World No. 1 Novak Djokovic continues his quest for an 11th Australian Open title on Wednesday night when he faces Alexei Popyrin on Rod Laver Arena.
While Djokovic has as good a legacy as anyone at Melbourne Park, Australia’s Popyrin will have plenty of home crowd support as he looks to upset the superstar Serbian.
Djokovic won his first-round match against Croatia’s Dino Prizmic, but the 18-year-old managed to steal a set from the tournament favourite as he played without fear to earn the praises of the 36-year-old.
As for Popyrin, he won through in straight sets against fellow countryman Marc Polmans.
Popyrin lost in the only time he faced Djokovic in 2019 but Stan Sport tennis expert Chris Stubbs thinks the Aussie has the power to cause the world’s best some problems.
Stubbs’ main concern is whether Popyrin has the variety and mental stamina to go with who many consider the greatest of all time.
“For Djokovic, his next opponent is Alexei Popyrin, our Aussie, that’s at Rod Laver Arena during the night session,” Stubbs said on SEN Sportsday.
“Alexei is a towering bloke as you'd know, he has a huge serve, but he’s going to need more than that to bring down Djokovic.
“I just hope that Alexei the Aussie has the same approach to the match tomorrow night (as Prizmic).
“He's got absolutely nothing to lose everything to gain. He's got the power to do it.
“But does he have the variety and the mental stamina to hang with Djokovic? That's the question.”
A win here for Popyrin would see him make the third round of the tournament for the third time.
While he’s never made the fourth round of a Grand Slam, Stubbs thinks now is the time for Popyrin to start delivering on his talent with Tennis Australia putting plenty of resources into his development.
“For Popyrin last year, he had a really good tournament here, he had a couple of wins,” Stubbs said.
“Last year he found himself inside the top 50, around the 40-mark.
“At his age now, he's creeping towards the mid-twenties, so the time is now.
“He's had a lot of belief and a lot of energy put into him from Tennis Australia over the years and they would love to see a good performance from him tomorrow night.”
Listen to the Djokovic v Popyrin clash on Wednesday night LIVE via the SEN app.
