Novak Djokovic has secured his spot in the Australian Open 2024 quarterfinal with an easy win over Adrian Mannarino. The 36-year-old came out on the Rod Laver Arena like a man possessed. Having struggled against Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin, the 10-time champion was in no mood to play games.
He thrashed Mannarino in the first two sets. Djokovic dropped zero games, double-bagelling the Frenchman. However, there was a slight dip in his performance at the start of the third set, which saw Mannarino win his first game of the match. Despite a small drop-off, Djokovic won the match in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, 6-4, in just 1 hour and 44 minutes.
After the match, Novak Djokovic explained that he intentionally lost Mannarino’s first game of the third set. He mentioned that the crowd was supporting the Frenchman and tension was building up in the stadium. So, to refocus and close out the match easily, he dropped the first game.
“I really wanted to lose that game in the third set. The tension was building up so much in the stadium. I just needed to get that one out of the way so I could refocus on what I needed to do to close it out,” he said in the post-match interview.
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