In a stellar start to his 2024 Australian Open campaign, 10-time champion Novak Djokovic secured a hard-fought victory over the talented 18-year-old Dino Prizmic.
Djokovic endured a formidable challenge from 178th-ranked, eventually prevailing with a scoreline of 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 as he embarked on his quest for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title.
While Djokovic secured his 29th consecutive Australian Open match victory, he experienced a rare setback by dropping a set in the first round, a feat occurring only for the second time in the past 17 years.
Prizmic exerted considerable pressure on Djokovic in the third set, breaking serve in a 17-minute game to take a 3-2 lead. However, Djokovic rebounded by winning the next eight games.
In attempting to win two sets off Djokovic in the first round of a major, a feat not achieved since the 2010 U.S. Open by Viktor Troicki, Prizmic fell short. The last player to accomplish this at the Australian Open was American Paul Goldstein in 2006 when Djokovic was a mere 18 years old.
The match, lasting four hours and one minute, marked Djokovic's longest Grand Slam first-round encounter ever, as reported by Tennis Abstract.
Remarkably, Djokovic had won his previous 48 Grand Slam first-round matches in under three hours.
Prizmic, the reigning 2023 French Open junior champion, made his debut in the Grand Slam main draw.
Djokovic's upcoming opponent will be an Australian, 43rd-ranked Alexei Popyrin or No. 156 Marc Polmans.
The potential path ahead includes a third-round match against five-time Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray and a fourth-round encounter with American Ben Shelton.
In the previous September's U.S. Open, Djokovic defeated Shelton in the semifinals, contributing to his achievement of tying Australian Margaret Court for the most major singles titles in history.
