Novak Djokovic will look to rise above the drama that has engulfed him at Melbourne Park and claim a record-extending 10th Australian Open title on Sunday in a generational clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

A year after being deported from Australia on the eve of the Grand Slam for lacking COVID-19 vaccination, Djokovic has battled a hamstring strain, heckling spectators and a media storm over his father mixing with fans toting banned Russian flags at the tennis.

In handling everything within his control, though, Djokovic has been supreme.

The Serb’s dominant semi-final victory over American Tommy Paul on Friday stretched his winning streak at the event to a record 27 in the professional era, eclipsing Andre Agassi’s 26-match run between 2000 to 2004.

Never beaten at Melbourne Park after reaching the semis, fourth seed Djokovic is rated an unbackable favourite to triumph again under the floodlights at Rod Laver Arena.

Despite that, the decider presents possibly the best matchup fans could have hoped for following the early exit of injured champion Rafa Nadal.

It offers a rematch of the dramatic 2021 French Open final, in which Djokovic came back from two sets down to snatch the title and leave Greek Tsitsipas heartbroken.

Not that the match was fresh in Djokovic’s memory.

“I think he (Tsitsipas) has never played a (Grand Slam) finals, am I wrong?” Djokovic asked incredulous reporters this week.

The stakes are sky-high for both players.

At 35, Djokovic needs one major title to draw level with 36-year-old Nadal’s 22 in the all-time Grand Slam race. Meanwhile third seed Tsitsipas is desperate to become the first Greek to win a Grand Slam crown, having put the nation on the tennis map.

Whoever wins will take the world number one ranking from Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who missed the tournament through injury.

At 24, Tsitsipas may feel his time has come. He buried his semi-final hoodoo at Melbourne Park against Russian bruiser Karen Khachanov in four sets on Friday after falling three times previously at the hurdle.

“These are the moments I’ve been working hard for,” said Tsitsipas.

“To be able to play in finals that have a bigger meaning than just the final.”

The atmosphere promises to be electric, and possibly volatile as tension builds.

Melbourne’s strong Greek community, the most populous outside Greece itself, will be in full voice at Rod Laver Arena.

They will rival the army of Serbian supporters who have gorged on Djokovic’s success since his first title at Melbourne Park as a 20-year-old in 2008.

Neutral fans, meanwhile, could well rally behind Tsitsipas in the hope of seeing a genuine contest.

With a huge serve, thumping groundstrokes and comfort on all areas of the court, Tsitsipas has the weapons to trouble anyone on tour. Whether he has the endurance and mental fortitude to dislodge iron man Djokovic remains to be seen.

For all the huff and puff of the younger generation, only Daniil Medvedev has managed to beat the Serb in a completed match at a hardcourt Grand Slam since a shock fourth round loss to Chung Hyeon in the 2018 Australian Open.

Not even Nadal or retired great Roger Federer have ever bested Djokovic in a final at Melbourne Park, and the Serb is hell-bent on extending that incredible record.

“Of course, I have professional goals and ambitions. Those are Grand Slams and being number one in the world,” said Djokovic.

“So I do want to make more history of this sport, no doubt.”

Aryna Sabalenka bludgeoned her way to a maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over Kazakh 22nd seed Elena Rybakina on Saturday in a thrilling final between two of the most exciting power-hitters in the women’s game.

Sabalenka’s 11th straight win of the year will propel the Belarusian back to her career-high ranking of number two behind Iga Swiatek as she reaps the rewards of her improved mental stability.

With Russian and Belarusian players only allowed to compete as individual athletes without national affiliation at Melbourne Park due Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, fifth seed Sabalenka also becomes the first neutral athlete to win a major.

Success has followed a period of introspection and change for Sabalenka, who had often appeared to let her emotions halt her progress on the big stage, as she dropped her sports psychologist in pre-season.

Sabalenka also worked with a biomechanics trainer to improve her cannonball serve, which tended to fail her in big moments in the past, and the results were evident before the year’s first Grand Slam as she won the Adelaide International 1 title.

After finally securing her first Grand Slam on Saturday, she dropped to the floor in delight and then walked up to Rybakina’s side of the court to hug her before embracing her emotional entourage in the players’ box.

Her coach Anton Dubrov was seen crying with joy at one point.

“Thanks so much for an amazing atmosphere,” said Sabalenka, who received the trophy from former world number one Billie Jean King. “And of course my team, the craziest team on tour. We’ve been through a lot of downs last year, we worked so hard.

“I hope next year I come back and I show you even better tennis, and you guys support me even more.”

Rybakina, who triumphed at Wimbledon last year, came into the final high on confidence as the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to beat three Grand Slam winners along the way after toppling Swiatek, Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka.

The Russian-born Kazakh went up 3-1 with a comfortable hold after Sabalenka dropped her serve with a double fault and sent a forehand long, but then she came under pressure and allowed her opponent to level the opening set at 4-4.

Rybakina hit back immediately in gusty conditions at Rod Laver Arena to grab another break as Sabalenka double-faulted for a fifth time, before going on to seal the set with a big serve the Belarusian returned into the net.

