“Honestly, I would be surprised if he managed to win”: Marat Safin delivers brutally honest verdict on Djokovic in Melbourne

Former world No. 1 Marat Safin ruled out the possibility that Novak Djokovic has chances of winning his 25th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. In fact, the former Russian tennis player assured that Nole would have to “rejuvenate himself by 10 years” if he wants to break the hegemony of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

The current coach of Andrey Rublev spent the last few weeks in Melbourne accompanying his player, world No. 15 Rublev, who reached the third round and fell in straight sets to 18th seed Francisco Cerúndolo (3–6, 6–7, 3–6).

In a recent interview with SportKlub, Safin was asked whether he believes Djokovic has a chance of winning his 25th major title this week. “I would say no. Honestly, I would be surprised if he managed to win,” he briefly stated, according to the Serbian outlet.

The 2005 Australian Open champion assured that for Djokovic to win the tournament, “he would have to rejuvenate himself by ten years,” he said regarding the 38-year-old Serb, who will play the quarter-finals this Wednesday, January 28, against Lorenzo Musetti.

Djokovic advanced with straight-sets victories over Pedro Martínez, Franco Maestrelli, and Botic van de Zandschulp. In the fourth round, he benefited from the injury of Jakub Menšík, who withdrew before stepping onto the court, giving Djokovic direct passage to the quarter-finals.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion is seeking his 11th crown in Melbourne, where he was eliminated in the semi-finals in the last two editions. So far, Nole has reached at least the quarter-finals in 17 of his 21 appearances in Melbourne.

Safin himself faced Djokovic during his career, with their first meeting coming at the 2005 Australian Open. The Serb had come through qualifying at just 17 years old and was facing the fourth seed in the first round. Safin, one of the favourites for the title, earned a comfortable victory, 6–0, 6–2, 6–1, in what was Djokovic’s first ever Grand Slam main-draw match.

“To be honest, there’s not much to say. He was a kid coming from the qualifying rounds and I was one of the favourites and I played very well,” Safin commented regarding their clash. “It was his first match on Rod Laver Arena, he had no chance,” the Russian added.

Safin went on to lift the title, defeating world No. 1 Roger Federer in the semi-finals and Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the final — also marking the last time an Australian reached the final of the Australian Open.

Safin reunited just this week with another of his rivals from his Melbourne campaign: none other than 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer. “It was a pleasure to see him! Great memories from the past. I was happy to know what he’s doing now, how he’s doing. I had never seen his kids before, so it was a pleasure to talk. The kids are already grown up!” he said.

The careers of Federer and Safin crossed paths repeatedly, with just a year and a half separating them in age: Safin was born in January 1980, while Federer was born in August 1981. They faced each other a total of 12 times between 2001 and 2009, with Federer claiming victory on 10 occasions and Safin on two — one of those coming precisely in the Australian Open semi-finals, where the Russian came back twice from a set down to secure the win, 5–7, 6–4, 5–7, 7–6(6), 9–7.

As for the encounters between Safin and Djokovic, there were only two, both with a still-inexperienced Nole, and both were straightforward straight-sets wins for Safin: the first round of the 2005 Australian Open and the second round of Wimbledon 2008.

The now Russian coach won a total of 15 titles — including two Grand Slams and five Masters 1000 trophies — reached world No. 1 for a total of nine weeks, and finished inside the top four in three different seasons, including the year 2000, when he ended as world No. 2.