Reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic begins the defence of his crown on Sunday, where a man 18 years his junior in Dino Prizmic will seek to pull off an unthinkable upset in their first-round match.
The world number one is gunning for his 11th triumph Down Under over the next fortnight, while his opponent was not even born when he first competed for Australian Open glory.
Match preview
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Records continued to tumble at the feet of the irrepressible Djokovic during another absorbing 2023 season, in which he came so close yet so far to completing the elusive calendar year Grand Slam, only to see his Wimbledon Centre Court supremacy ended by Carlos Alcaraz in the British sunshine.
Nevertheless, victories at the Australian Open, French Open, US Open and ATP Finals all contributed to another year of astonishing achievements for the 36-year-old, who has won each of the last four Australian Open tournaments he has participated in, beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2023 final and dropping just one set throughout the whole tournament.
Since losing to Hyeon Chung in the fourth round of the 2018 edition, Djokovic has come up trumps in a record 28 Australian Open matches in a row - unsurprisingly an Open Era record - and not since 2006 has the 24-time Grand Slam winner been knocked out at the opening stage.
After trying and failing to lead Serbia to Davis Cup glory last year, Djokovic began his 2024 campaign in team action once again during the second edition of the United Cup, where he battled past Zhang Zhizhen and Jiri Lehecka in the round-robin phase before Australia's Alex de Minaur got the better of him in the quarter-finals.
Winning just 70% of points behind his first serve on the day was hardly characteristic of the Serbian sensation, who had previously won 43 matches on the bounce in Australia, and he was also hampered by a wrist injury during his opening defeat of the 2024 season.
Similar problems have bedevilled all of Emma Raducanu, Nick Kyrgios and Cameron Norrie in recent memory, but Djokovic has since played down the severity of his concern as he prepares to pit his wits against Prizmic, who came through qualifying to earn a momentous date with the world number one.
The 18-year-old Croatian was only a toddler when Djokovic first conquered the Australian Open in 2008 and rose to a career-high ranking of 155 during a breakthrough 2023 season, in which he won the boy's singles title at the French Open while also capturing attention on the ATP Tour scene.
On home turf at the ATP 250 Umag Open, Prizmic got as far as the quarter-finals, and just a couple of weeks later, the teenager became an ATP Challenger champion for the first time, defeating Kimmer Coppejans in the Banja Luka final.
Victory over newly-crowned Adelaide International champion Lehecka at the Stockholm Open was another notable scalp for Prizmic, who was forced to go through qualifying to reach his first-ever Grand Slam main draw, but he navigated his way past Mariano Navone, Duje Ajdukovic and Aziz Dougaz with just one set dropped.
Prior to successfully battling through the preliminary rounds, Prizmic suffered a comprehensive defeat to Brandon Nakashima in the second round of the Canberra Challenger event, but despite the calibre of opponent on the other side of the Rod Laver Arena court, the youngster has insisted that he will prepare for a meeting with the defending champion as if it is a "normal match".
Head To Head
It will come as no surprise to learn that Djokovic and Prizmic will be squaring off for the very first time on the ATP Tour this week, and the former currently sits 177 places above his teenage foe in the rankings, but Prizmic does boast a miniscule physical edge.
While both men stand at 6ft 2in tall, the imposing Prizmic is billed at 80kg - three more than Djokovic - but the Croatian will be playing just his 10th ATP Tour match on Sunday. For Djokovic, the first-round encounter will be his 1,304th.
We say: Djokovic to win in three sets
The experience of playing such a celebrated name this early on in his career will only have a positive effect on Prizmic's development, and as the teenager has already alluded to, he will play without fear in front of the Rod Laver Arena crowd in the hope of masterminding the shock of all shocks.
One of the sporting stories of the year would be written if Prizmic was to send the reigning champion packing, and while he should give a good account of himself on the court, Djokovic should make light work of this first-round affair.
Ben Knapton
