Immortal: Novak Djokovic eliminates Carlos Alcaraz in quarter-final and will face Alexander Zverev in semi-final

How many times have we seen this epic and heroic match, initially disappointing and ultimately stunning, played by Novak Djokovic on the Rod Laver Arena? A match which will give a little more fodder to his detractors, annoyed by his antics and his unique propensity to unearth, each time, his best tennis in the limbo of his suffering. But a match which will delight its supporters, amazed once again by the extraordinary resilience of a champion who definitely never dies, unless he is capable of securing his coffin with millions of nails.

It was for not having known how to do it, for having once again played too much “in fits and starts”, without a clearly established common thread, that the young Spanish champion ended up giving up his arms. He will recover, we hope so, but it may still take him a little while to recover from this cruel scenario that he seemed to be able to turn his way, before becoming a victim of a pure “Djokovician” comeback.

More nervous and broken from the start, Alcaraz was able to quickly recover in this first round, when at 4-4, after a messy start to the match, a first strong rebound occurred. In this game, the Serbian seemed to hurt himself during an intense rally at 15-15, and ended up getting broken before leaving the court to take a medical timeout and having his left adductor strapped. A break which in no way affected Alcaraz, who, upon resumption, easily concluded this first set with his serve.

Re-belote in the 2nd set: broken from the start and trailing 3-0, Alcaraz immediately came back to face a visibly grimacing Djokovic, limping and clearly having difficulty with his lateral movements. But, as always, in perfect management of the strong moments, and perhaps even more so of the weak moments.

If he multiplied the drop shots to press where it hurt, Alcaraz perhaps forgot to drive the point home against a Djokovic who relied in particular on his serve, a marvel of variety today to hold off the shock. And who, imperceptibly, while remaining discreet, was rejuvenating over the minutes, as the painkillers took effect. And, at 5-4, what had to happen happened: the Djoker burst out of his box to line up three big returns of service and return to a set everywhere.

From there, the master of the place took a clear advantage over the exchanges and the match. Dominant in the serve/return dialogue, he tormented Carlitos with his variety of serves, notably this little outside slice (tie side) which brought him a number of important points. He punished the Spaniard more and more systematically when he did not pass his first service ball (33% success behind his second ball).

Djokovic, more and more explosive and impressive as the match progressed, even seemed to fly towards an even more rapid victory when, after dominating the 3rd set, he broke away at 4-2, ball 5-2 (double break) in the 4th set. But it was then that Alcaraz, who seemed disoriented, experienced a final remission which gave this end of the match an epic dimension.

The Spaniard saved this double break point almost miraculously, at the end of a breathtaking exchange of 33 racket strokes, before immediately offering himself two (consecutive) balls of 4-4 against a Djokovic at out of breath again.

But the Serb, once again, played the role of firefighter on duty and smothered the beginning of the fire by taking out the hose and the large ladder. And, above all, by erecting barbed wire. He noted with relief that Alcaraz hit a forehand on the first break point, before releasing a classic serve-volley on the second. It was brave, ballsy and perfectly executed. It was pure Djokovic.

It was also the last blow to the head of Alcaraz who had just missed his last opportunity to resurface. Two games later, Novak Djokovic broke him once again in the exchange on his first match point. After more than 3h30 of a brutal fight, the Serbian thus sealed his 12th qualification for the last four of the Australian Open, a stage at which he only failed once, last year, against Jannik Sinner.

Mentally and tennis-wise, the man with 24 Grand Slam titles seems in much better shape this year. Now there remains the physical question. Djokovic was, this time, willing to comply with the traditional post-match interview at the microphone of Jim Courier, but of course did not want to dwell on the nature of his injury, while recognizing a cause for concern . “If I had lost the 2nd set, I might not have gone to the end”he whispered. However, everyone knows the animal. And Alexander Zverev his next opponent in the semi-finals, better than anyone: an injured Novak Djokovic is an even more dangerous Novak Djokovic, especially in Australia.