Novak Djokovic seems to be gradually returning to his indomitable best at the Australian Open 2024. The World No.1 and defending champion equalled his long-time rival, Roger Federer’s all-time record of making it to 58 Grand Slam quarterfinals. Remarkably, the last time Novak Djokovic lost a Grand Slam quarterfinal was way back in May 2022, which was against Rafael Nadal at the French Open. But the Serb will have to beat the top-ranked American men’s singles player in the world, Taylor Fritz to extend this streak.
Djokovic has not kept well physically for most part of the tournament, which is partly the reason he was made to work in 4-set wins against youngsters, Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin in the first 2 rounds respectively. The Serb also came into the tournament with a wrist injury. However, Novak Djokovic did not drop a single set after that and his form was evident with a double bagel that he inflicted against 20th seed, Adrian Mannarino in the fourth round.
But Taylor Fritz is no pushover as an opponent. The last time these two played at the Australian Open was in 2021 in the Round of 32. Fritz made Djokovic run ragged despite losing the first two sets, making the Serb sweat and work hard for every point. Djokovic eventually won, but the American came the closest to challenging the 10-time champion in that edition.
On head-to-head, Novak Djokovic has a massive 8-0 lead over Taylor Fritz. The last time these two clashed, was also in a Grand Slam quarterfinal, at the US Open 2023. On that occasion, Djokovic won in straight sets in front of Fritz’s home crowd. So the World No.1 has a psychological edge going into this encounter.
Taylor Fritz has not had a perfect Australian Open 2024 campaign by any imagination to yet be called a title favorite. Fritz was pushed to a 5-setter himself in the first round by the unseeded Argentine, Facundo Diaz Acosta and was given a minor scare by Fabian Marozsan of Hungary too. There are also worries surrounding the supposed Taylor Fritz injury, which is around the ankle area that he seems to be carrying. But Fritz managed to still pull off an impressive 4-set win over one of his arch-rivals, Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round.
The SportsRush prediction for this match is Novak Djokovic winning in 4 sets to advance to his 5th consecutive Australian Open semifinal. The Djokovic vs Fritz Australian Open 2024 quarterfinal is scheduled to begin not before Tuesday, 2.30 PM local time (10.30 PM ET, Monday evening) at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Fans in the United States can watch this match on ESPN 2 and live streaming on ESPN+. The Djokovic vs Fritz live streaming in Australia will be on 9Now on subscription and free-to-air on Channel 9.
When Taylor Fritz slammed Novak Djokovic for bouncing the ball too many times
Taylor Fritz is not exactly a Novak Djokovic fan in certain things even as he and his girlfriend, Morgan Riddle recently tried out his new sports drink lightheartedly on the sidelines of the practice arena. Fritz once admitted that it is frustrating when players take too much to serve, taking 30-40 bounces of the ball to complete it. Although he did not directly take Djokovic’s name, fans and pundits concluded that Fritz was aiming at the likes of Djokovic and Nadal in his scathing criticism about pacers slowing down the pace of the game purposely.
Last year, Taylor Fritz also was opposed to having a diet like Novak Djokovic’s. The Novak Djokovic vegan diet is now being lauded in the sports world, seeing the Serb’s success at the age of 36 in what was previously considered an ‘old age’ or the age to retire in tennis. But Fritz believes that he cannot be as disciplined and that he enjoys his food, so if he went way, he would probably lose his mind and energy. Expect a spicy clash between Djokovic and Fritz though at the Australian Open 2024!
