Last year, Djokovic arrived in Melbourne as the undisputed world No 1 and reigning Australian Open champion, intent on claiming the 10th title that would move him ahead of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on the all-time list of men’s grand slam winners. A row erupted over his vaccination status, he was deported, and in the months that followed Djokovic slipped down the rankings, became an international pariah, and was overtaken by Nadal in the race to be proclaimed the greatest of all time.

Twelve months on, Djokovic will leave Melbourne as the undisputed world No 1 and reigning Australian Open champion, having defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) to claim a record-extending 10th title and haul himself level with Nadal on 22 majors.

It was almost as though he was trying to prove a point.

As Tsitsipas sent a final despairing forehand long, confirming his 10th consecutive loss to the Serb – by whom he was also undone in his only previous appearance in a grand slam final, at the French Open in 2021 – Djokovic turned to his box and pointed to his head, heart and groin. That felt about right. After a victory hewn of granite, and a seventh title from his past nine tournaments, he is once again the alpha male of the tour.

“Only the team and family know what we have been through in the last four or five weeks,” said Djokovic in the emotional aftermath of victory. “This probably is the biggest victory of my life, considering the circumstances.”         

It is a measure of how far ahead Djokovic remains of the chasing pack that, for all the challenges he has faced, there was a sense of inevitability about his latest triumph, certainly from the moment it became clear that the hamstring injury he sustained in Adelaide had eased sufficiently for him to beat Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in round three. He has been in testy mood at times, bridling at scepticism over his physical condition, accusing the media of “publicly lynching” him and repeatedly railing at his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, who copped another earful when Tsitsipas began to test him late in the second set. On court, though, he was never been even remotely in danger, dropping just one set in seven matches. 

“He’s getting crazier and crazier,” said Ivanisevic. “I was also a little bit crazy [as a player]. I understand how he feels. I understand the emotions.

“I told him, ‘You can tell me whatever you want, but you have to win, otherwise you have a problem.’”

That problem never looked likely to materialise against Tsitsipas. Not once Djokovic had safely negotiated a set point against his serve at 4-5 in the second set. The Greek insisted otherwise, but he may yet come to be haunted by that moment, just as Daniil Medvedev has been tortured by memories of Nadal’s comeback from two sets to love down in last year’s final. Gifted an opportunity to level the contest as Djokovic bowled in a short second serve at 80mph, Tsitsipas instead became embroiled in a 15-shot rally, apparently content to bide his time for a mistake that never came. Predictably, the exchange ended with Djokovic spearing a forehand winner. An opening that had been one hour and 25 minutes in the making – the length of time it took Tsitsipas to fashion a first break point – had been snuffed out in an instant.

“Novak is a player that pushes you to your limits,” said Tsitsipas, 24 years old and seeded third. “I don’t see this as a curse. I don’t see this as something, like, annoying. This is very good for the sport, to have competitors like him, to have champions like him. He’s very important for us that want to get to his point one day. Getting our asses kicked is for sure a very good lesson every single time.”

The greater adversity for Djokovic lay in the absence of his father, Srdjan, who chose to stay away for a second match in succession following the furore that broke out after he was captured on camera posing with supporters of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, in midweek. Djokovic conceded after his uneven semi-final victory over Tommy Paul that the controversy had affected him, but the extent of his turmoil only became fully apparent when he dissolved into tears after clambering up to his box in the aftermath of victory. 

It was a rare and fulsome display of emotion from the Serb, who embraced his mother Dijana and brother Djordje, along with Ivanisevic and the rest of his support team, before slumping to the floor on his back. With a towel covering his face, he remained overwhelmed long after returning to his courtside chair.

“When I went into my box, I just think emotionally I collapsed there,” said Djokovic. “[I] teared up, especially with my mother and my brother, when I gave them a hug, because up to that moment I was not allowing myself to be distracted with things off the court, or whatever was happening in dealing with an injury.

“That could easily have been a big disturbance to my focus, to my game. It required an enormous mental energy really to stay present, to stay focused, to take things day by day, and really see how far I can go.

“[It] was a huge relief and release of the emotions in the end.

“[My father and I] agreed it would probably be better that he is not there. That hurts me and him a lot, because these are very special, unique moments. Who knows if they repeat again.”

The ruthless efficiency with which Djokovic set about dismantling the challenge of the world’s third best player – a career-high ranking to which Tsitsipas will return on Monday – suggests repeats will be plentiful. He neutralised Tsitsipas’s serve, the bedrock of the Greek’s game, with the quality and consistency of his returns, while dominating behind his own delivery. He drew Tsitsipas into extended baseline exchanges, where he was able to exploit the relative weakness of his opponent’s backhand with his superior precision and depth, and made 20 fewer unforced errors. The strapping the Serb wore on his thigh earlier in the fortnight offered a rare reminder of his sporting mortality, but his performance against a man 11 years his junior spoke only of his enduring indomitability.

“I still have lots of motivation,” said Djokovic. “Let’s see how far it takes me. I really don’t want to stop here. I don’t have [any] intention to stop here. I feel great about my tennis. I know that when I’m feeling good physically, mentally present, I have a chance to win any slam against anybody.”

