Novak Djokovic had to work really hard in his first-round match, but things may get easier for him in the second-round match against Alexei Popyrin, or will they?
When the Australian Open draw showed Novak Djokovic that he'd play Dino Prizmic, nobody, including himself, probably thought it would be complicated. It was more than that as the Croatian pushed Djokovic for much of the match, resulting in the longest round-one match the Serbian had ever played.
He's never won a Grand Slam where he had such a complicated first-round match, but even so, he's a huge favourite against Australian Alexei Popyrin in round two. Let's see if the home player can do some damage in this match.
Head-to-head:
Djokovic and Popyrin haven't played often because the Australian took a long time to really break out. He's been hovering around for a while, taking part in many Australian Opens, but it wasn't until last year that he really started to win regularly on the ATP level.
As you can see in the table below, he is 67-91 on the Tour level, which kind of tells you how long of a time he took to break out. The only match they did play was in Tokyo in 2019, which Djokovic won 6-4 6-2.
| Novak Djokovic | Alexei Popyrin | |
| 1 | H2H | 0 |
| 1 | Rank | 43 |
| 36 | Age | 24 |
| 3-1 | 2024 W/L | 2-1 |
| 1090-214 | Career W/L | 67-91 |
Prediction:
So, can Poyprin do something against Djokovic? Well, it depends mostly on how he'll play and how involved can he get the crowd. At his best, Popyrin could certainly make it interesting.
His skillset heavily relies on his serve, which isn't ideal for the matchup as Djokovic is uniquely qualified to counter that. In rallies, Poyprin will be in trouble, but if he can keep the rallies short and if Djokovic plays somewhat lackluster as he did against Prizmic, it could get interesting.
Prediction: Novak Djokovic to win in three sets.
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