"I felt that he was looking at me more than he was looking at himself": Djokovic on mental battle against Alcaraz

Novak Djokovic opened up about the injury he sustained during his Australian Open quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz, admitting he "tried to use it to his advantage" to capitalise on his opponent's uncertainty. The Serbian secured a remarkable 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory, advancing to the semifinals at Melbourne Park.

Apparent issues with Djokovic's thigh required medical attention, particularly when Alcaraz appeared to be in control of the match. However, after treatment, Djokovic regained focus and turned the tide during a challenging quarterfinal clash.

“I try to use that to my advantage, in a sense, to take the initiative of the rallies and his hesitation,” commented the 24-time Grand slam champion. “He was trying to play at some point quite a few dropshots and make me run. I've been in the situations, as well, where opponent's struggling with injury, but keep going. The opponent is going for everything, and then he's staying in the match.

“Then all of a sudden as the match progresses, the opponent feels better,” he added. “You're starting to panic a bit with your game. I understand the feeling. Yeah, as I said on the court, I tried to understand how I feel. I didn't feel great the second set, but I went for my shots. I was really close to the line and just had to be more aggressive.”

Djokovic shared that his physical and tennis sensations improved as the sets progressed after receiving painkillers from the doctor. He also expressed regret if his injury distracted Alcaraz. "I felt better and better as the match progressed, particularly the end of the second and the entire third till mid-fourth set was the best that I felt in terms of the movement after that injury. I felt like it wasn't restricting me as much, to be honest. I felt pretty much normal. Then, yeah, the end of the fourth was a little bit worse, but still was okay."

“Look, I feel for him. I understand that it's not comfortable to play someone that you don't know if he's going to retire or not. Is he moving? Is he running? What's happening? I felt that he was looking at me more than he was looking at himself.”

“I was just trying to be, yeah, self-observing what's going on in my body and at the same time focus on every point in every game and try to hold my serve and put pressure on him. That's what happened.”

“I put myself in a position where I could possibly break. I broke his serve at 5-4. It was good enough to clinch the set. Then set all, and you start to feel better. He starts to hesitate, to play with a bit more hesitation from the back of the court. He was missing a bit more. I started to play more freely.”

Djokovic will have a total of 48 hours to recover before facing Alexander Zverev (world No. 2) for a spot in the final. Meanwhile, the other two semifinalists will be determined in today's matches: Sinner vs De Minaur and Sonego vs Shelton.