Roland Garros promises to be interesting.

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Some two and a half hours later, after sending a 102mph second serve long on her first championship point, Sabalenka came up with a yet more telling response to a double fault, holding firm and holding serve to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 fightback against Elena Rybakina and win the Australian Open.

In those two moments, the Belarusian offered a perfect vignette of the extraordinary mental strength that, at the age of 24, has earned her a first grand slam title and returned her to No 2 in the world. This time last year, Sabalenka couldn’t buy a second serve, racking up 39 doubles faults in two matches in Adelaide, and a further 56 in four rounds at Melbourne Park. But the self-proclaimed Queen of Double Faults has officially abdicated, helped on her way by a biomechanics specialist who helped her to remodel her serve, by a team who never stopped believing in her, but above all by a strength of will that knows no bounds. 

“I was like, ‘Well, it’s going to be fun after the double fault,’” smiled Sabalenka as she reflected on the final game. 

“Of course, I was a little bit nervous. I kept telling myself, ‘Nobody tells you that it’s going to be easy, you just have to work for it, work for it till the last point.’ [That] was a tough game. I’m super happy that I was able to handle all those emotions and win.”

Sabalenka has always gone about the business of winning tennis matches in her own inimitable way. The problem, for a player who had lost three of her four previous grand slam semi-finals, was harnessing her withering power and unyielding commitment to attack sufficiently to win seven matches in a row. Over the course of an Australian summer that began with victory in Adelaide and saw her drop just one set in 11 matches, Sabalenka has finally effected a perfect marriage of clarity and conviction. She has tamed her combustible nature – “less negative emotions,” as she put it after her semi-final win over Poland’s Magda Linette – and discovered how to deploy her extraordinary firepower with greater purpose.

“I learned that I have to be a little bit calmer on court and I don’t have to rush things,” said Sabalenka. “I just have to play my game, be calm, and believe in myself, that I can actually get it. I think during these two weeks I really was super calm on court, and I really believed in myself a lot, that my game will give me a lot of opportunities in each game to win this title.”

In an absorbing contest between two of the finest servers in the women’s game, it was Rybakina, the reigning Wimbledon champion, who drew first blood, her deep, powerful returns ramping up the pressure on her opponent’s second serve as she secured an early break. Like Sabalenka, the 23-year-old has been in outstanding form over the fortnight, defeating a trio of grand slam champions in Iga Swiatek, Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka, and she was the more assured player here initially, serving with greater consistency and manoeuvring her opponent into the corners during the baseline exchanges. Sabalenka manufactured a break of her own in the eighth game, but a pair of double faults promptly cost the Belarusian her delivery for a second time, and Rybakina served out the set emphatically.   

If it took Sabalenka time to find her range, the wait was worthwhile. As she began to work the rallies, targeting Rybakina’s less reliable forehand side and hitting with increased depth and potency, the momentum began to shift. Sabalenka broke in the fourth game and then consolidated her advantage under pressure. For the first time, the normally impassive Rybakina began to show signs of frustration, even shaping to slam her racket into the ground at one point. Rybakina remained defiant, repeatedly fighting off break points, but Sabalenka was not to be denied, levelling the match with back-to-back aces. 

The pair matched each other step for step down the stretch, the ball-striking immense, the quality from both frequently breath-taking. Sabalenka finally made the decisive breakthrough in the seventh game, almost knocking Rybakina off her feet with a huge backhand return and then prudently allowing a defensive lob to bounce before slotting it away. Sabalenka would finish with a remarkable 51 winners to just 28 unforced errors.

“Aryna raised her level in the second set,” said Rybakina, who will become a top-10 player for the first time on Monday. “She played really well, aggressive, a bit less mistakes. I should have been also more aggressive in some moments.  

“I had some chances, for sure, to turn it around. But she played really well today. She was strong mentally, physically.”

As Rybakina sent one final forehand sailing beyond the baseline, Sabalenka slumped to the floor and laid weeping. In that moment, it was hard not to recall Rybakina’s markedly more sober reaction to her Wimbledon victory. They may have similar characteristics as players, but as characters Sabalenka and Rybakina could not be more different. The pair nonetheless shared a warm embrace before Sabalenka headed to her box, where the tears continued. 

In heart-warming scenes, Sabalenka’s coach, Anton Dubrov, remained overcome with emotion for some time afterwards, perhaps affording another contrast following some of the negative criticism levelled at Rybakina’s coach, Stefano Vukov, in recent days. Sabalenka becomes the first neutral grand slam champion, with no country or flag associated with her victory in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but she was less interested in that afterwards than in conveying her thanks to her team in her winners’ speech.

“We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs the last year,” said the champion. “We worked so hard. You guys deserve this trophy, it’s more about you than me.”

It could never quite be that, of course. Not from a player who dispensed with the services of her psychologist in the off-season because she felt she needed to fix her own problems. Now that she has solved the conundrum of how to win a grand slam, Sabalenka will take some stopping. 

