In the match before the match in question, Andrey Rublev pipped Holger Rune by a net cord and then announced to Rod Laver Arena how unhappy he was to be playing Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. “No one wants to face Novak,” he said. “I prefer to be in the other half of the draw.”
When he was reminded that Djokovic was not yet in the quarter-finals, that he still had to play Alex de Minaur to get there, he was embarrassed. “Oh shit,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
