Preview Melbourne: u201c Kingu201d Novak Djokovic has won all seven Australian Open finals he has contested, he is on a 12- match winning streak and will become World No. 1 if successful in the Melbourne Park decider on Sunday.
Against those overwhelming odds, few are giving Dominic Thiem much of a chance to wrench the title from his iron grip and clinch a maiden Grand Slam. But the Austrian, remarkably, is the one with the recent edge.
Djokovic is 6- 4 in their career head- toheads, but Thiem has won four of the last five. Three of those were on his favoured clay, but he also came from a set down to beat the Serb on hardcourts at the ATP Finals in November.
Djokovic is the first to admit that the slick Thiem, 26, has successfully refined his game over the past 12 months to compete on all surfaces. And he acknowledges it is just a matter of time before Thiem wins a Slam.
u201c I donu2019t think heu2019s really anymore u2018 next generationu2019. Heu2019s been around for many years.
Now, already heu2019s an established top- five, top- 10 player,u201d said Djokovic.
u201c Itu2019s just a matter of one match here and there that can potentially give him a Grand Slam title, that he can actually get in the mix of top three in the world,u201d he added.
Thiem, who has beaten four seeds to make the grade, including Rafael Nadal in the last eight, is no stranger to Grand Slam finals, making the last two at Roland Garros. But this is his best effort outside of the French Open. He lauded Djokovic as the u201c king of Australiau201d and insisted his recent succusses against him counted for little at the Serbu2019s favourite tournament.
u201c Itu2019s absolutely his comfort zone here. He always plays his best tennis in Australia.u201d AFP