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Djokovic, who committed an eyebrow-raising 39 unforced errors, admitted afterwards that he was “not pleased” about the furore, which comes at an unwelcome moment as he bears down on a 22nd grand slam title. Srdjan did not attend the match, electing to watch from his hotel room after footage emerged of him posing with Putin sympathisers following his son’s quarter-final win over Andrey Rublev. One of the men wore a T-shirt bearing the letter “Z”, a pro-war symbol that has been adopted by supporters of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Djokovic senior said in a statement released on Friday that he had not intended to create “headlines or disruption” and had inadvertently become caught up among demonstrators as he sought to join Serbian fans gathered outside Rod Laver Arena. But the pictures caused an international incident, with Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia calling for Srdjan to be stripped of his accreditation, and Tennis Australia was moved to release a statement of its own underlining its support for “peace and an end to war and violent conflict in Ukraine”.

“It has got to me,” admitted Djokovic after booking his place in Sunday’s final against Stefanos Tsitsipas. “I was not aware of it till last night. Then, of course, I was not pleased to see that.

“My father, my whole family, and myself, have been through several wars during the 90s. 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.”

Even as he won five of the first six games, there was a palpable unease about Djokovic. By the time he steered a regulation forehand into the net to miss a set point at 5-1, he had racked up an unthinkable 16 unforced errors. For context, that is only five fewer than he committed over the entire duration of his victories over Roberto Carballés Baena and Andrey Rublev earlier in the tournament.

Even more inexplicably, Djokovic then became embroiled in a contretemps with the chair umpire, Damien Dumusois, over the use of the shot-clock, which he argued should not have started until he had finished towelling off. The exchange triggered a run of four straight games for Paul, an unseeded American ranked 35th and appearing in his first grand slam semi-final, and although Djokovic recovered to take the set, he was booed as he went to his chair. With characteristic belligerence, he was having none of it, inviting the crowd to intensify their taunting before pointing to the vociferous pocket of Serbian supporters and waving a fist to the rhythm of their chants as they chorused his name.

It was another testy moment in a tournament that has been full of them for Djokovic. But he tends to thrive on conflict, and so it was again as he raised his level to sweep through the next two sets. Djokovic said afterwards that his father had been unwittingly “misused”, and expressed hope that he would return to his box for Sunday’s final, where the winner will not only claim the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup but also relieve the absent Carlos Alcaraz of the No 1 ranking.

“My father, as he said in the statement, has been going after every single match to meet with my fans at the main square here [at the] Australian Open, to thank them for the support, to be with them, pay them respect, and make photos,” said Djokovic, who appears less limited by the hamstring injury that afflicted him earlier in the fortnight. 

“The photo that he made, he was passing through. I heard what he said in the video. He said, ‘Cheers.’ Unfortunately, some of the media has interpreted that.  

“I’m sorry that that has escalated so much. But I hope people understand that there was absolutely no intention whatsoever to support any kind of war initiatives or anything like that. My father, as I said, was passing through. There was a lot of Serbian flags around. That’s what he thought. He thought he was making [a] photo with somebody from Serbia. That’s it. He moved on.  

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

Such focus will be needful against Tsitsipas, who continued his impressive progress at his “home slam” with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 win over Russia’s Karen Khachanov. The Greek third seed looked poised for a straight-sets victory when he twice held match point in the third set, but Khachanov held firm to extend the contest. At that point Tsitsipas – ever a faithful adherent to the view that, when the going gets tough, the tough head off for a bathroom break – made recourse to a well-rehearsed routine for dealing with such situations. Duly refreshed, he returned to see out the victory, his first in four attempts at this stage of the tournament.

It sets up a repeat of the 2021 French Open final, which Tsitsipas led by two sets to love before Djokovic cantered to victory. In a brazen-faced act of psychological one-upmanship, Djokovic professed not to remember the match when the subject was raised earlier this week. “I don’t remember either,” Tsitsipas deadpanned. 

“I’m playing great tennis,” said Tsitsipas. “I’m enjoying myself. I just see no downside or negativity in what I’m trying to do out there. Even if it doesn’t work, I’m very optimistic and positive about any outcome, any opponent that I have to face. This is something that has been sort of lacking in my game. I genuinely believe in what I’m able to produce. That is more than enough.”

Whether it is, we shall see on Sunday.

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A case in point came with the Belarusian fifth seed serving against Poland’s Magdalena Linette for a place in the Australian Open final. She had already missed three match points in the previous game and, as she snatched impatiently at a backhand and the ball clipped the net tape, falling just short of the scampering Linette’s outstretched racket, Sabalenka’s anxiety was clear. Moments later, she delivered her first double fault of the set.

The serving difficulties the 24-year-old experienced last year are well documented. So too is the remedial work she did with Gavin MacMillan, a biomechanics expert who helped her to remodel her service motion. What is less often talked about is the mental strength that enabled Sabalenka to compete for most of last season without the cornerstone of her game. It says something when a player can hit 428 double faults in a year but still make finals in Stuttgart and Rosmalen, advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open, and end the campaign in surging style by reaching the US Open semi-finals and the title round at the WTA Finals.

Against Linette, Sabalenka showed her steel again, finding four first serves – including a 116mph ace – to seal a 7-6, (7-1), 6-2 victory that sees her advance to a first grand slam final. There, she will face Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion, who claimed a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka. Already, it is being billed as a battle of power against power. 

