Novak Djokovic is taking one step at a time to reach his goal of clinching his 25th Grand Slam title in Melbourne. Guess what? If he wins the title this season, it’d also be his 11th Australian Open title. In his previous two matches, Novak Djokovic took four sets to beat both of his opponents. He defeated America’s Nishesh Basavareddy by 4-6,6-3,6-4,6-2 in the first round and interestingly, the Serb had to lose a set even against Jaime Faria in the second round. What will be the scoreline in the third-round match, though? Novak Djokovic will meet Tomas Machac in just a few moments. Is it the first time they are playing against each other, though?

Well, the answer is no! Novak Djokovic has faced Tomas Machac two times in his career. The Serb won their first encounter in Dubai, two years ago. However, Machac took his revenge over the Serb lost season in Geneva. He defeated Novak Djokovic in the SF match by 6-4,0-6,6-1. During that match, we saw Novak Djokovic struggling a bit with the heat and it looked as if he was suffering from illness. Djokovic was seen using an ice towel to try to lessen his struggles. He wasn’t clearly 100% fit and was seen lashing out his anger saying, “What else can happen, really, is it not enough?“

Then after winning the match against the 24-time Grand Slam champion, Tomas Machac was asked to give his reaction to his incredible triumph. In reply to that, he said, “I have no reaction right now. You just fight for every ball and hope when you’re playing against Novak… you just hope… you try to play your best and see what it looks like.“

What did Tomas Machac say about his match against Novak Djokovic in the third round of the 2025 AO? Well, he did give a reaction on this ahead of this epic battle! He heaped praise on the Serb saying, “He’s the best, you never know with this guy, I try to play my game, we will see what’s going to happen. Really he’s the best. I will play against Novak, it will be a thing to think about when I stop playing tennis. I will really remember that moment if I will play against Novak.” What is his game plan against the Serb, though?

Well, interestingly, the Czech tennis player remained tight-lipped on this. He said, “I will not show up with my game preparation right now. It will be secret.” What does the tennis world think about his chances against someone like Novak Djokovic?

Tennis experts look a bit concerned with Novak Djokovic’s current form

Novak Djokovic recently reached yet another remarkable milestone in his career. He surpassed Roger Federer’s record for the most Grand Slam matches played. Roger Federer, who retired in 2022, played 429 Grand Slam matches. At that time, Novak Djokovic trailed Federer by more than 50 matches. However, recently, with the win against Faria, Novak Djokovic not only kept his hopes alive for the 11th AO title but also managed to put his name in the record books by playing his 430th Grand Slam title.

However, his performance in both of these previous matches raised a few concerns in the tennis world. For example, tennis expert Gill Gross recently appeared on the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast. During the podcast, he said, “Djokovic has shown flashes of brilliance, but there have been portions in both matches where he has been outplayed, and that’s understandable. However, he must step up his game against Machac, who is currently rated ninth in the Tennis Abstract Elo system. Machac has been mixing it with some of the best players lately.”

He highlighted Tomas Machac’s performance against Carlos Alcaraz in Shanghai and Casper Ruud at the United Cup. He also mentioned about his performance against Taylor Fritz in one of his previous matches. He further stated, “Machac may not have won all his recent matches against top-tier talent, but each time he has faced a leading player, he has shown he can compete at that level. I tipped him for an upset before the tournament began, and nothing I’ve observed from Djokovic thus far has convinced me to alter that stance.”

It wasn’t just Gross who chimed in—Martina Navratilova also gave her take on what Novak Djokovic needs to do to make it to the fourth round. Even she looked a bit worried after seeing Djokovic’s performance in the previous two matches. Navratilova said, “If he plays the same way as he did in his last two matches, then I think [Tomas] Machac wins.” She believes this match will surely not be easy for Novak Djokovic. Now, the question is: Can the Serb beat this Czech challenger and move into the next round? Share your thoughts on this.