Djokovic's Former Rival 'Not Super Alarmed' By His Brisbane Loss Before Australian Open
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Novak Djokovic lost in the quarterfinal of last week's Brisbane International, but Andy Roddick doubts that will impact his chances of going far at the Australian Open.
Djokovic played in the singles and doubles at the Brisbane International. He partnered with Nick Kyrgios at the tournament, who was playing in just his second ATP tournament since the end of 2022.
The Serbian and Kyrgios won in the opening round, but narrowly lost their next match despite being two points from victory at 8-6 up in the deciding set tiebreak, disappointing most of the crowd in the Pat Rafter Arena.
Kyrgios and Djokovic were set to be on-court together again in an exhibition match during the ongoing fan week at the Australian Open. Unfortunately, the 29-year-old withdrew because of an abdominal injury.
Djokovic's singles campaign at the Brisbane international got off to a promising start with comfortable victories against Rinky Hijikata and Gael Monfils. The win against Monfils was his 20th consecutive success against the Frenchman.
However, the huge-serving Reilly Opelka produced inspired tennis to defeat Djokovic in the quarterfinal. The tennis legend was not at his best during the match, but Opelka deserves credit for an excellent performance.
That surprising defeat does not concern Roddick. In an episode of his podcast, the 2003 US Open champion said losing to a player with Opelka's playing style is less concerning than to someone with less power.
"I would be more stressed out if I was part of Novak's team if he had lost to someone who wasn't a huge server, someone who couldn't take the racket out of your hands...someone who makes balls and Novak has a weird loss. I'm not too concerned about it."
Roddick also thinks Djokovic's experience will help him overcome his defeat against Opelka. The 10-time Australian Open champion is used to the hot conditions in Melbourne and remains a superb player who has bounced back from losses numerous times.
"I'm not that concerned. If Novak gets his matches in, maybe he picks up one or two. The training and heat (in Australia) is not going to be bad for him."
"Andy Murray's (his coach) done skiing. He's going to go down to Australia and they're going to be together. I'm not super alarmed for Novak. It's not as if he doesn't know how to play tennis."
According to Roddick, the best-of-five set format could also help Djokovic. The 24-time Grand Slam winner's record in fifth sets is outstanding, and Roddick mentioned how the matchup with Opelka could have been different if the match was best-of-five sets.
"I think the best of five format favors Novak over everyone except maybe a couple of players on Earth, at this point in his career. There's a long road still. Let's say this is three out of five. Opelka wins the first two (sets), he still has to be physically there. He still has to be mentally there. It's still a long way to beat Novak."
Djokovic's defeat of Carlos Alcaraz in a practice set during the Australian Open fan week may have shown Roddick was right not to worry about the tennis legend after his defeat in Brisbane.
