{"id":442376,"date":"2026-01-28T06:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/442376\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T06:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:51:15","slug":"australian-open-2026-novak-djokovics-chances-of-25th-grand-slam-title-opening-up-but-same-problems-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/442376\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open 2026: Novak Djokovic’s chances of 25th Grand Slam title opening up – but same problems remain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Increasingly, it feels like a case of “now or never” for Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n

The longer time ticks on, the less likely it is that 38-year-old Djokovic will claim the elusive 25th Grand Slam title he so dearly craves.<\/p>\n

If he is going to move clear of Australia’s Margaret Court in terms of all-time major victories, the smart money goes on Djokovic doing it at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

History shows how much he loves the place. Djokovic has lifted a record 10 men’s titles at the Australian Open and, overall, won 102 of his 112 matches on Melbourne’s hard courts.<\/p>\n

Given that body of work, his fans are starting to believe the stars are aligning – with several reasons enhancing that belief in recent days.<\/p>\n

Firstly, fourth seed Djokovic had a narrow escape when he recklessly cracked a ball close to a ball girl during his third-round win over Botic van de Zandschulp.<\/p>\n

Djokovic admitted afterwards he was “lucky”. Had the ball struck the girl, he would almost certainly have been defaulted<\/a> and seen another attempt at number 25 aborted by his own carelessness.<\/p>\n

Secondly, Djokovic was handed a walkover on Sunday following injured opponent Jakub Mensik’s withdrawal from their last-16 match.<\/a><\/p>\n

For some players, going three days without a match can leave them cold. <\/p>\n

Given Djokovic’s advancing years and ability to find his best form without playing regularly, it feels like a bonus heading into Wednesday’s quarter-final.<\/p>\n

Feeling fresher by playing a match fewer than future opponents – Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, then potentially Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner – could be crucial.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, Djokovic knows his aura – as well as his game – has overawed Musetti in the past, ensuring he remains the favourite to reach the last four.<\/p>\n

Italian fifth seed Musetti has lost nine of his 10 matches against Djokovic, admitting he has not been “clinical or cold enough” in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Increasingly, it feels like a case of “now or never” for Novak Djokovic. The longer time ticks on,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-442376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}