"Start putting his initials on the trophy now": Novak Djokovic winning 11th Australian Open crown a foregone conclusion believes Rod Laver

Rod Laver believes that the Australian Open trophy engravers should start adding Novak Djokovic's name to the trophy now and believes it is a foregone conclusion after surviving opening round scares in Melbourne.

Djokovic took down Tomas Martin Etcheverry after struggling in his opening two forays against Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin. He will next play fellow veteran, Adrian Mannarino for a spot in the Quarter-Finals and Laver who unlike Djokovic has sealed multiple Calendar Grand Slams sees his fellow history maker as at his best right now. He said that it will have to take something special to stop him reaching 25 Grand Slams over the next week which would be a record extending 11th Australian Open crown also.

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“He has all the shots, he knows exactly when he can play them, when he can’t play them,” said Laver, an 11-time Grand Slam winner. "He’s priming himself to get through to the final.”
“He’ll lose a set somewhere in these five-setters and I’m thinking, ‘Is he having us on?’ because he could win this in two and two and two (6-2 6-2 6-2).”

“He’s such a great athlete to begin with, but his mind also is tennis and so he sees it almost unfold in front of him, just what he should be doing. He’s a great champion,” the 85-year-old said.
"He serves well. His ground strokes are unbeatable. So I have to believe, unless someone miraculously plays their best tennis to knock him off they can start putting part of his initials on the trophy now.”

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