Alexander Zverev meets Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Will the surprise succeed against a battered defending champion?
The live ticker.
Australian Open: Alexander Zverev - Novak Djokovic -: -, Tuesday (from 9 a.m.)
Alexander Zverev will meet defending champion Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
We accompany the match in the live ticker.
The Serb has problems with the abdominal muscles.
How serious are the complaints really?
Melbourne - The Australian Open really pick up speed in the second week, scanning has come to an end.
On the way to his first Grand Slam title *, Alexander Zverev has to deal with the defending champion.
In the quarter-finals, Germany's hope meets none other than Novak Djokovic.
Australian Open in the live ticker: Zverev challenges Djokovic
Zverev has so far stormed through the tournament without losing a set.
The 23-year-old defeated the Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6: 4, 7: 6 (7: 5), 6: 3 in the round of 16 on Sunday.
On Tuesday in the second match of the night session in the Rod Laver Arena * (from 9 a.m. German time), Djokovic, the next Serb, is waiting in the quarter-finals.
The world number one had significantly more problems with the Canadian Milos Raonic over four sets.
The 33-year-old celebrated his 300th victory in a Grand Slam tournament.
For comparison: Zverev comes to exactly 50.Djokovic is the record champion * with eight titles in Melbourne and wants to shorten the gap to the injured Swiss Roger Federer and the Spaniard Rafael Nadal with his 18th major title, both have 20th Zverev, who was in the semifinals last year and narrowly missed his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in the final, is still waiting for the big hit.
Australian Open in the live ticker: how seriously is Djokovic really injured?
However, Djokovic has problems with his abdominal muscles.
But the German number one and her team do not want to deal with it.
"Novak is a champion, he can get out of any situation," said Zverev's older brother and manager Mischa at Eurosport after training in Melbourne Park.
“We can't worry about whether he's injured or not.
We have to expect that he will play 100 percent. "Boris Becker - Djokovic's coach for three years - said as an expert on the TV station:" He has something, but I think it's not a torn muscle.
Something tweaks him. "
"To win against Raonic on such a surface, you have to be in top shape," said Zverev.
Grand Slam record winner Rafael Nadal had a "strange feeling as a spectator" of Djokovic's match.
In recent years his colleagues had repeatedly questioned his possible injuries.
The Serb himself reported that he had survived the exertion only with the help of a "high dose" of painkillers.
Djokovic revealed that he only decided at the last moment to play against Raonic and that it will probably be the same on Tuesday.
A cancellation for the quarter-finals would be surprising, however.
Mischa Zverev expects Djokovic to play more aggressively than usual in view of rising temperatures and the fast course as well as the health conditions.
"I don't think he really wants to make long rallies when it's actually his game," said the former Melbourne quarter-finalist.
Australian Open in the live ticker: Zverev celebrated the greatest success against Djokovic
From Alexander Zverev's point of view, it has been 2: 5 against Djokovic so far, just two weeks ago the Hamburger lost in three sets at the same point at the ATP Cup.
“I don't expect anything other than the great battle we had last.
You have to pray a bit that you read the serve at the right moment and get the break, ”said Djokovic before the eighth duel.
Zverev wants to remember the two previous successes, which were milestones for him.
He won his first duel in 2017 on clay in the final of the Masters tournament in Rome, and in November 2018 Zverev celebrated the greatest success of his career by winning the final of the ATP Finals in London.
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