Andre Agassi once tried his hand at coaching Novak Djokovic, an informal relationship that ended in 2018 after a conspicuous lack of success.
But the great American clearly bears no ill will, and publicly anointed him as the undisputed greatest of all time ahead of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on a return visit to Melbourne Park.
Djokovic got his campaign underway for an eleventh Australian Open title with an uncomfortable 6-2 6-7 6-3 6-4 victory over hugely impressive Croatian teenager Dino Prizmic.
Watching from the stands in Rod Laver Arena was Agassi, who earlier had been on site as a high profile guest of the tournament, and delivered his verdict on a question that some still feel has not been entirely resolved.
‘When it comes to on paper I don’t think you can argue against what Novak has done,’ said the American, now 53 and married to fellow legend Steffi Graf.
Novak Djokovic has advanced to the second round of the Australian Open
Young wildcard Dino Prizmic stunned the Serb after winning the second set
‘ There’s so many ways to look at it, but when you look at it on paper you just can’t argue with what he’s accomplished. The amount that he’s won, the head-to-heads, the Masters titles, the year-end number ones, the weeks at number ones.
‘He has won more Australian Opens than I’ve won Slams for crying out loud – what do you do but laugh?’ Agassi’s involvement in tennis has been sporadic in recent times, and he has had made appearances playing the fast-growing sport of pickleball in the United States.
However, it seems like he may step up his involvement in tennis this year, and according to one usually reliable source he is being strongly considered to replace John McEnroe as Captain of the World Team in the Laver Cup team event, promoted by Federer’s management company.
They are looking for a boost after a lacklustre edition in Vancouver last year, and have already signed up Carlos Alcaraz at great escape to guarantee his presence in the Europe team in Berlin in September.
As for Djokovic, he did not always enjoy being put on his preferred primetime early evening slot to kick off the Open’s first Sunday start, mainly because of the outstanding performance of his young opponent, who is certainly a name to file away for future reference.
Prizmic is the reigning junior champion at Roland Garros – where Britain’s Henry Searle pushed him close in the last eight – and only after that began to concentrate on the main tour.
He looked, however, like he had been around for years, rather than someone who was making their Grand Slam main draw debut. He stood toe to toe with the ten-times Melbourne champion, who got riled up as the crowd got behind the inspired unknown.
After a four hour battle Djokovic showered his opponent with praise: ‘He handled himself incredibly well, it could easily have been his match,’ said the Serb, who trailed by a break midway through the third.
‘I have a lot of compliments for him. He made me run for money, he is using every inch of the court. Big kudos to him, he will do some big things in his career.’ The righthanded Prizmic does not play much like Rafael Nadal but has adopted quite a few of his mannerisms, such as constantly fiddling with his shirt and pants, and taking plenty of time between his serves.
This contributed to the sluggish pace of play, as did the pace of the balls, which are clearly going to play slowly if the evenings continue to be as cool as this one was. It was the longest first round match of the Djokovic career.
But the reigning champion weathered the storm and won in four sets
The first three sets took three hours, and included the rare sight of him going down in the tiebreak, although his incredible record in them from last year is slightly fading as he has now lost his last three.
Djokovic’s serve was also below par, so there should be some encouragement for those who are trying to topple him over the next fortnight.
In the semi-finals Djokovic is scheduled to meet Jannik Sinner, who inflicted two singles defeats on him late last season. Sinner was a straight sets winner over Dutchman Botic Van Der Zandschulp.
