In an ominous warning to his challengers, Novak Djokovic says he is not feeling the hamstring damage that threatened to derail his quest for a tenth Australian Open title.
The celebrity Serb steamrolled native hope Alex de Minaur 6-2 6-1 6-2 on Monday night time in what he described as his “best match of the year”.
De Minaur lauded Djokovic as the perfect opponent he had ever confronted and mentioned he could not see anybody denying the nine-times champion one other Melbourne Park crown.
“The feeling I’ve got just walking off the court is that I played a pretty high-level,” the 23-year-old Australian mentioned.
“If that’s Novak’s level, I think he’s definitely the guy that’s going to take the title.”
The 35-year-old has battled a hamstring downside because the semi-finals of the Adelaide International warm-up event earlier this month however mentioned he felt pain-free via the fourth spherical conflict.
Djokovic mentioned he had been counting on anti-inflammatory tablets all through the event however moved effectively in the course of the two-hour conflict with de Minaur.
“Tonight it wasn’t obvious I was dealing with an injury,” Djokovic mentioned.
“I didn’t feel anything – today was great.
“I thank my medical workforce, my physio, thank God, anyone that basically helped me.
“I kept my focus all the way through and I played the best match of this year so far.”
Djokovic mentioned he would nonetheless take a cautious method to the damage, in case it flared once more.
“I don’t want to celebrate too early but I’m still in the tournament,” the fourth seed mentioned.
“I was feeling very good in the first match, second match not so great. So I know that things can change really quickly and I don’t take anything for granted.
“I’m actually happy with the way in which I performed and the way in which I moved, the way in which I hit the ball – so let’s preserve it going.”
He faces fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals after the Russian clawed his way to a five-set win over Danish teen Holger Rune.
Djokovic predicted a tough encounter against the 25-year-old Rublev, who is looking to make his first grand slam final four.
“He’s a longtime prime 10 participant for a number of years and he has unimaginable fire-power, particularly from the serve and forehand nook,” he mentioned.
“A really explosive participant, a bit of bit like de Minaur, so hopefully the outcome would be the similar.”