In some ways it will be exactly that, given the obvious stylistic similarities between the two big-serving, big-hitting women. Yet the slower conditions at this year’s tournament, where there have been complaints about the balls rapidly losing pressure and fluffing up, suggest brute force will not be the only factor. The greater emotional control to which Sabalenka has attributed her recent good form has been mirrored in her shot-making, with the Belarusian frequently favouring placement and spin over pure velocity. No doubt there has also been an element of tailoring her game to the conditions, a necessity Rybakina acknowledged as she looked ahead to the final.   

“Maybe I will not have to serve that big, that fast, so it doesn’t really matter the speed,” said Rybakina, who defeated top seed Iga Swiatek in the last 16. “It’s important to have a good placement on the serve. In these conditions, to serve full, full power, it’s not easy. The ball is not really going.  

“Same on the baseline. Just to play more deeper and do the same thing, try to come forward, just to expect maybe longer rallies than usual.”

It would be wrong to imagine that similar thoughts have not occurred to Sabalenka. Yet it is easy to see her simply as a human wrecking ball. A title winner in Adelaide before the Australian Open, she has now won 10 matches in a row without dropping a set. She has been striking her forehand with such venom that, as the former Australian player Casey Dellacqua informed her after her semi-final victory, her average ball speed (approximately 86mph) is comparable to the leading men. She certainly had too much force for Linette, whose defensive skills and ability to absorb and redirect the power coming at her only lasted until the first-set tiebreak, at which point Sabalenka stepped on the pedal and left the Pole for dust.

Yet the true measure of Sabalenka’s strength is not the weaponry at her disposal, or the speed at which she deploys it, but the mental steel that allows her to approach the game as she does in the first place. The Belarusian has often been criticised for lacking a fallback strategy, a plan B for those days when more is required than simply trying to rip the cover off the ball. Less attention is paid to the courage and self-belief that allows her to smoke every ball from start to finish. Like Caroline Garcia, another specialist in all-out attack, Sabalenka has a game style that requires a deep reservoir of conviction. 

It says something too that Sabalenka, channelling a newfound calmness, has been able to put the loss of her three previous grand slam semi-finals behind her. Only Gabriela Sabatini, Zina Garrison, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati have shown comparable resilience in the open era. Having made her first final, however, Sabalenka is not done yet. She wants more, as her measured reaction to beating Linette indicated.

“There is still one more match to go,” she said. “It’s good that I broke through in the semi-finals, but there is one more match to go. I just want to stay focused.”

With power not the be all and end all, the mental battle will be intriguing. Having finally broken her semi-final duck, will Sabalenka approach the match with a newfound sense of liberation? Or will the experience Rybakina gained at the All England Club last summer, the knowledge of how to navigate a grand slam final, prove decisive? It certainly served the Kazakh well as she fought back from a break down against Azarenka to seal a straight-sets win.

“For me, this time I would say it was a bit easier compared to Wimbledon, when I was playing for the first time quarters, semis, final,” said the 23-year-old, who frequently struggled on serve against Azarenka. “I knew that I have to focus on every point. I think in the end I did really well.”

Rybakina, seeded 22nd, did not earn ranking points for her Wimbledon victory because of the WTA’s decision to strip the tournament of points in response to its ban on Russian and Belarusian players. Come what may on Saturday, she will finally move into the top 10 for the first time next week, a ranking more commensurate with her ability. It should spell an end to her days of being relegated to the backwaters of the outside courts.

As for Sabalenka, she says she will prepare as normal for the biggest match of her career.

“I’m not going to do something extra,” she said. “I think it’s okay to feel a little bit nervous. It’s a big tournament, big final. If you’re going to start trying to do something about that, it’s going to become bigger, you know?”

Sabalenka has done more than most to show she can take a challenge in her stride.

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“The media are publicly lynching me,” Djokovic told Serbian reporters last week after Eurosport published a social media post wrongly suggesting he had left the court without the umpire’s permission during his match against Enzo Couacaud. 

The 35-year-old has been similarly disgruntled by suggestions that he may be exaggerating the extent of a hamstring problem. 

“When other players are injured, they are the victims,” Djokovic told the Serbian press. “When it is me, I am faking it.” 

Djokovic was reportedly involved in a locker room bust-up over the issue with a member of another player’s team, and has also stated that he has “no relationship” with Alex De Minaur, whom he obliterated in the last 16, after the Australian criticised the “circus” surrounding his deportation last year.

Even Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanisevic, has not escaped his employer’s wrath. As Djokovic went about dismantling Andrey Rublev, the Russian fifth seed, he aimed a verbal volley of alarming intensity at Ivanisevic, who looked utterly nonplussed – understandably, given that the Serb had just won the opening set at a canter and was on serve early in the second. 

Yet it would be wrong to suggest that all is not well in the world of Djokovic as he draws closer to the 22nd grand slam title that would draw him level with Rafael Nadal. On the contrary. He was a title winner in Adelaide before the tournament. He has spoken heart-warmingly of his two young children, Stefan and Tara, and led a round of applause for Roger Federer – as well as a chorus of “Happy birthday” for his mother, Dijana – in his on-court interviews. And far from refusing to speak to Eurosport, as he had threatened, he not only chatted with Barbara Schett after his latest win but also presented her with a bunch of flowers. Talk about brickbats and bouquets. 

