Australian Open 2023: Novak Djokovic beats injury, Grigor Dimitrov

The two remaining Grand Slam champions in the men’s singles draw at Melbourne Park – Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – grunted and groaned, heaving, and hefting their patched and taped 35-year-old frames around the court. They fell on either side of the scoreline in their respective Australian Open third round matches, but not before showing that ef for t is everything.A hundred percent is all that is in a player’s power.
Djokovic, the nine-time champion, played with a heavily strapped left hamstring that has troubled him since Adelaide two weeks ago. The Serb appeared in discomfort throughout his clash with Grigor Dimitrov. Djokovic, who had the crowd on his side, came through 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-4, late on Saturday, but will go up against fan-favourite Alex de Minaur next.
“35 is the new 25,” said Djokovic during his on-court interview. “Every point and game mattered. Making an early break was important. I didn’t know how I was going to feel physically. I was going up and down.”
Across from where Djokovic scrapped and clawed his way forward, Murray, blistered feet, bad back and metal hip, felt the drain of the over 10-hours he spent on court in his first two rounds against Matteo Berrettini and Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Scot, barely standing, but playing to the gallery, using their energy to lift him up, tried and even came away with a set against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. But that was much as he could manage on the day. Murray, slower than snail mail off the blocks, won just one point in the first three games of the third-round match.
Though he produced a classic Murray fight back in the second set, and then led 2-0 in the fourth, he was kicking the pedal not on empty but on dry for most part.
Agut then was a step too far for the five-time Australian Open finalist, who fell 1-6, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 4-6. The Spaniard wasn’t impressed with Murray’s theatre down the other end and barely shook his opponent’s hand.
“Andy knows very well how to play Grand Slam matches,” he said, leaving the fans to make what they will of his words.
The 34-year-old will play American Tommy Paul next. It was that kind of a day at Melbourne Park, the sun was out, not in all its glory, but enough to spark a summer vibe that pushed spectators to reach for sunscreen and players to call for reinforcements. Meanwhile, Holger Rune rolled his right ankle and yet managed to power to a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over Frenchman Ugo Humbert. He will play Russian Andrey Rublev in the round of 16.
Rublev, the world No. 6, popular in the dressing room and with fans, was the beneficiary of Briton Dan Evans’ largesse when he asked for a banana in the course of their third-round match, Evans had two and so tossed one to his opponent.
Evans, 32, ranked 30, said the only reason he parted with a banana, which seemed to rejuvenate the 25-year-old, was because he ‘quite liked him’.
Ben Shelton’s dream debut at the Australian Open put a shade on the summer sun, the 20-year-old defeated wildcard entrant Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-4 to power into the fourth round.