MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open campaign may have got off to a slow start, but the 10-time champion’s play has picked up pace in his last couple of outings. Against Adrian Mannarino on a wet, windy Sunday at Melbourne Park, he attacked the ball like a hungry schoolboy on a gastronomical excursion, lining up a double bagel before finishing the 4th-round match for the loss of three games.
The 36-year-old ousted the left-handed Frenchman, one year his junior and seeded 20, whose legs appeared to have run out of miles, having played three successive five-setters.
Djokovic won the first 13 games of the match to finish with a 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 result that gave him his 32nd straight Australian Open win, setting up a quarterfinal meeting with the 12th-seeded American Taylor Fritz, who put out the No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic, who has an 8-0 head-to-head record with the 26-year-old Fritz, shut down retirement chatter.
“While I’m No. 1 and on top of the game, I don’t feel like leaving tennis,” he said. “When I feel that I’m not able to compete at the highest level and be a contender for a Grand Slam title, then I’ll probably consider retirement.”
That thought process could change for the Serb.
“I’m not a teenager anymore. I’m a father and a husband. A lot of things are happening in the private life off court that I enjoy, that require my attention, my presence, my energy,” he said.
The world No. 1, who was swinging off both flanks even during his media interaction, was quick to warn that his intensity and passion for the sport hadn’t dropped unlike the temperature in Melbourne.
It was on display in the third set at the Rod Laver Arena, where he pumped his fist and glared at his box for answers he didn’t need.
“I thought maybe I would feel slightly more relaxed this year, maybe less tension. But it’s not. It is as it always was — very high intensity,” the 24-time major winner said.
The contest tennis is priming for is the possible semifinal, a generational clash, that could pit Djokovic against the 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner. First order of business for Sinner is the explosive Russian Andrey Rublev.
