“He made me run for my money”

“Gave me a run for my money”. With that phrase, the Serbian Novak Djokovic praised the work of the Croatian little boy Dino Prizmic18 years old, who forced him to play four hours to overcome his longest Grand Slam debut and obtain his 29th consecutive victory in the Australian Openwhere the world number 1 begins the path to becoming the second person in the history of tennis to conquer the Golden Slamwhich consists of winning the four ‘big ones’ and the Olympic gold in the same season and which has only been achieved, until now, by the German Steffi Graf in 1988.

This is a very special Oceanic Major for Djokovic and not only because it will allow him to get a little closer to that achievement he has between his eyebrows. If he defends the title and adds his 11th crown in Melbourne, he will lift his 25th “big” trophy, he will break the tie with Margaret Court -which achieved its 24th in 1973- and will become the top absolute winner in the most important category of tennis.

A milestone that could be achieved, curiously, in the first Australian edition in 25 years that does not have even Roger Federer (retired) by a Rafael Nadal (out due to injury), his greatest rivals and his teammates in that Big 3 that marked an era.

Precisely Graf’s husband and his former coach Andre Agassi He was in the stands of the Rod Laver Arena to watch a very nice match this Sunday, unexpected in the run-up, not because of the talent that Prizmic could display, but because of the temperance with which he faced his first experience in the main draw in Australia. His legs didn’t shake.

“He deserves every single applause. He is very mature on the court. This is his moment. He could have won, he had a break of lead in the third set. He made me run to win the money tonight”he commented to the audience.

The one from Belgrade will have to improve his game if he wants to aspire to what would be his eleventh conquest in Melbourne and twenty-fifth ‘major’ after the clash with an alarming 65% of points achieved with first serves.

Djokovic corrected this deficiency and reached 85% in this area during the last set.

He was more erratic than usual (49 unforced errors) but just as he did with the serve, he was able to find a solution and finished with only seven in the decisive set.

For his part, Priznic will never forget his meritorious debut in a Grand Slam on the center court of Melbourne Park against the most successful tennis player of all time, who said after the clash that he would like to be able to sit on his bench in the future.

The Czech, Roland Garros junior champion, has only achieved three ATP-caliber victories and reached the top-200 for the first time in August 2023.

It was the first time in his young career that he faced a top-10 tennis player and his convincing performance predicts that he will be present in this type of scenario for the coming years.

Djokovic will face the winner of the Australian duel between wild card Marc Polmas and Alexei Popyrin in the next round.

. Male single (1st round):

Novak Djokovic (SRB/N.1) defeated Dino Prizmic (CRO) 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4

Jaume Munar (ESP) to Alexander Shevchenko (RUS) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1

Christopher O’Connell (AUS) beat Cristian Garín (CHI) 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5

Taylor Fritz (USA/N.12) defeats Facundo Díaz (ARG) 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4

Fábián Marozsa (HUN) beat Marin Cilic (CRO) 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5

Francisco Cerúndolo (ARG/N.22) and Dane Sweeny (AUS) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2

Jannik Sinner (ITA/N.4) a Botic van de Zandschulp (NED) 6-4, 7-5, 6-3

Jesper de Jong (NED) beats Pedro Cachín (ARG) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4

Daniel Galán (COL) to Jason Kubler (AUS) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (10/8)

Sebastián Báez (ARG/N.26) beats JJ Wolf (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 3-0 and abandonment

Thomas Machac (CZE) defeated Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) 7-5, 6-1, 7-5

Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) defeated Adam Walton (AUS) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-4

Pavel Kotov (RUS) beat Arthur Rinderknech (FRA) 7-5, 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (5/7), 6-3

Quentin Halys (FRA) a Lloyd Harris (RSA) 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 7-6 (7/2)

Andrey Rublev (RUS/N.5) a Thiago Wild (BRA) 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (10/6)

. Women’s Single (1st round):

Maria Sakkari (GRE/N.8) defeated Nao Hibino (JPN) 6-4, 6-1

Elina Avanesyan (RUS) a Zhuoxuan Bai (CHN) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) to Magda Linette (POL/N.20) 6-2, 2-0 and abandonment

Maria Timofeeva (RUS) a Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-2, 6-4

Alina Korneeva (RUS) to Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Leylah Fernandez (CAN/N.32) over Sára Bejlek (CZE) 7-6 (7/5), 6-2

Alycia Parks (USA) and Daria Snigur (UKR) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4

Caroline Dolehide (USA) to Léolia Jeanjean (FRA) 6-2, 6-4

Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS) and Emina Bektas (USA) 6-4, 6-4

Diane Parry (FRA) a Xinyu Wang (CHN/N.30) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3

Tamara Korpatsch (GER) and Jodie Burrage (GBR) 2-6, 6-3, 6-0

Barbora Krejcíková (CZE/N.9) and Mai Hontama (JPN) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3

Amanda Anisimova (USA) defeated Liudmila Samsonova (RUS/N.13) 6-3, 6-4

Lesya Tsurenko (UKR/N.28) to Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Brenda Fruhvirtová (CZE) and Ana Bogdan (RUM) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3