Serbian Tennis legend Novak Djokovic overcame a stiff challenge from the talented teenager Dino Prizmic as he stared his Australian Open's title defense with a hard-fought victory 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 in the opening round on Sunday. The match went a little over 4 hours as Prizmic went down with a valiant effort.
Prizmic gave an early glimpse of his talent, breaking the top seed with a sensational crosscourt early on in the second set. It meant that the 36-year-old Djokovic had to raise his game to make a break of his own. The 18-year-old level, however, did not drop his level and got back into the game after a brief medical break.
The teenage prodigy forced the defending champion into a whopping 20 unforced errors and stayed in the contest with some stunning forehand shots. With a winning streak stretching to 6 years and 28 fixtures in the Australian Open, Djokovic won the next 4 games to take the set. Towards the end, Prizmic lost steam and Djokovic drew home the advantage to register 90th triumph at the Australian Open.
"He really gave me a run for my money" - Novak Djokovic heaps praise on Dino Prizmic
Following the match, Djokovic heaped praise on his opponent saying that he played well despite being vastly inexperienced and believes he had every chance to win the game as well. As quoted by Reuters, he stated:
"He deserved all the applause and all the credit he got tonight, he's an amazing player, so mature ... he really gave me a run for my money. It was an amazing performance for a teenager who never had the experience of playing on such a big stage. I started well for a 36-year-old, jeez, if you think about it I'm double his age. I had some good moments (but) physically I'm still finding myself on the court. This is his moment, it could have been his match as well."
