‘Perfect’ Djokovic raises hopes of a golden slam as he tunes up for Australian Open
World No 1 Serb will enter this year’s first major at the Australian Open eager to repeat his phenomenal success of last year
Novak Djokovic is hitting ever greater heights ahead of the Australian Open – posing problems for his rivals, and raising distant hopes of the first ever men's “golden slam”.
Picking up where he left off after a blistering 2015, Djokovic destroyed Rafael Nadal in last week's Qatar Open final, in a performance the Spaniard called “stratospheric”.
“I played against a player who did everything perfect. I know nobody playing tennis like this ever,” said the 14-time grand slam-winner.
My thoughts are only directed to Melbourne and what I need to do there
No male player, and only Steffi Graf on the women's side, has ever achieved the “golden slam”: winning all four major titles and Olympic singles gold in a single year.
Last season Djokovic fell just one victory short of the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969, after losing the French Open final to Stan Wawrinka.
Acknowledging his form, the 28-year-old said in Doha: “I'm hoping that I can actually peak and play as well as I did today in Melbourne.”
