Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic steel for eighth career meeting in AO QFs | ATP Tour

Australian Open

Alcaraz, Djokovic steel for eighth career meeting in AO QFs

Spaniard seeks his first win on hard court against his fellow former World No. 1.

January 19, 2025

Carlos Alcaraz will look to claim his first hard-court win over Novak Djokovic when the rivals meet in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Tuesday.

Alcaraz has three wins in seven career Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings against his fellow former World No. 1, but is 0-2 in meetings on hard.

The most memorable of those two meetings came in the final of the Cincinnati Open in 2023, when Djokovic saved a match point to win 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(7) in a draining three hours and 49 minutes, the longest best-of-three-set final in ATP Masters 1000 history (since 1990).

“Definitely one of the toughest matches I have played in my life,” said the Serbian, who avenged his five-set loss to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. “This rivalry just keeps getting better and better.”

Tuesday’s quarter-final on Rod Laver Arena will be their first meeting before the semi-finals at any tournament and first hard-court clash at a major.

Alcaraz, 21, and Djokovic, 38, split their two meetings last year, the Spaniard winning on grass in the Wimbledon final for the second consecutive year before Djokovic had his revenge on clay in the final of the Paris Olympics, his lone title of the year.

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Asked if his game plan against Djokovic altered significantly between clay, grass and hard, Alcaraz said, ‘Not really. I change my game a little bit. It’s not going to be the same game style when I’m playing on grass or clay court obviously.

“I think everybody has their weakness. It doesn’t matter if we we’re playing one surface or another, we are going to still having the same weakness. What weakness Novak has? Just few or none. I know what I have to do on clay, on hard court, on grass. This is going to be the first time that I am playing against him in a Grand Slam on hard court, so let’s see.”

Alcaraz has never tasted successive wins against Djokovic; the Serbian claimed back-to-back victories once: in Cincinnati and the Nitto ATP Finals in 2023.