Australian Open men’s final: Djokovic hard to oppose in Tsitsipas showdown

Only injury has threatened to stop Novak Djokovic winning another grand slam title and he is the clear favourite heading into the men’s Australian Open final against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The Serbian will be appearing in his 33rd grand slam final in Melbourne on Sunday and is just 1/5 in the Tsitsipas v Djokovic odds to equal Rafael Nadal’s record tally of 22 titles.

The winner will overtake Carlos Alcaraz as world number one and Tsitsipas is 17/5 to do so by securing his first grand slam title but he has lost the last nine meetings with his next opponent.

Djokovic’s 7-5 6-1 6-2 victory over American Tommy Paul in the semi-finals looked straightforward on the scoreboard but it certainly did not feel that way when the Serbian lost four games in a row from 5-1 up in the opening set.

The 35-year-old had steam-rollered Alex De Minaur and Andrey Rublev in the previous two rounds but did not look settled from the start, perhaps a legacy of the events of the previous 24 hours after his father was filmed with Vladimir Putin supporters at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.

Djokovic managed to win the opening set though and that allowed the 35-year-old, who again showed no sign of being bothered by his left hamstring issue, to loosen up a little.

He broke serve at the start of the second set and from there Paul, who is a willing runner with a fine backhand but no big weapons, was unable to land more than a fleeting blow on Djokovic.

#AusOpen semifinals: ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️#AusOpen finals: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆❓

Will X mark the spot for @DjokerNole on Sunday?@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/lcx6Wnm3dT

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2023