It was the first time that Sabalenka had dropped a set in 11 matches in 2023 year and the nerves began to show a bit, before the 24-year-old composed herself and saved two breakpoints in the opening game of the next set.

Sabalenka then found a bit of consistency to break but had to overcome a wobble to grab a 4-1 lead after which she let out a huge roar and levelled the match with her 11th and 12th aces to take the contest to a third set.

Sabalenka served with venom and hammered deep returns in the decider to punch holes through Rybakina’s defence to take a 5-3 lead. She then double-faulted on one matchpoint and squandered two more to draw gasps from the crowd.

“I kept telling myself that nobody said it was going to be easy. She was going to fight for it… I told myself, ‘Work for it, take deep breaths, just work’,” Sabalenka told host broadcaster Channel Nine.

She took a few deep breaths and tried again, finally closing out the contest to claim the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup.

“It was a really tough year and I had tough moments last year. We worked so hard. Right now, I’m just super proud of myself,” Sabalenka added.

Rybakina congratulated Sabalenka and acknowledged how hard her opponent had worked for her first major title.

“Hopefully we’re going to have many more battles,” she said.

“I had goosebumps when everyone was cheering for us… I’m looking forward to coming back next year.. It was an amazing two weeks for me and hopefully I’m going to have the same results and even better.”

-Reuters

Novak Djokovic shrugged off controversy involving his father to reach a record-extending 10th Australian Open final on Friday and set up a blockbuster decider with Greek trailblazer Stefanos Tsitsipas and a battle for the world number one ranking.

Nine-times champion Djokovic maintained his perfect semi-final record at Melbourne Park with a 7-5 6-1 6-2 win over outgunned American Tommy Paul at Rod Laver Arena, where his father Srdjan was a conspicuous absentee.

Earlier on centre court, Tsitsipas saw off Russian 18th seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(2) 6-4 6-7(6) 6-3 to become the first Greek to reach the title match in a city boasting the biggest Greek population outside the southern European nation.

Srdjan Djokovic created a distraction for his son ahead of the semi-final after a video emerged showing him with fans holding Russian flags, which were banned at Melbourne Park early in the tournament

Amid calls from the Ukraine embassy and media pundits for Djokovic Sr to be banned from the tournament, he declined to attend the semi-final, saying he wanted to avoid “disruption” for his son.

Djokovic defended his father, saying he had been “misused” by Russian fans and that media had misinterpreted the video as a show of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“As my father put in a statement, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war. We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war,” Djokovic, who grew up in Serbia during the wars in former Yugoslavia, told reporters.

Djokovic said he hoped his father could return to his players’ box for the final on Sunday, though Tennis Australia declined to comment when asked whether Srdjan would be welcome.

A year on from being deported from Australia on the eve of the tournament due to his lack of COVID-19 vaccination, drama has found Djokovic again at Melbourne Park.

He was criticised for ducking off court for an unauthorised toilet break early in the tournament and later hit out at media for scepticism about his hamstring injury.

On Friday, a man in the terraces held up a Ukraine flag when Djokovic served in his direction against Paul.

Djokovic was in a foul mood even as he raced to a 5-1 lead in the first set, repeatedly yelling at his players’ box in Serbian.

He bickered with the chair umpire over the time taken to get a towel between points, drawing loud jeers from fans.

Sensing his chance, Paul raised the pressure with some outstanding tennis, breaking the Serb twice and levelling the match at 5-5 after edging Djokovic in a 30-shot rally.

Desperate for a player to give Djokovic a proper match, the crowd was firmly in Paul’s corner, cheering the Serb’s errors.

However, that was as good as it got for Paul, as Djokovic knuckled down to win 14 of the last 17 games in a stunning counter-attack 15 years to the day after his first Australian Open title as a 20-year-old.

Despite the emphatic win, Djokovic said the fuss over his dad had affected him.

“Of course, it’s not pleasant for me to go through this with all the things that I had to deal with last year and this year in Australia,” he said.

“It’s not something that I want or need. I hope that people will let it be, and we can focus on tennis.”

There was far less drama earlier as Tsitsipas won his first Australian Open semi-final on the fourth attempt.

Sunday’s decider will be a re-match of the 2021 French Open final, which Djokovic won from two sets down to leave the Greek heartbroken.

The winner will take the number one ranking from Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.

“I’d like that number,” said Tsitsipas.

“It’s a cornerstone final … I’ve been wanting for many years now to put Greek tennis on the map, and me and Maria (Sakkari) have done an incredible job.”

Tsitsipas can rely on a huge contingent of Greek fans to rival Djokovic’s army of Serbian supporters.

They were in full voice as he traded breaks with Khachanov in a see-sawing opening set before taking control in the tiebreak.

Two sets and a break down in the third, Khachanov showed great courage to fight back to 5-5 and take the tiebreak after Tsitsipas blew two match points.

Tsitsipas quickly regrouped, though, and closed out the fourth set in dominant fashion.

“Serbia is also a very small country, just like Greece,” said Tsitsipas.

“I hope we in Greece can achieve the same thing they have in recent years — win multiple Grand Slams.”

-Reuters