Above all, injury or no injury, Djokovic is looking frighteningly good. After a dominant 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Rublev, he will face the unseeded Tommy Paul, who sealed a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over fellow American Ben Shelton, in the last four. It is the ninth time he has reached that stage in Melbourne, and we know what normally happens next.

So why the discontent? Clearly there is frustration over his physical condition. While many would concur with De Minaur’s assessment – “It looked good to me,” said the Aussie after a solid performance earned him a meagre five games – it should also be remembered that Djokovic is scrupulously attentive to his physical wellbeing, with the significance of any niggle or discomfort magnified accordingly. There is also, quite clearly, a burning desire to rectify the perceived wrongs of last year, one that will not be sated until he once again has the Norman Brooks Challenge Cup in his grasp. 

Above all, though, Djokovic thrives on friction. He is never better than when cornered or criticised, never more effective than when he feels the world is against him and he has something to prove. His tearful reaction to the support he received in the 2021 US Open final against Daniil Medvedev, when his resistance seemed to fade in direct proportion to the wave of affection that rolled down from the stands as he fell agonisingly short of a calendar-year grand slam, is the exception that proves the rule. Call it creative tension, call it a naturally belligerent nature or just sheer bloody-mindedness, but Djokovic needs something to work against.

Rublev provided little of that. Having shown his hand when he remarked after his epic victory over Holger Rune that he would rather be in any part of the draw than face Djokovic, it took all of four games for the moment of crisis to arrive. That was as long as Djokovic needed to impose his will, for Rublev to wilt under the suffocating pressure, for the Russian’s hopes of reaching a first grand slam semi-final at the seventh attempt to go up in smoke.

Having survived a break point in his opening service game after leading 40-15, Rublev was unable to perform an encore when an identical situation arose in the next one. The 25-year-old overcooked a second serve to fall 3-1 behind, and it was all over bar the shouting. Of which there was plenty, as it turned out. From Rublev, tortured by his inability to make any impression on a player ranked just one place above him but playing tennis from another dimension. From Djokovic, who raged against Ivanisevic, and then at the swirling wind on Rod Laver Arena, in the absence of any meaningful challenge from the other side of the net. From the inevitable heckler who laboured fruitlessly to disrupt Djokovic in the early stages.

In the end, though, the biggest noise came from the jubilant contingent of Serbian fans that gathered outside Rod Laver Arena in the aftermath of Djokovic’s victory, just as they have done following each of his matches. It would be no surprise to see those celebrations repeated in four days’ time.  

“With this kind of game, of course the confidence level rises,” said Djokovic. “I feel good on the court, better and better as the tournament progresses. I’ve been in this situation so many times in my life, in my career, never lost a semi-final in the Australian Open.”

He doesn’t do too badly in finals, either. The smart money says Djokovic will be all out of complaints come Sunday night. 

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Funny thing, though: Linette feels like she’s done it all before. The big crowds. The show courts. The star opponents. That’s probably because she has.

Linette, a 30-year-old Pole currently ranked 45th in the world but about to climb a lot higher, has faced Serena Williams in the cavernous environs of the US Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium and Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon. From Tianjin to Stanford, she’s played some of the biggest names in the sport’s recent history: Maria Sharapova, Naomi Osaka, Garbiñe Muguruza, Venus Williams, the list goes on. 

The difference now? She’s winning. Sure, Linette has had some big victories before, most notably at Roland Garros, where she felled Ons Jabeur on Court Philippe-Chatrier last summer, a year after accounting for an injured Ashleigh Barty on the same court. But now, for the first time, the successes are coming thick and fast. 

Linette followed up her impressive fourth-round win over Caroline Garcia, the fourth seed and WTA Finals champion, with another outstanding performance, dispatching former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 7-5. In the semi-finals, she will meet Aryna Sabalenka, the fifth seed, who ran out a 6-3, 6-2 winner against Croatia’s Donna Vekic. It is more than Linette ever expected, but familiarity with the big stage has enabled the Pole, filling the void left by her compatriot Iga Swiatek’s absence, to take things in her stride.

“I had so much experience on those big courts before, because almost every grand slam I ended up on a big court one way or another,” said Linette, who has beaten four seeded players in Melbourne. “I played so many big players already. It’s just nothing really new for me. Just another match. 

“Of course, it’s way more far in the draw. But still, it kind of feels the same. Because I played Karolina in the first round already twice at the US Open, so it feels quite normal.”

It is all a far cry from two years ago, when Linette’s knee gave way on the eve of the tournament, forcing her to withdraw. The longstanding problem would eventually require surgery, but from that nadir came fresh perspective and a newfound composure.  

“It was honestly the most painful experience of my life,” said Linette. “Nobody could diagnose me for almost 11 weeks, so I was out for a total of five months. It was something really basic. At the end of the day, I had meniscus surgery. 

“It definitely changed a lot for me. I became a little bit calmer. I changed a lot in my life and made some tough decisions, and I think I’m getting rewarded for it now.”

