Australian Open 2019, Quarterfinal: Novak Djokovic vs Kei Nishikori: Preview and Prediction
The world number one Novak Djokovic takes on the Asian number one Kei Nishikori in a much-anticipated quarter-final clash in the year’s first Grand Slam.
Going into this match, the Serb enjoys a surprisingly lop-sided head to head record against the Japanese. Of the seventeen matches they have played against each other, Nishikori has managed to win only two. His last win came way back in 2014 in that famous US Open semifinal, after which it has been one-way traffic.
Djokovic has got the better of Kei in fourteen straight encounters, many of them coming at the finals or semifinals of big tournaments, the last of which being his straight-sets victory in last year’s US Open semifinal.
But Djokovic’s journey in the Australian Open so far has been far from smooth. After his two relatively straight forward wins against Mitchell Krueger and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, he had to struggle against the Canadian next-gen star Denis Shapovalov, where he lost a set after being distracted by the lights in the stadium which were switched on for better visibility for the TV audience. These are the kinds of issues that Djokovic should guard against when he meets a player of Nishikori’s quality.
Moreover, Djokovic looked completely gassed towards the end of his fourth-round match against the Russian 15th seed Daniil Medvedev. There were stretches in the middle portions of the match where he looked completely out of sorts. To his credit, despite struggling physically, he managed to pull himself out of difficult circumstances, especially when he was down 1-2, 0-40 on his serve in the third set.
As he acknowledged in his post-match interview, it was a pivotal moment in the match. He would need to recover quickly for what promises to be another energy-sapping encounter in the quarter-final and would also need to guard against momentary lapses which could prove costly.
Luckily for him, his opponent in the quarter-final has had to spend even more time on the court as he has already been involved in three five-set matches, including his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta. In fact, he came back from two sets down to take the five-hour long match in a fifth set super tie-break.
But despite his recent struggles with injury, Nishikori has shown time and again that when fit, he is possibly the best mover on court. His backhand, though not as penetrative as Djokovic’s, is still a very dependable shot and he has no clear weaknesses that an opponent could try to exploit.
If Nishikori is to snap a 14-match losing streak, then he would not only need to be at his best physically but should also hope that the world number one has an off day or faces the bouts of loss of concentration which seem to be creeping into his game, in recent times.
Prediction: Novak Djokovic to win in four sets.