Legendary tennis player Rod Laver has backed world number one Novak Djokovic to win the Australian Open trophy for an 11th time.
Djokovic has set his sights on a record-extending Melbourne Park win that will also take him past Margaret Court's haul of 24 majors.
However, the Serb didn’t have a good time on court during the first two rounds against teenager Dino Prizmic and local hope Alexei Popyrin.
Laver, the only player to win the calendar Grand Slam twice, doesn’t believe that Djokovic will have much difficulty in winning once again after the 36-year-old beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry to set up a fourth-round meeting with Adrian Mannarino.
"It's almost like he's priming himself to get through to the final," 11-time Grand Slam winner Laver said on Saturday after arriving in Melbourne from California.
"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)."
The 85-year-old Laver said that only something extraordinary will take the title away from Djokovic.
"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," said Laver.
"That's how he's being a great champion.
"He serves well, his groundstrokes 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."
