Novak Djokovic has taken a surprisingly salty swipe at Alex de Minaur after crushing the Australian in their fourth-round showdown on Monday night.
Djokovic made a statement that he is a force to be reckoned with at Melbourne Park, blowing de Minaur away 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in two hours and six minutes.
Djokovic demolished the No. 22 seed for the loss of just five games to sweep into the last eight and step up his bid for a 10th Melbourne crown, and record-tying 22nd major title in all.
He will meet fifth seed Andrey Rublev for a semi-final berth after the Russian toppled Danish teenager Holger Rune in a thrilling five-set clash.
Djokovic sent de Minaur a brutal message in his on-court interview after the match — and was even more bitter when speaking to journalists in his post-match press conference.
His comment came after he was baited by a journalist with a question around comments de Minaur made during the Serbian’s deportation scandal ahead of the 2022 Open.
“I don’t have any relationship with him,” Djokovic said.
“I respect him as a rival, a colleague, as I respect everyone. I have no problem contacting him, congratulating him, etc. But I don’t have any other relationship. I don’t have any communication with him. He showed in 2022 what he thinks about me.”
De Minaur said 12 months ago he was tired of the Djokovic circus overshadowing the event.
While praising Djokovic as “an incredible athlete”, De Minaur said Djokovic had “taken a lot of spotlight away from us competitors”.
“Look, Australians have gone through a lot. There’s no secret about that. They’ve had it very tough. They’ve done a lot of work to protect themselves and their borders,” he said.
“When you’re coming in, as well as every other tennis player, if you wanted to come to the country, you had to be double vaccinated. It was up to him, his choices, his judgment. Here we are.”
The storm within a tea cup partly explains Djokovic’s brutality on and off the court.
De Minaur also showed a hint of frustration towards his opponent when asked about Djokovic’s much-debated hamstring injury on Monday night.
Djokovic has in the past been accused of exaggerating injuries and speculation surrounding his left hamstring injury has swirled around Melbourne Park.
“I think everyone’s kind of seeing what’s been happening over the couple of weeks,” de Minaur said.
“It’s the only thing everyone’s been talking about. Either I’m not a good enough tennis player to expose that, or it looked good to me.”
The Serbian superstar was simply ruthless after the match.
Jim Courier asked him with his opening question: “I’m not going to ask you how you beat him so convincingly. I’ll ask you why you beat him so convincingly.”
A cold-blooded Djokovic responded: “Because I wanted to.”
After being asked how his injury was and how it had plagued him throughout the contest, he said the concerns weren’t with him on Monday night.
“Tonight it wasn’t obvious I was dealing with an injury. I mean …I didn’t feel anything today,” he said.
“Today was great. I thank my medical team, my physio. Thank God anybody that really helped me.”
American star Taylor Fritz, who was knocked out by Alexei Popyrin in the second round, also commented on Djokovic’s injury speculation on Twitter, with an eyebrow-raising suggestion.
“My opinion that probably nobody cares about…. 80% of players are always dealing w something (severity levels differ) but everyone is honesty always a little banged up… the media is only ever focusing on the top guys so there issues get more attention,” he wrote on Twitter while stressing he was not talking about any player in particular.
“Also some players are more vocal talking about injuries then others. I don’t think people fake injuries, I do think sometimes players stretch the severity of the injury because it depressurizes them and helps them play better (which honestly is fine, do whatever works)
“I don’t think it’s done in a bad sportsmanship kind of way, and before people get defensive, I’m not talking about anyone in particular this is just what I see as a player, sometimes there r serious injuries, sometimes there over exaggerated ones from people 1-500.
“I’m not taking shots at any players so please don’t get defensive.”
