Novak Djokovic battles to be fit ahead of semi-final clash – as Jacob Fearnley receives a surprise offer from the 24-time champion
If Andy Murray can claim some share of the acclaim for Novak Djokovic’s extraordinary victory over Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday night, then at least a sliver of credit should be allotted to his fellow Scot Jacob Fearnley.
Fearnley, one of the stars of the first week of the Australian Open after his run to the third round, was the man who warmed Djokovic up for his blockbuster quarter-final.
The 23-year-old has stayed on in Melbourne ahead of Great Britain’s Davis Cup tie in Japan at the end of January, and so was one of the few singles players left on site when Djokovic was after a hitting partner.
‘It was unexpected,’ said Fearnley. ‘I was about to leave and one of his coaches came up to me and asked in the locker room, “Would you want to hit with Novak?” Obviously I was like, “Yeah, sure!”.
‘It was really cool. And Andy was on the court as well. It was a good experience for me and my coach.’
Fearnley did feel an element of pressure in the responsibility of preparing the 10-time champion for such a huge match.
Novak Djokovic invited Jacob Fearnley (pictured) to hit with him ahead of the Serbian’s victory against Carlos Alcaraz
Fearnley said it was ‘unexpected’ to be invited to practice with Djokovic and admitted he felt an element of responsibility to help the 24-time Grand Slam champion prepare for his huge match
Fearnley added that Andy Murray (pictured) was on the court at the same time as he practiced with Djokovic
‘It was a bit surreal,’ he said. ‘I was a bit nervous, he was playing a really big match so I wanted to make it as good of a warm up as possible.
‘I was pleased when he won, when he started hitting the ball really nice I was like “Yeah, that was a nice warm-up!”.’
Given Fearnley was beaten by Alexander Zverev here in Melbourne and hit with Djokovic, he is better placed than most to predict who will come out on top in Friday’s semi-final.
‘It will be an exceptional match,’ he said.
‘They’re both extremely solid, both move extremely well. I think there’ll be a lot of long rallies.
‘A lot of it will come down to serving. Zverev has been serving amazing and obviously Djokovic is the best returner we’ve ever seen. It’s going to be extremely close.’
A decisive factor in that clash is likely to be Djokovic’s fitness, after a suspected hamstring injury in the win over Alcaraz.
After that match Djokovic admitted he was ‘concerned’ and on Thursday there was an update, of sorts, on his fitness.
Djokovic will face Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals but a decisive factor in that clash is likely to be Djokovic’s fitness, after a suspected hamstring injury in the win over Alcaraz
The Serbian skipped practice on Thursday but is expected to be on court again on Friday before facing Zverev at 2.30pm
He was not on site on Wednesday and after being down for a 90 minute practice on Thursday at 2pm his name suddenly disappeared off the schedule, raising fears over his fitness.
We have been told Djokovic did not practice at Melbourne Park and, while it is possible he has hit off-site somewhere, it is likely he has given his injury two full days of rest.
The Serb is down to practice at 1pm tomorrow before facing Zverev at 2.30pm.
The second semi final, not before 7.30pm local time, sees world No1 Jannik Sinner take on big-serving American Ben Shelton.