Linette was helped on her way by an erratic performance from Pliskova, whose 36 unforced errors including two consecutive double faults in the penultimate game. The Czech, who had won seven of the previous nine meetings between the pair but lost the two most recent, suggested Linette’s consistency had been a decisive factor.     

“I hit some really good serves, then she still like puts many balls back,” said Pliskova. “That’s the pressure where you want to go for more and then you miss. I think she really made it difficult for me, not missing many balls, not giving anything for free, any mistakes. I just didn’t play a great match.”

Sabalenka has yet to lose a set since she arrived in Australia, but she was forced to navigate a testing passage midway through the opener as Vekic recovered from an early break before threatening to edge ahead.

“There were a lot of tough moments,” said Sabalenka. “I just kept saying, ‘Just stay in the game, fight for it, don’t give her easy points, make her work for it.’

“That’s how I was able to get out from those situations.”

 The auspices are encouraging for Sabalenka as she contemplates a fourth tilt at a grand slam final, having previously been thwarted in the last four at Wimbledon and, twice, at the US Open. She has won both her previous matches against Linette, including an emphatic victory at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, but she will be taking nothing for granted.

“It’s going to be a great test for me, if I can actually keep myself calm,” said Sabalenka. “In the semi-finals before, I got there with up and downs. [That] didn’t help me at all. 

“So right now it’s going to be a real test for me, if I can keep myself calm like I was keeping myself calm during these past matches.”

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Had he made contact, Tsitsipas would have been instantly disqualified, shattering any hope of avenging his defeat to Djokovic in the 2021 French Open final – a meeting that appeared to slip Djokovic’s mind when he asked reporters on Monday whether the Athenian had ever contested a major final. Absent-mindedness or kidology? If Djokovic was trying to get inside the head of the man most likely to be standing between him and a 22nd grand slam title on Sunday, you could hardly blame him. 

Tsitsipas has been on fire at this Australian Open. He has served with unprecedented venom and consistency. He has dominated opponents from the baseline with his mighty forehands and lithe movement. Above all, he has performed with renewed freedom and intensity while revealing a more relaxed and fun persona off it, currying favour with the locals in his on-court interviews. Which is why, after nine days in which big names have fallen like dominoes, it would have been a huge blow for the tournament had the Greek been given his marching orders.

It is a measure of how badly Tsistsipas craves this title that he let fly at the ball as it bounced off the backstop following a rifled winner from Lehecka. True, he had just dropped a return short off an inviting second serve with the Czech in peril at 15-30, 3-4. But as the scurrying ballboy halted and flinched, it was hard not to wonder what Tsitsipas, bearing down on a semi-final meeting with Karen Khachanov, was thinking. The Greek was three games from victory over Lehecka and has won all five of his previous matches against Khachanov, who earlier advanced after Sebastian Korda was forced to retire with a wrist injury while trailing 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 3-0. Why take the risk?

“I saw the ball kid when the ball came back,” said Tsitsipas. “I’m a professional tennis player. I was not aiming for the ball kid, obviously. I saw the wall, just went back towards the wall. The ball kid, in my eyes, was pretty far away from me. Would have really had to miss to hit that ball kid.”

Djokovic mounted a similar defence following a comparable incident in 2016 – “If I’m not close, I’m not close,” he snapped after firing a ball into the crowd at the ATP Finals – and we all know how that one turned out. Tsitsipas would do well to take note of the consternation of his peers.

“Speaking from experience, you’ve got to be careful when hitting balls around the court,” said Eurosport’s Tim Henman, who was famously defaulted from a doubles match at Wimbledon in 1995 after accidentally hitting a ball girl in similar circumstances.

“Tsitsipas just got really lucky,” agreed Jim Courier, a four-time grand slam champion, in his commentary for Australian TV. “He swings in anger and nearly hits the ball kid. If it does, he is shaking hands as a loser in this match. You cannot do that, you have to be careful. That was dangerous.”

Assuming he can remain dangerous for the right reasons, Tsitsipas will start as a clear favourite against Khachanov, who will be contesting his second grand slam semi-final in succession following his outstanding run at the US Open last September. 

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In a spellbinding performance against Jessica Pegula, the nominal title favourite at Melbourne Park, Azarenka offered a reminder of her enduring quality, dismissing the American third seed 6-4, 6-1 in an hour and 37 minutes. The contest was as full of long, punishing exchanges as its duration suggests, the surprise being that it was almost invariably Azarenka who came out on top of them.  

Taking the ball early and directing it with power, length and accuracy, the Belarusian played Pegula at her own game. She leavened the mix with occasional slices and looped balls to disrupt the American’s rhythm, and returned with a venom and consistency that earned her 13 opportunities to break, five of which she converted. Combined with some sharp play in the forecourt, it was an irresistible formula.

“I knew I had to play fast, I had to not give her opportunity to step in, I had to mix it up,” said Azarenka. “There’s nobody better than Jess, she just doesn’t miss. I felt like I did some interesting slices. You know what, I was like, ‘You’re doing the right thing. Even if it looks like crap, it’s fine, it’s the right way to do it.’”

