Never, until now, has Dino Prizmic (18) played a Grand Slam match. And when he finally debuts, he does so against the great Novak Djokovic. And in Melbourne.
Prizmic does not shrink, and that is why he forces Djokovic, forces him to go beyond what was planned, up to four sets, up to three hours, before finally giving in: 6-2, 6-7 (5) , 6-3 and 6-4.
Melbourne is Djokovic's promised land (he has won ten of his 24 majors there), the equivalent of London for Roger Federer, or Paris for Rafael Nadal.
It is also the land of their curses, even their misfortunes, as in the embarrassing episode of 2022, the year of their arrest and expulsion, when they entered the country without having been vaccinated against Covid.
It is also the land of their sufferings.
This time, who would have thought it, Djokovic (36, twice Prizmic's age) has a hard time against his opponent, a Croatian who looks like the Serbian: he attacks from the defense, he uses his backhand, he lengthens the points until he makes the opponent impatient. opponent, changes pace and never wrinkles. Prizmic comes from the small box, who would have thought.
Dino Prizmic is 155th in the world, he is a cabin boy on the big yacht of the ATP circuit, but he has already won a junior Roland Garros (2023) and is eager to take a look at the great international showcase. The experts intuit ways. They see room for improvement in the serve and the forehand.
When everything falls into place, we'll see.
Djokovic sees it right now, in the Rod Laver Arena.
Jannik Sinner, much superior to Botic van den Zandschulp (6-4, 7-5 and 6-3), and Andrey Rublev, whose victory against Thiago Seyboth Wild, was resolved in the tie break of the fifth set, have been resting for a while.
Night has already fallen. He also lost the first set, choosing Djokovic's side (6-2). Until then, everything seems to follow his normal course. However, Prizmic does not bow down. He is still holding on to the bottom of the court, still waiting for Djokovic to hesitate, or get impatient, or make a mistake.
And so it happens.
Djokovic lets his guard down in the second round, leaving the Croatian alive, who remains standing until the tie break and there he breathes, takes a breath, takes a deep breath, counts to three and lets Djokovic be the one who loses his nerve and sends a forehand wide tempered. Two hours into the game and the score is tied, one sleeve at a time.
How hard is the tennis player's struggle, past successes do not guarantee future triumphs it is said, and that is why Djokovic has to roll up his sleeves and get to work again. He accelerates in the third set, but immediately loses serve and everything becomes complicated again (2-3).
Now, however, he finds everything he is looking for, including the weaknesses of Prizmic, who is playing at an extraordinary level, so much so that he overwhelms himself. Djokovic has three games, three in a row, and there he keeps the set and is already aiming for an outcome in his favor.
Especially after breaking the Croatian's serve at the opening of the quarter. From there, Castilla is wide for Djokovic, everyone says, everyone except Prizmic: Djokovic advances towards 4-0 and also towards 5-3, he even has two match points on serve, but wastes both and loses the take out and row again.
And that's what he does, Djokovic rows and comes back, and in a flash he returns the break to the Croatian and definitively closes the match. Doing it took him 4 hours and a minute.
Now they will face the winner of a local duel, a sort of Aussie derby, between Alexei Popyrin and Marc Polmans.
