Novak Djokovic had one of the worst days of his career arguably on Friday early morning ET as he was knocked out of the Australian Open 2024 in the semifinals. Djokovic was overpowered by World No.4 Jannik Sinner, as the final scoreline read 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 in the Italian’s favor. This has largely got to do with Novak Djokovic conceding a whopping 54 unforced errors in the match as per Infosys, the official technology partner of the Grand Slam. And an interesting pattern has emerged about the 10-time champion Down Under that might have caused so many of those errors.
Prior to Friday’s semi-final, Novak Djokovic had played all his quarter-final, semi-final and final matches at the Australian Open in the night session since 2010. While Djokovic was knocked out in the quarterfinals in 2010 and before that stage in 2017 and 2018, on all other occasions he won his semifinal and subsequently, his final matches. Remarkably, all those victorious matches were held in the night session of that particular day, mostly of course at the Rod Laver Arena.
But something was different in the Novak Djokovic Australian Open 2024 campaign. He was made to play more in day sessions despite being the top seed, although he was considered to be given a much simpler draw than the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev. Even the Djokovic vs Sinner semi-final was held in the day session on Friday, while Medvedev vs Zverev was in the night one.
Djokovic was clearly looking subdued in his body language for a large part of the match and was even seen clutching his abdominal region, as if to show that he is in pain. A player of his caliber rarely makes those many errors but Sinner was the one who dictated most of the points and also benefited from some lacklustre tennis from the World No.1. Against other opponents, Djokovic might have bounced back and won, but those struggles would not be whitewashed against someone who is in top form as Sinner is.
As Novak Djokovic crashed out, multiple broadcasters have pointed out that the last time he lost at the quarterfinal stage or beyond during a day session match at the Australian Open was in 2009. Djokovic lost to Andy Roddick, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2 in a thrilling knockout match. The Serb complained of the heat and humidity in Melbourne that day, giving that as a reason for him succumbing to the 2003 US Open champion.
After the match, Andy Roddick famously took a dig at Novak Djokovic’s fitness despite the current World No.1 being the defending champion in that tournament. After that, Roger Federer, who lost to Djokovic in the 2008 semi-final of the Grand Slam, also rather needlessly jumped into the debate and slammed Djokovic, claiming that he should consider his future in the sport if his fitness levels were so low. Both Roddick and Federer claimed that they had either expected that of Djokovic or seen him retired hurt on many instances before with the same excuse.
Although today’s Novak Djokovic is far different in terms of being an epitome of physical and mental fitness in tennis, there is no doubt that Djokovic finds it difficult to control his opponents and the game when there are day matches held at the Rod Laver Arena. The Serb himself has claimed on multiple occasions over the years hat he prefers playing all his matches in the night session, citing the fatigue factor as a reason. On one instance, he indirectly took a dig at the Australian Open organisers for preferring Roger Federer over him to play night matches in the 2018 edition, which the Swiss maestro went on to win.
Normally, day matches are given to lower seeds or those matches which broadcasters have traditionally believed, would perhaps not give them as much viewership as the night ones from countries like the United States and UK besides Australia. But Djokovic prefers the night matches arguably due to the cooler weather allowing him to recover faster and the bounce becoming much lower, that can make him run his opponents ragged by playing tactically.
This is an interesting fact that perhaps Novak Djokovic’s opponents might have noticed and could now look to take advantage of, getting inspired by Jannik Sinner breaking his incredible streak at the Grand Slam. Maybe in other competitions as well, it would also be fascinating to see whether a Grand Slam’s organisers would copy the Australian Open and not fulfil Djokovic’s request for all evening or night matches.
