Insane drama! Novak Djokovic gets his revenge against Tomas Machac. He literally outclassed the Czech in every department on Friday. Djokovic has now secured a place in the fourth round of the 2025 with his 6-1,6-4,6-4 win over Machac. Last year, Tomas Machac had the last laugh in Geneva, so perhaps it’s now a nice way to start the proceedings in this rivalry in 2025. During the match, we saw several incidents taking place. For example, Novak Djokovic was forced to take a medical timeout due to some nausea and then later on, he had to deal with a “drunk” heckler who was troubling him a bit during the match and after it. Did Nole give it back to the heckler after the match?

Well, hilariously, the answer is a big yes! During the on-court interview, we saw someone yet again yelling at him. In reply to that heckler, he said, “Sorry mate I’ve a wife. We can have a drink though, Maybe you’ve had a few already. Him and I were going back and forth for quite a while. Actually, I’m happy to have a drink with him now that the match is over. I think we can reflect nicely on what we said to each other during the match (laughs).”

Even former WTA player Laura Robson looked quite annoyed with the way some of the fans were calling “out” at a shot that was actually in. Reflecting on her thoughts on what happened during the match, she said, “It was more than a few (people shouting in the crowd). It started as people calling balls out in the middle of the rally, or making noise. It was an issue for both players. Novak definitely had a few people in the front row down at the far end of the court who seemed to be peppering him a bit. It was hard to pick up what was said, but it definitely frustrated him a little. That’s fair to say.” Is it the first time that Novak Djokovic is facing all of these at the AO, though?

No! Even during his second-round match at the 2023 AO, he was seen asking the chair umpire to have a heckler removed. Novak Djokovic was heard saying, “The guy’s drunk out of his mind. … He’s not here to watch tennis, he just wants to get in my head.” Not only that, even at the 2024 AO, we saw a similar case. He claimed that an angry altercation with a fan might have just helped him seal the deal in the R2 match against home-favorite, Alexei Popyrin.

Highlighting about what had really happened in that match, Novak Djokovic then said, “There were a lot of things that were being told to me on the court… I was tolerating it for most of the match. At one point I had had enough, and I asked him whether he wanted to come down and tell it to my face. When you confront somebody, unfortunately for him, he didn’t have the courage to come down.”

Recently, after finishing his match against Machac, he was seen pointing at his ear, asking the hecker to come at him. This guy has zero tolerance for nonsense! What did he say about the match, though?

Novak Djokovic says he’s a bit “surprised” with the result in this match

This was Novak Djokovic’s third meeting with Thomas Machac and before the match, we saw the Czech flaunting his stat against the Serb by saying, “We have 1-1 for a head-to-head. I’m really looking forward to the battle and I’ll definitely enjoy it.” Even some of the tennis experts like Gill Gross and Martina Navratilova portrayed a bit of concerns seeing Djokovic’s performance in his previous two matches.

However, Novak Djokovic proved them wrong by a dominating triumph over Tomas Machac! With this victory, he has now reached the last 16 at the AO for the 17th time in his career. Not only that, but Novak Djokovic has now also become the second man to reach the fourth round of the AO aged 37 or older since 1988. He also has 66 total appearances in the last 16 at the major events, just three behind his former rival Roger Federer. If Novak Djokovic reaches at least the fourth round at the remaining three Grand Slam tournaments in 2025, then he’ll equal the record set by the Swiss Maestro.

After being forced to go four sets in his previous two matches, Novak Djokovic made a strong comeback in his third match at the 2025. While sharing his thoughts on the match, Djokovic said, “I am hot headed right now so I will try and give a calm and diplomatic answer to that but I think I played really well, honestly. I am very happy with my game. I was slightly surprised with the result to be honest, to be him in straight sets. He was a break up early in the second, I struggled physically there, so somehow managed to turn things around and hold serve when I needed to.”

He said a couple of points here and there in the second set would have made things a bit different but overall, he’s now very pleased with his game. Next up for him is another Czech star, Jiri Lehecka. Djokovic has a 1-0 lead over the 23-year-old in the H2H record. Can he extend that lead further and make his stay longer in Melbourne with a win on Sunday?