Novak Djokovic has taken a surprisingly salty swipe at Alex de Minaur after crushing the Australian of their fourth-round showdown on Monday night time.
Djokovic made a press release that he’s a pressure to be reckoned with at Melbourne Park, blowing de Minaur away 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in two hours and 6 minutes.
Djokovic demolished the No. 22 seed for the lack of simply 5 video games to comb into the final eight and step up his bid for a tenth Melbourne crown, and record-tying twenty second main title in all.
He’ll meet fifth seed Andrey Rublev for a semi-final berth after the Russian toppled Danish teenager Holger Rune in an exhilarating five-set conflict.
Djokovic despatched de Minaur a brutal message in his on-court interview after the match — and was much more bitter when talking to journalists in his post-match press convention.
His remark got here after he was baited by a journalist with a query round feedback de Minaur made throughout the Serbian’s deportation scandal forward of the 2022 Open.
“I don’t have any relationship with him,” Djokovic mentioned.
“I respect him as a rival, a colleague, as I respect everybody. I’ve no downside contacting him, congratulating him, and many others. However I don’t have another relationship. I don’t have any communication with him. He confirmed in 2022 what he thinks about me.”
De Minaur mentioned 12 months in the past he was bored with the Djokovic circus overshadowing the occasion.
Whereas praising Djokovic as “an unbelievable athlete”, De Minaur mentioned Djokovic had “taken numerous highlight away from us opponents”.
“Look, Australians have gone by means of so much. There’s no secret about that. They’ve had it very robust. They’ve carried out numerous work to guard themselves and their borders,” he mentioned.
“Whenever you’re coming in, in addition to each different tennis participant, if you happen to wished to come back to the nation, you needed to be double vaccinated. It was as much as him, his decisions, his judgment. Right here we’re.”
The storm inside a tea cup partly explains Djokovic’s brutality on and off the courtroom.
De Minaur additionally confirmed a touch of frustration in the direction of his opponent when requested about Djokovic’s much-debated hamstring harm on Monday night time.
Djokovic has previously been accused of exaggerating accidents and hypothesis surrounding his left hamstring harm has swirled round Melbourne Park.
“I feel everybody’s type of seeing what’s been taking place over the couple of weeks,” de Minaur mentioned.
“It’s the one factor everybody’s been speaking about. Both I’m not a adequate tennis participant to show that, or it appeared good to me.”
The Serbian celebrity was merely ruthless after the match.
Jim Courier requested him along with his opening query: “I’m not going to ask you the way you beat him so convincingly. I’ll ask you why you beat him so convincingly.”
A chilly-blooded Djokovic responded: “As a result of I wished to.”
After being requested how his harm was and the way it had plagued him all through the competition, he mentioned the considerations weren’t with him on Monday night time.
“Tonight it wasn’t apparent I used to be coping with an harm. I imply …I didn’t really feel something at this time,” he mentioned.
“Right this moment was nice. I thank my medical crew, my physio. Thank God anyone that basically helped me.”
American star Taylor Fritz, who was knocked out by Alexei Popyrin within the second spherical, additionally commented on Djokovic’s harm hypothesis on Twitter, with an eyebrow-raising suggestion.
“My opinion that in all probability no one cares about…. 80% of gamers are all the time dealing w one thing (severity ranges differ) however everyone seems to be honesty all the time a little bit banged up… the media is just ever specializing in the highest guys so there points get extra consideration,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Additionally some gamers are extra vocal speaking about accidents then others. I don’t suppose individuals faux accidents, I do suppose generally gamers stretch the severity of the harm as a result of it depressurizes them and helps them play higher (which actually is okay, do no matter works)
“I don’t suppose it’s carried out in a foul sportsmanship type of manner, and earlier than individuals get defensive, I’m not speaking about anybody specifically that is simply what I see as a participant, generally there r severe accidents, generally there over exaggerated ones from individuals 1-500.
“I’m not taking photographs at any gamers so please don’t get defensive.”
