Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz have tennis history in their sights in Australian Open final
One is aiming for record of most majors and oldest man to win one, while the other is aiming to be youngest man to complete career Grand Slam
In a moment of exhaustion and elation, Novak Djokovic recognised Margaret Court in the crowd and thanked her for staying up so late to watch him get within a single victory of becoming the most decorated tennis player of all time.
The 83-year-old Court was among the VIPs at Rod Laver Arena for Djokovic’s epic five-set win over two-time defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in a gruelling semi-final that ended after 1.30am on Saturday.
For now, they share the all-time record of 24 grand slam singles titles. That could change on Sunday.
Djokovic’s energy-sapping win over Sinner set up a championship decider against top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, the 22-year-old Spaniard bidding to become the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam.
Alcaraz and Sinner have combined to block Djokovic’s push for a 25th major title, splitting the past eight majors evenly between them.
In his on-court interview to cap Day 13, Djokovic thanked Court for hanging around to witness him end a streak of five losses to Sinner and also snap a run of four semi-final defeats at the grand slam tournaments.