Australian Open 2025 – Where is Djokovic really at? Macac arrives to tell us

What do we really know about the 2025 version of Novak Djokovic at the moment? To be honest, not much. In Brisbane, he came up against a really hot Reilly Opelka that day. It can happen. Above all, this had no consequences. Only the Australian Open was really in his sights at the start of the season. In Melbourne, he got the better of two youngsters, Nishesh Basavareddy and Jaime Faria, whose common point was to take their first steps in a major Grand Slam table during this Australian Open. Two victories in four sets for “Nole”. A form of minimum service.

So far, Djokovic has had more question marks than exclamation points. But now an adversary is about to come his way who is likely to extract some answers from him, willingly or by force. Tomas Machac has a good third-round pesky face. This first seed that we are offering you, which does not fall into the category of favorites or even completely outsiders on the road to the title, but whose qualities and potential are likely to constitute what the 'we can call a test. A real one.

Novak Djokovic knows music and tennis too well to be offended. On the contrary. He can't wait. Because he knows that sooner or later he has to go through that. Above all, with Machac, he knows where he is going. He has not forgotten that the young Czech had beaten him last spring on the clay court of Geneva, after a funny match (6-4, 0-6, 6-1). It was another context, of course, and there is nothing else to draw from it other than the lack of fear of the man facing the big guys, especially since he did it again later in the season by leaving Carlos Alcaraz in Shanghai.

The danger is therefore much greater for the Djoker than it was during his first two rounds, and that suits him. “These last five, seven, eight yearshe said, I faced a lot of players that I had never faced before, perhaps for the first time on a center court and who came in hitting everything that moved, who had nothing to lose. Mentally, it's always dangerous to play guys like that. You don't know if they're going to collapse under the pressure or if they're going to be transcended.”

When, at 37, you have known everything (on Wednesday, he broke the record for matches played in a Grand Slam, 430, one more than Roger Federer) and won everything, the unknown is an extremely rare fact. It is only in this type of situation that Novak Djokovic can be confronted. So, when we talk to him about easy drawing, about painting in his hand, he smiles. This is obviously true in absolute terms. The proof is that he never loses against this type of novice player at this level. But he doesn't like it.

Without ever being in danger because his margin was too large, and despite a satisfactory overall level of play, he sometimes opened the door to Basavareddy and Faria. If he does the same against Tomas Machac, the situation could be different. “This is a very, very dangerous match for Novaksays Eurosport consultant Alex Corretja. Even though he played pretty well in the previous rounds, Novak will have to step it up a notch and show how ready he is to be a contender in this tournament.”

Tomas Machac won many matches at the end of the season, reaching the point of entering the Top 25 in the ATP rankings. Although his preparation for the new season was disrupted somewhat when he fell ill in December, he feels ready and nothing seems too big for him.

“Machac is a big test for Novak, he's a real big playercontinues Corretja. He plays at a very high level. We will just have to see how he will be after a match as difficult as the one against Opelka (in the 1st round). But if he is fit and fresh enough, he can hurt Novak.” It's time for the first answers for the ten-time winner of the tournament.