Pegula arrived at Melbourne Park on a high after a series of outstanding performances at the United Cup, not least a straight-sets demolition of Iga Swiatek, who has regularly tormented her in the latter stages of big events. When the Polish world No 1 suffered a fourth-round defeat to Elena Rybakina, joining second seed Ons Jabeur on the sidelines, Pegula became the de facto favourite. Yet despite making seamless progress to the last eight, dispatching four opponents in straight sets including former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, the 28-year-old never really embraced that status. 

When it was pointed out to Pegula that she was the highest seed remaining, she simply replied that she was the only quarter-finalist in the top half not to have won a slam. It was not exactly fighting talk, and facing a mirror image of herself will hardly have allayed her sense of unease.

“She was just executing it, I feel, pretty well tonight – hitting the ball deep, taking it early, changing the direction on the ball, doing things that I usually like to do to people,” said Pegula. 

“She always returns well, and when she doesn’t have too many ups and downs on her serve, that can really make her dangerous. She was scrambling well tonight, getting a lot of really good depth on her shots. Just made it tough for me to feel like I could really pressure her. I felt like she was pressuring me constantly, the whole time.”

For Azarenka, the journey back to this point has been long. She was a finalist at the US Open in 2020, but it is 10 years since she last reached the semi-finals in Melbourne, and her memories of that occasion are not good. Although she completed a straight-sets win over Sloane Stephens, her victory was eclipsed by accusations of gamesmanship after she left the court for a medical timeout with Stephens about to serve to stay in the match. In the aftermath, Azarenka was accused of feigning injury. 

Novak Djokovic has been the subject of similar speculation in recent days, with doubts in some quarters about the severity of a hamstring injury that has prompted him to take medical timeouts in two of his four matches. Djokovic has expressed his frustration to reporters from his native Serbia, and Azarenka said she could relate to his feelings.

“It was one of the worst things that I’ve ever gone through in my professional career, the way I was treated after that moment, the way I had to explain myself until 10.30 at night because people didn’t want to believe me,” said Azarenka, who added that it has taken her until now to get over the episode. 

“I actually can resonate what Novak said the other day. There is incredible desire for a villain and a hero story that has to be written. But we’re not villains, we’re not heroes, we are regular human beings that go through so many, many things.  

“Assumptions and judgments, all those comments, are just shit, because nobody’s there to see the full story. It didn’t matter how many times I said my story, it did not cut through.”

A decade on, it is Azarenka’s tennis that is doing the talking. She will face Rybakina, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, for a place in the final.

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Djokovic has likened the hamstring injury with which he has been contending at the Australian Open to a rollercoaster, one that starts smoothly, dips suddenly and unexpectedly, then proceeds in peaks and troughs according to how long the painkillers last. Yet it is hardly the first grand slam puzzle he has faced, and the Serb has alighted on a simple but characteristically efficient solution: prolong the trouble-free period for as long as possible.

Against Alex De Minaur, the Australian 22nd seed, that entailed taking the ball on the rise, abbreviating the points with powerful and precise ball-striking, and serving with regal authority to claim an emphatic victory in a shade over two hours. It was barely enough time for Djokovic’s hamstring even to register that he was in a fight – although to call it such would be a stretch.

This was a statement performance from the nine-time champion, who showed no sign of injury beyond the heavy strapping on his left leg as he sealed a 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 win to move into his 54th grand slam quarter-final.

“Definitely the best tennis I’ve played this year, this tournament, so far this season,” said Djokovic, who has received exhaustive treatment on his hamstring. “I’m really glad to manage to win the way I did tonight, to feel really great in terms of mobility and movement of my leg.

“I didn’t feel any pain. I moved as well as I have the whole tournament. It means we are progressing in the right direction. 

“A week ago, I didn’t really think about the title, I just thought about being in a good enough condition to play the next match. Tonight, the way I played, the way I felt, gives me reason now to believe that I can go all the way.”

It was hard to disagree with that assessment. Djokovic remains the clear title favourite and Andrey Rublev, the fifth seed, no doubt spoke for most of his peers when he said during an on-court interview: “No one wants to face Novak. I prefer to be in any other part of the draw, but not Novak.” 

Much to his mortification, Rublev was then reminded that Djokovic, who had not yet played, would later face an Aussie. “Sorry, sorry,” he replied, much to the amusement of the locals. Given that he will meet Djokovic next, the joke may yet be on the apologetic Russian.

For his part, De Minaur had little enough to laugh about. Yet, willed on by a raucous home crowd – sections of which once again tried to heckle and harass Djokovic – the 23-year-old hardly played badly. A model of focus and professionalism from the first ball to the last, he never stopped fighting, doggedly disregarding the scoreline and even willingly extending the agony as he saved a match point in the penultimate game. 

It was all to no avail. De Minaur is a fine player, as he demonstrated with his recent United Cup win over Rafael Nadal, but his greatest asset is his speed – and even that was of little benefit on a night when he was repeatedly rushed by the velocity and accuracy of Djokovic’s groundstrokes. With the former world No 1 in imperious mood, the absence of a big shot fatally undermined the Australian’s challenge. De Minaur’s tally of just nine winners to his opponent’s 26 told its own story. 

