Novak Djokovic will kick off his 2023 at the Adelaide International 1, before going on the hunt for his tenth seal at the Australian Open. We remember that the Serb was unable to participate in the Happy Slam earlier this year due to his decision not to get vaccinated against the Coronavirus.
For the same reason, the 35-year-old from Belgrade had also been forced to miss the US Open and all US Masters 1000s. The evolution of the pandemic and the establishment of a new government meant that the three-year ban that weighed on Nole’s head was lifted.
The ‘Djoker’ will be the great favorite in Melbourne Park and -in case of victory- he would hook Rafael Nadal in 22 Grand Slams. Although he had to miss two Majors in 2022, Goran Ivanisevic’s protégé still limited the damage.
In fact, the seventh seal at Wimbledon has allowed him to move just one length away from Nadal in the all-time Grand Slam rankings. In an interview with ‘Channel 9’, Alistair MacDonald -director of the Adelaide tournament- commented on Djokovic’s return to Australia.
Djokovic has arrived in Adelaide
«Novak Djokovic looked fantastic today,» MacDonald said. «He has arrived in Adelaide ready to take on all the contenders here. We are really looking forward to him, he looks good and his team is delighted to be in Adelaide.»
He knows Adelaide pretty well, knows what to expect, conditions are pretty similar to Melbourne. So I think his whole team is very, very happy to be here in Adelaide. He obviously has a great team around him, he’s very particular about the way he prepares and even today, being on the court for the first time, you really get an idea of the preparation that goes into each and every from training sessions, and he is also very particular about his food.
So we’re just making sure he can get a good vegan feed and the team has been great so far.» Slovakian tennis star Alex Molcan recently suggested that facing Novak Djokovic for the first time defined the way he approached tennis a from that moment…
«Playing against Djokovic really showed me how to play tennis,» Alex Molcan recently said on the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast. «It’s not about playing very fast or trying to be extremely aggressive, it’s about the head and you know it looks like Djokovic is playing chess.
It was a really amazing experience, I learned a lot from her, I saw how maybe I can play, not exactly, but some movements, how she is thinking, I was watching this match a lot and yes, the experience was amazing, it was a good school for me», added the Slovakian player.
