“He Deserves to be Up There”- Novak Djokovic Lauds Roger Federer Ahead of Australian Open 2020

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both secured their places in the semifinal of the 2020 Australian Open on Tuesday. 

Djokovic cemented his place in the last four by breezing past Milos Raonic to win the match 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-1). The reigning Australian Open champion will now face-off against Federer for a place in the final.

Federer survived another scare by fending off seven match points against Tennys Sandgren to win 6-3 2-6 2-6 7-6 ( 10-8) 6-3. The Swiss was visibly uncomfortable on court with a groin injury as the American won the second and third set. However, he managed to recover after a medical timeout and staged another comeback to win the match. This comeback marked his second recovery from match points down, after his third round match against John Millman.

Novak Djokovic Praises Federer

Novak Djokovic paid his respects to Federer after his own victory over Raonic.

“Roger is Roger. You know that he is always going to play at such a high level. Regardless of the surface and he loves to play these kind of matches with big rivalries.”

The two superstars have a combined 13 Australian Open title between the two of them and will face each other for the 50th time on their careers on Thursday. 

The Serbian also went on to praise Roger for the manner in which he won the match over Sandgren. 

“What he did today was really amazing, to comeback and save seven match points. At his age, he is still playing such great tennis and proving he deserves to be up there.”

Djokovic said his confidence was building up well. He is hopeful of his chances against Federer on Thursday. The defending champion was quick to brush off the fact that he has not lost to Federer in a Grand Slam match since 2012. He pointed out that Roger was just one shot away from winning Wimbledon last year, and it would be wrong to say he was dominating the match-ups.

“Know that whenever we get a chance to play each other, we understand that we require a big effort to win against each other. Wimbledon last year he had two match points; he was one shot away from winning that match.”