“I think what I experienced today was probably Novak very close to his best,” said De Minaur. “To me, if that’s the level, I think he’s definitely the guy that’s going to take the title.

“You tell me how you thought he looked out there. Playing him, I thought he was moving pretty well. 

“Everyone’s seen what’s been happening over the couple weeks. It’s the only thing everyone’s been talking about. Today I was out there on court against him. Either I’m not a good enough tennis player to expose that, or… it looked good to me. 

Asked afterwards by Jim Courier how he had been able to win so convincingly, Djokovic offered an ominous reply. 

“Because I wanted to,” he intoned impassively, as though he were tennis’s answer to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. “I cannot say I’m sorry that you haven’t watched a longer match. I really wanted to win in straight sets.”

Rublev doubtless felt the same. The Russian was instead forced to toil long and hard by Denmark’s Holger Rune, saving two match points as he clawed his way back from 5-2 down in the fifth set and 5-0 down in the climactic tiebreak before finally prevailing 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (11-9) – via a net cord winner on match point.

“It’s probably the luckiest moment of my life,” said Rublev. “Now I can go to the casino. If I put [money on], for sure I’m going to win.”

Ben Shelton came through a battle of former US college players, the 20-year-old world No 89 edging a 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 decision against JJ Wolf. Shelton, playing only his second grand slam and competing outside the US for the first time, will play another American in the last eight after Tommy Paul defeated Roberto Bautista Agut, the Spanish 24th seed, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Neither man has previously contested a major quarter-final.

“It’s every person’s dream when they start playing tennis to play the big matches at the slams,” said the unseeded Paul, aged 25 and ranked 35th. “I’m really excited to get out there on Wednesday. We know there’s going to be an American in the semis, so I’m really excited about that, too.”

For Djokovic, meanwhile, it is too early to think about excitement. We know what he has come for, and it is not a place in the last eight. He is the only grand slam champion remaining in the draw, and a 10th title at Melbourne Park would haul him level with Nadal on 22 majors. With his injury concerns dissipating, for the time being at least, the gateway to glory is ajar. No one knows better how to prise it open.

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Good enough to defeat Ons Jabeur at the French Open last year, good enough to make the third round of all four majors and reach a career-high ranking of 33, her ability was never in doubt. Yet Linette, the Polish world No 45, was never quite able to take the next step, top-30 status eluding her as stubbornly as a place in the second week of a grand slam.

All that has changed at the Australian Open, where Linette pulled off a stunning 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 victory over Caroline Garcia, the fourth seed and WTA Finals champion, to claim a place in the quarter-finals. No one would have predicted she would be the last Pole standing, but defeats for her United Cup team-mates Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz have left the 30-year-old as the lone standard bearer for her country, and how she has earned it. 

“I’ve been in third rounds so many times that I knew I’m capable,” said Linette. “I think it was more frustrating than that I would wonder or worry about it.”

There was certainly plenty of frustration for Garcia, who led by a double break early in the opening set and later served for it. When the Frenchwoman is in full flight, her unflinching commitment to attack is thrilling to behold. But Garcia can also be her own worst enemy and, on a day when she sprayed 33 unforced errors, her refusal to entertain a Plan B was glaring.

“She played a great match, and obviously I made some mistakes, and that hurt,” said Garcia, who capped a resurgent summer last year by making her first grand slam semi-final at the US Open. 

“I need a little time. It’s a very fresh loss. It’s always hurting and always tough to go through.”

Take nothing away from Linette, though, who showed tremendous fortitude to absorb the early punishment meted out by Garcia and work her way back into the contest. The Pole is an outstanding athlete and a fine ball-striker, particularly off her preferred backhand wing, from which she produced some stunning winners. Yet it was her equilibrium in the face of Garcia’s aggressive, early returns and incessant net-rushing that set the pair apart down the home straight. 

As the Frenchwoman raged at her lack of consistency, swatting the court with her racket as her forehand flew long and her first serve stats dropped to a meagre 44%, Linette was a study in composure. It is an area she has been working hard on since last summer, and she has reaped the dividends in Australia, earning fine wins over Jil Teichmann and Lucia Bronzetti at the United Cup and beating a trio of seeds in Melbourne, where she has also accounted for Anett Kontaveit and Ekaterina Alexandrova.

“We worked a lot [on] my emotional management,” said Linette, who will Karolina Pliskova, a 6-0, 6-4 winner over China’s Shuai Zhang, in the last eight. “Dealing with losses, but not necessarily match losses, just [mid-match] losses, small mistakes here and there. I think I’ve never really deal with them very well. They carried over later on for next point, then another one. It was taking me just too long to get over them. 

“This approach of really trying to look [at things] a little bit differently, grow up a little bit emotionally, was a big thing.”

Another player who has been doing things differently is Aryna Sabalenka, the fifth seed, who remains unbeaten in 2023 after firing 32 winners as she came through 7-5, 6-2 against Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic. 

“I’m just trying to stay calm on court and just wait for the opportunities,” said Sabalenka.

The Belarusian will face Donna Vekic in the quarter-finals after the Croatian defeated the Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.

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