World No 7 Daniil Medvedev would have nothing against facing Novak Djokovic in his very first tournament of the season.
Medvedev, 26, is the third-seeded player in the Adelaide International main draw.
In his opener at the tournament, Medvedev is facing Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
On the other side, Djokovic is the top-seeded player in Adelaide and faces Constant Lestienne in the first round.
Medvedev and Djokovic are the two top-seeded players in the top part of the draw and are projected to meet in the Adelaide semifinal.
Medvedev on the prospect of playing Djokovic in Adelaide
“I don’t know. I like to play Novak because yeah, I feel like we have a lot of matches. We had some really great matches with a great level of tennis. At the same time, what motivates me is to be in the semis, and if it’s Novak there, it’s great. If it’s somebody else who beats him, I don’t care much; that’s also great. It means that somebody is in great shape, and managed to probably beat the best player in the world right now. Not talking about rankings, but he won the last maybe five tournaments he played in or four. Yeah, so I would be happy both ways. I just want to be in the semifinals to start, and yeah, don’t care who I play,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev and Djokovic have played against each other 12 times.
The head-to-head record is on Djokovic’s side, who owns an 8-4 record against Medvedev.
In recent years, Medvedev and Djokovic have had some great matches – most notably they played in two Grand Slam finals.
In the 2021 Australian Open final, Djokovic defeated Medvedev to win a record ninth Australian Open title.
Medvedev didn’t win his first Grand Slam title at the 2021 Australian Open but did so after beating Djokovic in the 2021 US Open final.
It remains to be seen if we will see a Medvedev and Djokovic match at the start of the season.
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