Australian Open: Locals only – Popyrin and Demon brace for Djoker and the Italian job
Novak Djokovic faces Australia’s Alexei Popyrin on Wednesday. He’s 29-1 against locals at their home slam but the Aussie has the weapons to do some damage.
Here’s the problem for Alexei Popyrin. Well, one of ’em.
The big dogs love towelling up the hometown heroes and hackers at majors. Love the eyeballs on these matches. Love the hype around the far-fetched notion of an upset. Love the galahs and parakeets in the crowd chirping for the foe. Love a stage like Rod Laver Arena. Love putting some trumped-up native back in his box to reminding the galahs and parakeets who’s boss. They love the lot of it.
Roger Federer was a classic for this. The great Swiss goofball would wipe Arthur Ashe Stadium with some cross-eyed, knock-kneed American wannabe in prime time and giggle himself silly all the way back to the locker room. Novak Djokovic receives the same shrill thrill. Put yourself in his squeaking sneakers.
The world No. 1 doesn’t get a major in his backyard – he wouldn’t be a villain if the Serbian Open was a slam – and so all he can do is ruin everyone else’s.
Knock off an Australian in Australia, a Popyrin in Melbourne, and giggle himself silly all the way to his interview with Jim Courier.
Look, Popyrin’s no hacker. He plays big boy tennis. Massive serve. Monster forehand. He can give Djokovic a fright. The world No.1 has been curiously out of whack this summer and I reckon Popyrin will win a set, at the very least. But to illustrate what Djokovic usually does to blokes like Popyrin – he’s 29-1 at the majors against the yokels.
He’s 13-0 against Americans at Flushing Meadows; 9-0 against Frenchmen at Roland Garros; 3-0 against Australians at Melbourne Park; 4-1 against the Brits at Wimbledon. His only blemish has been his loss to Andy Murray in the 2013 final at The All England Club. Can’t win ’em all.
The other problem for Popyrin is the fact that, you know, Djokovic has won 24 majors and 10 Australian Opens. Which Popyrin will be reminded of during the on-court introductions.
These things go on forever when Djokovic is playing. And in 2011 he won Wimbledon … and in 2014 he won the French Open … and in 2015 he won the US Open … no wonder matches never start on time.
“When they’re calling out the achievements and the scores and everything that you basically achieved on this tournament, I think it’s impossible for players not to hear that, not to feel that,” Djokovic says. “Especially for the younger players.”
Popyrin is already giving some cheek. On tournament eve, he reacted to their possible second-round clash by saying Djokovic had to win his opening match first. Now he says, “I’m going in there with full confidence. If I don’t go in there with that confidence, there’s no point going in there. It’s just another match for me. I don’t think he’s got any weaknesses. He’s physically strong, got a really good forehand, really good backhand, solid from the back, amazing serve. Like, he’s the greatest of all time in our sport, so to get there you have to have no weaknesses. But I have big weapons in my game that I believe can do some damage.”
The hometown hacker – kidding – has the opportunity to show Australians what he’s got. He’s been a bit invisible until now. He’s risen to the world No.43 ranking thanks to a power-packed game that is raw but real. There’s plenty of snap and crackle to the game of Pop. The 24-year-old wants to make the leap to the top 20, the top 10, the top nine, the top eight, and so on, and so forth.
How? “I think it’s just improving everything that’s already improved,” he says. “Improving the serve, improving the returns, improving the forehand, the backhand. Just everything has to be improved. Like I said, Novak has no weaknesses and for me it’s a goal to get to that level. It’s a dream to get to that level. But there is a lot of work to be done. There’s a lot of improvement to be done. Even Novak, I know him personally, he doesn’t stop looking for ways to improve. I think that’s what has made him the greatest of all time. Having that kind of mentality is the way to go forward. Hopefully I can get there.”
Popyrin is under no pressure. It’s all on de Minaur, who faces young Italian livewire Matteo Arnaldi. Few patrons or TV viewers know how good Arnaldi is. He beat Popyrin in the Davis Cup final before Jannik Sinner thrashed de Minaur to lift the trophy. Senior figures in the Australian team were full of praise for the 22-year-old Arnaldi. He was better than they thought, too.
Sinner has a 6-0 career record against de Minaur. No doubt he’ll be helping Arnaldi plot another Italian job on the Australian. De Minaur has Lleyton Hewitt in the corner but there’s another bloke who’s less visible but even more important to the world No. 10. His name’s Adolfo Gutierrez. He’s the Spanish coach de Minaur teamed up with when his family moved from Sydney to Alicante, in Spain, when he was nine.
“Adolfo, he’s been like my second father,” de Minaur says. “Like a father figure. We’ve been together now for 16 years, right? He took me in as a young kid to the point where my family would obviously struggle to pay him at times, right? He took me in.
“He would do countless hours with me. It just means the world that we’ve been able to accomplish all this together. We’ve gone from me being a little brat at eight years old, nine years old, to playing juniors, to playing futures, staying in hostels, motels all around Europe, to challengers, 250s, to now making it to 10 in the world. It’s pretty surreal. I could have never done it without him. I think he deserves all the credit in the world. He doesn’t like the spotlight but he deserves it all. I do owe it all to him.”
Arnaldi is quick, fit, explosive, feisty, aggressive and fearless. He gives the ball a tremendous rip from both wings. Countless young players have won a Davis Cup under the extreme pressure of team competition and then converted their momentum and confidence into majors success the following year. Arnaldi is spirited enough to do the same.
“He’s a quality Italian player with a lot of firepower,” de Minaur says. “I’m going to be ready for that battle. It’s no secret Davis Cup is a huge priority for me and it’s been shattering the last couple of years to get so close to the holy grail and just barely miss out. I mean, I associate Matteo as the guy that beat us in the Davis Cup final.
“I’ll do my best to hopefully get some revenge. He’s a quality opponent but I’ll be ready for him. No matter what the situation is, I’m going to stay calm and collected. I know five-set matches are a very long way to go. Doesn’t matter what position you’re in. You stay calm and collected.”
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