Alex de Minaur vs Novak Djokovic Prediction: Injured but relentless Novak takes on threatening Minaur

Professional tennis presents us with a variety of battles and the slate of games is stacked each month. The Grand Slams have a high value and this is where the most memorable tennis battles take place so stars are created overnight but there are some players that don’t need overnight fame and have already been reigning on top for years. One of those players, Novak Djokovic is going to take on Alex de Minaur in the Australian Open.

Alex comes into the game after defeating Benjamin Bonzi 7-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the Second Round. Alex’s service game was a bit off as he had a 55% first serve, which enabled Bonzi to have a 54:51 service points advantage. However, de Minaur did a fantastic job of breaking serve and eked out a huge 57:23 receiving points edge. Minaur has lost only one set which was during the Second Round but he has gotten it done in his typical fashion. Alex entered as the 22nd seeded and so far has done justice to his ranking but he has run into a tough match-up here. Alex has only made it to the Quarter-Finals of one Grand Slam thus far but his ceiling is mostly the fourth round.

Djokovic enters the affair after defeating Grigor Dimitrov 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Second Round. As usual, Novak was doing a terrific job on the first serve with a 71%, having a 73% first serve win. And again, as usual, Djokovic also was on top of his return game. He had a 50-39 receiving points edge while having a 73:66 service points advantage. Novak has lost only one set thus far, which was a tiebreaker against Enzo Couacaud. Djokovic has hinted he is playing through an injury so he has been a bit slow to move at times, but he has been emphatic nonetheless. I don’t need to expand on Djokovic’s resume, he has won an astounding 21 Grand Slams.

This is the first time Alex and Novak will clash.

Alex’s first serve issues mean a significant disadvantage against Djokovic who doesn’t spare his opponents even on a low amount of errors. The extent of Djokovic’s injury is unknown but the way he plays, it is difficult he will let that come his way. Anyway, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Djokovic is the favorite. I believe he will finish this in three sets.