Novak Djokovic won his tenth Australian Open title last week but what does the future hold for the Serb?
This was something that was discussed between hall of fame writer Steve Flink and UbiTennis founder Ubaldo Scanagatta.
After Djokovic’s stunning straight sets win to claim a 22nd Grand Slam title, the pair discussed who the Serb’s future rivals may be for the rest of the season.
Flink stated that Alcaraz is Djokovic’s nearest challenger and would love to see them face off several times this season, “I think the smallest gap is between Djokovic and Alcaraz, I think we’ll found that out,” Flink explained.
“I think that’s what we need to see this year, Ubaldo. Is Alcaraz going to pick up where he left off last year, winning his first major, finishing the year number one. Has the temperament, has the game?
“I want to see Djokovic and Alcaraz play this year, I hope maybe 3-4 times at least and I think that could be great for the game and that maybe the biggest test would be to play the young Alcaraz who’s so fearless.”
Reflecting on the Australian Open Flink was very impressed with the way the world number one played over the two weeks especially managing his injury.
Flink thinks that Djokovic getting to world number one is a great achievement given the circumstances, “Just imagine how far ahead he would be in the rankings,” the Serb explained.
“If he had 2000 points for Wimbledon as he should have received, he’d be way way ahead of the pack. But just the fact he got back to number one which no one was really expecting since last fall is a great achievement.
“He was all along the overwhelming favourite to come back and win the Australian Open for the tenth time. However I honestly believe that he was genuinely very worried about his leg. Some people didn’t want to believe that but I definitely believed it because he got hurt in Adelaide and then you saw he was cancelling practice sessions in the middle of the leading up to the Australian Open.
“He was very worried and he kept wearing that strapping on his leg. Plus there was those medical time-outs he was taking in the earlier rounds and I don’t think it was until he played De Minaur in the fourth round that he was physically close to his best. And then from that point on he looked pretty invincible but I do think coming in he had deep concerns about his physical condition.”
Also in their chat, they discussed other rivals to Novak Djokovic such as Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Holger Rune and Sebastian Korda.
There was also much encouragement from Flink over the future of American men’s tennis with him comparing the current generation to the mid 1990’s, “This is the best group we’ve had since you have to go back, I mean we can look at the Roddick-Blake-Fish era and yes I mean Roddick was the last American man to win a major singles title at the 2003 US Open. And Blake was in the top five in the world and Fish had some great exploits but this group has more depth,” Flink explained.
“This is more like the mid-90’s, I’m not saying we’re going to have a Sampras, Courier, Chang, Agassi, you know the greatest American generation but all of these guys starting with Fritz and Tiafoe and then Korda who we already mentioned and Tommy Paul, his first major semi-finals despite the fact he lost to Djokovic in straight sets, Tommy Paul has burst into the top 20.
“And we’ve got an awful lot of talent in the top 50 now, I haven’t been this encouraged in a long time. I think it’s a very impressive American line-up.”
Below you can see the full video where they also discuss who has the most potential between Jannik Sinner, Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Musetti.
Video Breakdown:
00:00: Intro
00:26: Discussion over Djokovic’s level and injury concerns at Australian Open.
3:40: Reflecting on Djokovic’s post Wimbledon form
4:38: Reflecting on Djokovic’s physical state in comparison to Nadal and Djokovic’s competition
7:23: Discussion about Tsitsipas
12:45: Further discussion about Alcaraz
14:55: Talk about Medvedev’s disappointing form
16:32: Talk about Ruud’s style of play
18:10: Talk about Auger-Aliassime
20:24: Discussion about Holger Rune, Sebastian Korda and American Tennis
24:26: Discussion about biggest potential amongst Sinner, Berrettini and Musetti
Carlos Alcaraz - Wimbledon 2023 (photo Twitter @RolandGarros)
Carlos Alcaraz stopped Novak Djokovic’s attempt to win his 24th Major title with an epic 5-set win over the Serbian champion on Centre Court on Sunday
As the final afternoon at the 2023 Championships was progressing in a crescendo of emotions, world no. 1 Alcaraz and seven-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic fought each other in a final destined to the history books.
Ubitennis’ Editor in Chief Ubaldo Scanagatta and Hall of Famer Steve Flink break down the themes of this match as they question each other about the meaning of Alcaraz’ first triumph in SW19.
Saturday at The All England Club saw a new Grand Slam champion be crowned.
Marketa Vrondrousova stunned Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4, to become the first unseeded women’s champion in history. The Czech’s stunning run comes 12 months after she was sidelined from the tournament due to wrist surgery. What is even more remarkable is the fact that she had only ever won two Tour-level matches on the grass before this year.
Meanwhile, Jabeur has described her latest loss as the most painful of her career. It is the second year in a row where she has had to settle for runner-up, as well as last year’s US Open. Jabeur produced a series of costly unforced errors which proved pivotal to the outcome of the match. Did nerves got the better of her? She was bidding to become the first African woman to win a major title.
Tennis Hall of Famer Steve Flink analyzes this year’s Wimbledon final alongside Ubitennis founder Ubaldo Scanagatta. The two also look ahead to the mouthwatering clash between world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz and seven-time champion Novak Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic will have a rematch with Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals of Wimbledon after their five set epic last year.
It was so near yet so far for Jannik Sinner last year as he went two sets up on Novak Djokovic before the Serb won in five sets.
This time around could be different with Novak Djokovic yet to hit top gear despite reaching the last eight.
In this video Ubaldo Scanagatta is joined by Steve Flink to discuss Jannik Sinner’s chances against Novak Djokovic as well as previewing the women’s singles semi-finals and finally talking about Carlos Alcaraz’s semi-final match with Daniil Medvedev.