Australian Open 2024: Novak Djokovic steps closer to 11th title in ...

“Of course I’m proud to overcome the challenge and pleased to win, but it was not enjoyable at all. (I) was really suffering, a lot of suffering in every aspect,” Djokovic said.

“You have days like that where you just have to accept it and face the circumstances and try to make the most out of it.

“So credit to (Fritz) for playing really well. You could see that he had a clear game plan. He was really sharp.”

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios shared a light moment together at the Australian Open on Tuesday after the Serbian champ’s crushing win over American Taylor Fritz. Getty

Djokovic earlier this week said the “fire is still burning” despite the father-of-two admitting that missing out on family time hurts more each day.

“I’m not playing because I need more money or more points. I just want to play. I really enjoy the competition,” the 36-year-old said.

“When I feel that I am not able to compete at the highest level with the guys and be a contender for a grand slam title, then I’ll probably consider going into retirement.

“But that can change, obviously. I’m not a teenager any more. I’m a father and a husband. [There] are a lot of things happening in the private life off court that I enjoy, that require my attention, my presence, my energy.”

Swedish great Thomas Johansson, who won the Australian Open in 2002, said while Sinner and Spanish world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz loomed as the biggest threats to Djokovic, he believed the 10-time champion would add an 11th trophy to his cabinet.

“Novak is the guy to beat,” Johansson said on Monday. “Even if he’s not playing well, he’s winning matches. This is his biggest strength for me.”

Czech former world No. 8 Radek Stepanek, who lost to Djokovic 13 times, including in the Australian Open in 2013, said Melbourne Park was his “living room”.

“This is his home. I know from my experience that he would like to keep that as his home,” Stepanek said.

On other side of the men’s draw, Polish world No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz takes on Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who won the US Open in 2021, on Wednesday with the winner to face either Carlos Alcaraz or Alex Zverev in the semi-final.

Djokovic has a 7-0 record over Hurkacz and is 10-5 against Medvedev, 3-2 against Alcaraz, 8-4 against Zverev, and 4-2 against Sinner.

In the women’s draw, Coco Gauff has stormed her way into a maiden Australian Open semi-final, making New Balance’s early investment in her one of the best sponsorship punts since Nike got behind Michael Jordan in his NBA rookie season. She will play Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the semis.

Gauff earlier on Tuesday clawed her way back from 1-5 down in the first set against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk to win 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 in a three-hour tussle.

American star Coco Gauff, 19, will play the winner of defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejčíková in an Australian Open semi-final after beating Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk on Tuesday. Eddie Jim

“I’m happy, really proud of the fight I showed,” the 19-year-old from South Florida said after beating Kostyuk, who used her run to the quarter-final to put the world’s spotlight back onto Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Gauff has donned a bright yellow skirt throughout the Open and said after her first round win against Anna Karolína Schmiedlová that she shed her early nerves by telling herself: “I feel good, I look good, so just have fun.”

New Balance, which began sponsoring the American in 2018 when she was 14, is selling replicas of the two-piece outfit, called the Coco Gauff Melbourne skirt, for $250 a pop.

Gauff, dubbed the “future of tennis” by The New Yorker in 2019 when she beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon at the age of 15, reached the French Open in 2022, and won the US Open last year.

The teenager is armed with a cracking serve that got even better during the off-season courtesy of some help from former US Open champion Andy Roddick.

Gauff won all 12 points that came off her first serve in the deciding third set against Kostyuk on Tuesday and has recorded the fastest serve in the women’s draw this year, clocking 199 km/h against Alycia Parks in the third round.

For comparison, this was just a few clicks off Djokovic’s fastest serve (204 km/h) against Fritz on Tuesday.

“I don’t want to go Mach 20 every serve,” Gauff said after her win over Parks.

“Yes, it can be great, but girls are going to get a rhythm. It’s all about mixing up the paces.”

In the other side of women’s draw, Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska plays unseeded Czech teenager Linda Noskova in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, with Chinese world No. 13 Zheng Qinwen up against Russian Anna Kalinskaya.