American got back into the game at 5-5 after the Serbian had led 5-1, 40/30, but Djokovic lost his cool just in time to win the set despite making 24 unforced mistakes.According to Djokovic, "Today in the first set, clearly [I] was] 5-1 up, serving for the set [with] a set point, then things rapidly changed, and I was pretty tense on the court." "He returned to five all." I was having a hard time, both physically and mentally.

"I suppose you can anticipate a crisis, one, two, or three crises, in these specific matches, [in the] closing moments of a slam. The less the better, but I had one today. In the closing moments of a slam, you can anticipate having a crisis—one, two, maybe even three. Though I had one today, the less the better. I'm so relieved that I was able to get through that crisis around the conclusion of the first set. The remainder of the game was very uneventful, from the start of the second half through its conclusion."I was able to make an early break early in the second and early in the third, put some distance between myself and the outcomes, and end the match in nice fashion.

With a victory in Melbourne, Djokovic would tie Nadal for the Grand Slam championship, positioning him to pursue further historic accomplishments in 2023. However, the 35-year-old recognised that his continuing devotion to the sport was not solely motivated by the possibility of breaking additional records when questioned about his longer-term ambitions for his playing career.In his own words, Djokovic stated, "[A] personal reason is that I believe on the tennis court I constantly have the opportunity to learn something new about myself [and] struggle with my own demons, which I think we all have." "Somethings come out while we're fighting on the tennis court, and I have to deal with them So, for me, it's a wonderful school for life.Naturally, I also have professional objectives and goals at the same time. Grand slams and holding the top spot in the world are those. These two have always been my ultimate aspirations since they represent the summit of the professional tennis scene. I undoubtedly want to add to the history of our sport.