By Syndicated Content
Feb 17, 2021 5:11 AM
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic is one of the best-known sportsmen in the world but his semi-final on Thursday will be against a player he confessed he was unaware of until this year s Australian Open.
The top-ranked men s player would not be the only one in the tennis circuit who would not have previously heard of the 114th-ranked Russian Aslan Karatsev, 27, before 2021.
But in the past two weeks on Melbourne Park s blue hardcourts, the qualifier has ensured he has the firm attention of the tennis world by becoming the first man in the open era to reach the last four in his maiden Grand Slam.
Qualifier Karatsev s dream run faces Djokovic barrier kwsn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kwsn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Toss the playbook out the window.
The trusted and time-tested warm-ups, the routines, the rituals employed in the lead-up to the year’s first major? Yeah, you can scrap those, too. This is an Australian Open like no other, after all, one held amidst a global pandemic; one that’s seen athletes quarantined and the run-of-the-mill practice session become a treasured commodity.
Hotel rooms became improvised gymnasiums, fitted with stationary bikes, yoga matts and hand weights. Mattresses became backboards, entryways suddenly ideal for suicide sprints. But sometimes you’ve just got to make do.
“Players are so used to routines. They like to be in control. They’re not in control,” observed Chris Evert, a two-time Australian Open champion. “I think it’s going to demand a lot of patience and a lot of flexibility and who’s going to really adjust and adapt the best under those precarious circumstances.”
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