Novak Djokovic Aims for His 21st Slam Win in Australia: Can he do it?

It’s almost mid-January and the tennis world is slowly starting to warm up before one of the biggest grand slam tournaments launches. Bettors are slowly starting to follow smaller tournaments, the progress of potential favorites, and analyze data to make the best out of this year’s bookmaker offers.

Betting on tennis today offers a handful of different options in online bookmakers, from handicap sets and games to guessing the performance of each of the players, as well as the exact result, which makes betting on this sport very interesting and allows the connoisseur to find a promising option for his ticket. When it comes to Australian Open Betting, we expect the whole activity to be rich with options, and very fruitful. But to make the best of online betting, one has to find an adequate bookmaker.

But the question we’re going to tackle in this article is the potential of Djokovic to win the tournament…

Source: indiatimes.com

The greatest of all time made a spectacular comeback in 2024, by defeating the American Sebastian Cord in Adelaide. This title gave him as many as 250 ATP points significantly increasing his chances to go back to the top of the ATP list. In order to do so, his next task would be to triumph at the coming Australia Open. And many are wondering if can he actually do it.

Let’s give you a walkthrough of the last year…

2024 was a rather successful year, marked by winning the third Grand Slam tennis tournament of the Wimbledon season after defeating Australian Kyrgios in the final. It was his 21st Grand Slam title, and his seventh title gained at this prestigious tournament. This leaves only Rafael Nadal better than him, who has won 22 times in one of the four biggest tournaments, while the Swiss Roger Federer has one more victory in Wimbledon.

Let’s add that this is his fourth consecutive celebration at the All England Club, and his last defeat was in 2017 in the quarterfinals against the Czech Tomas Berdych. After that, he won 28 matches at the third Grand Slam tournament of the season.

Taking a look at his whole career this was his 88th tournament victory.

The Australian was the first to reach the advantage, who made a break with the score 2-2 and then defended the advantage. In the first set, Kyrgios had seven ace serves, 14 winners, and only four unforced errors, two of which he made in the last game of the set.

Interestingly, it was the third meeting in a row in which Djokovic started with a 0-1. He even lost 0-2 against the Italian Jannika Sinner in the quarter-finals, and 0-1 against the British Cameron Norrie in the semi-finals, but he turned both matches in his favor. Just like the trial against Kyrgios.

Source: insidesport.in

He played much better in the second set, he broke first with a 2-1 lead, and then had a 4-1 lead. In the ninth game, Kyrgios was able to make up for the lost game, he had 0-40, and then another break point, but he missed all four. Djokovic won the game and set for 6-3 and 1-1 sets. This annoyed the Australian so much that between games he shouted and argued with who knows who.

At the opening of the third set, Djoković had two balls to turn, but the Australian got away and took a 1-0 lead. The key game in the third set happened at 4-4. Kyrgios was 40-0 but lost five points in a row for a break. Djokovic then defended his serve and won the set 6-4. In his style, the Australian went “crazy” throughout the third set, which is why he received a warning at one point.

In the fourth set, Kyrgios managed to settle down and it was immediately visible in his game. He played excellently again, just like Djokovic, both tennis players held their serves without breakpoints and the set went to the thirteenth game.

“Tiebreak” started with Djokovic’s “mini break” and a 2-0 lead. The Australian returned the lost point, but then lost two points on his serve (1-4). When Djokovic took a 6-1 lead, it was clear that there was no going back. The Australian managed to win two more points, but it was not enough. Djokovic won the thirteenth game 7-3 for a big celebration.

Knowing how exciting the last grand slam tournament went, we can’t help to wonder how it will go this year in Australia.

Source: youtube.com

According to some of his colleagues who use to be on top of the game, Djokovic simply must win the next title if he wants to stay in the race with Nadal.

Again, the start of the year was quite successful, with his Adelaide victory. Maybe the stars are in his favor this year since Medvjedev who was one of his greatest opponents managed to fall off. According to many he was seen as his greatest threat to winning the title. The path is now a lot easier. Or, it should be.

But, the race continues. If he scores in Melbourne, it will be 22:22 with Nadal. He must win his 22nd title before Roland Garros because Spain can get another one in Paris. Therefore, the stakes are too high this year, as he can’t afford to lose this grand slam title,  and stay at 21 if Nadal gets to 23.

Having Djokovic in his full power this year makes it very difficult for others to compete. As we mentioned, Medvedev will remain a threat toward victory, and Nadal will keep pushing and challenging, but according to what we’ve seen so far, Djokovic is the main favorite.

It’s bound to be exciting and full of tension. The first Grand Slam of the season will be held from January 16 to 29, and Djokovic already won nine titles in Melbourne. Let’s see what he has on his sleeve this year.