All eyes will be on Rod Laver Arena on Monday night as Australia’s last hope Alex de Minaur tries to take down an injury-stricken Novak Djokovic.
But before that, the fourth round continues with a wide open section of the men’s draw in action, plus one of the women’s favourites Aryna Sabalenka.
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Dokic lowkey grills Novak for a laugh | 01:10
‘IT’S REALLY GRUELLING’: DJOKER LEADS CALLS FOR AO CHANGE
There was more late-night madness in Melbourne on Sunday night with Victoria Azarenka’s match against Zhu Lin starting at 11.36pm.
It didn’t finish until after 2am.
It wasn’t the first time this Grand Slam that a match has played out well beyond midnight — Andy Murray’s epic five-set win over Thanasi Kokkinakis finished after 4am.
Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic discussed the schedule earlier on Sunday, before Azarenka’s late win.
He was clear that there needs to be a change.
“Players’ input is always important for tournament organisation,” Djokovic said. “Whether it’s decisive, we know that it’s not because it comes down to what the TV broadcasters want to have. That’s the ultimate decision-maker.
“For the crowd, it’s entertaining, it’s exciting, to have matches [at] midnight, 1, 2, 3am. For us, it’s really gruelling. Even if you go through and win, prevail in these kind of matches, you still have to come back. You have your sleeping cycle, rhythm disrupted completely, not enough time really to recover for another five-setter.
“Something needs to be addressed in terms of the schedule after what we’ve seen this year.”
Djokovic downs Dimitrov with ease | 01:06
BIZARRE FACT MAKES DEMON-DJOKER SHOWDOWN EVEN BIGGER
If Novak Djokovic does anything, it’s win in Australia – and against Australians.
But weirdly, those two categories have rarely overlapped.
Monday night’s fourth-round clash with Alex de Minaur will be just the third time Djokovic has played against an Aussie at Melbourne Park, in his 97th match at the venue.
And it hasn’t happened in a decade, with the two previous matches coming against Lleyton Hewitt in 2008 and 2012.
The former was on route to Djokovic’s first slam title, coming in straight sets against the 19th-seeded Hewitt. The latter was actually more difficult, in four tight sets, against a 181st ranked wildcard version of Hewitt.
Both were in the fourth round, like tonight’s de Minaur match.
Djokovic has won 37 matches on Australian soil, his last loss coming against Hyeon Chung in the Australian Open fourth round in 2018.
He has won 26 of his 29 matches against Australian players over the course of his career.
The losses were to Nick Kyrgios, twice in 2017 at Acapulco and Indian Wells, and to Hewitt, in the third round of the 2006 US Open when the pair were both ranked close to 20th in the world.
This time Djokovic is managing a hamstring injury which occurred during his run to the Adelaide International title two weeks ago.
He conceded this tournament is a match-by-match proposition with the injury flaring up during his second and third-round wins, the Serb limping around the court during the latter – though still winning in straight sets.
GREAT REVEALS FEUD WITH TENNIS VILLAIN
Jelena Ostapenko is a controversial character in the tennis locker room, as she’s never one to hold back her emotions.
But it appears tennis great Caroline Wozniacki is no fan of hers either.
“Let’s just say I practiced with her once and chose not to do so again,” Wozniacki quipped on ESPN commentary during Ostapenko’s fourth-round win over Coco Gauff.
Croatia’s Donna Vekic, who remains in the Australian Open, replied to a tweet of Wozniacki’s quote with: “Hahahahah I love you @CaroWozniacki”.
Ostapenko was involved in an infamous dispute with Ajla Tomljanovic during the third round of Wimbledon in 2021, in which the Aussie claimed the Latvian was “faking” an injury.
“You know she’s lying, right? We all know,” the Aussie said, calling for the supervisor.
“You know you can also make your own call, and take your own view on this situation?
“Are you taking into any consideration that she looked fine for an hour and 30, and now there’s an acute injury?”
After the match-ending handshake the despite continued.
“If you think I’m faking, you can talk to the physio,” Ostapenko said.
Tomljanovic replied: “I hope you feel better.”
Ostapenko: “Your behaviour is terrible, terrible. You have zero respect.”
Tomljanovic: “You’re one to talk.”
AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 8 – ORDER OF PLAY (All times AEDT)
All courts from 11am – only Singles matches listed
Rod Laver Arena
[5] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) v [12] Belinda Bencic (SUI)
Magda Linette (POL) v [4] Caroline Garcia (FRA)
Not before 2:30pm
[5] Andrey Rublev (RUS) v [9] Holger Rune (DEN)
Night session from 7pm
[22] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v [4] Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Show Court 1
Not before 12:30pm
Donna Vekic (CRO) v Linda Fruhvirtova (CZE)
Not before 4pm
[24] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) v Tommy Paul (USA)
John Cain Arena
Not before 2pm
Ben Shelton (USA) v JJ Wolf (USA)
Kia Arena
Not before 1pm
[30] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) v [23] Shuai Zhang (CHN)
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