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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With his 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 victory, Djokovic earned the 92nd title of his career, drawing him level with Rafael Nadal at fourth on the all-time men’s winners’ list. Only Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer and Ivan Lendl – with 109, 103 and 94 titles respectively – have won more. Djokovic will now head to Melbourne Park, where he has lifted the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup a record nine times, hopeful that he can equal another Nadal landmark by claiming a 22nd grand slam title. 

It is all a far cry from this time last year, when the unvaccinated Serb fell foul of the country’s strict Covid regulations and was sent home. Having arrived in Australia uncertain about what kind of welcome he would receive, Djokovic has been feted in Adelaide. In return, he has embraced both the locals and the locale, insisting that he bears no ill-will over the events of last January.  

It has not all been plain sailing – a bothersome hamstring briefly threatened to overshadow a superb semi-final performance against Daniil Medvedev, while he testily ordered his brother Marko and agent Edoardo Artaldi to leave his box after dropping a tight opening set against Korda – but Djokovic looks to be in fine fettle heading into the first major of the season.

“Five great matches,” said Djokovic, reflecting on his week’s work following his 34th straight win on Australian soil, a run that dates back to early 2019. 

“Tough two tiebreakers against [Quentin] Halys, who is playing very well. Then I had [Denis] Shapovalov, Medvedev and Korda, who is on fire, playing some high-level tennis, striking the ball amazingly. I couldn’t ask for a better preparation and lead-up to the Australian Open.  

“Of course, the Australian Open is the biggest reason I’m here in Australia, but at the same time I want to win every tournament I play, regardless of the level of the tournament. I love playing in Australia. My results are a testament to that. I wouldn’t be able to play so well in a place where I don’t feel well.”

Djokovic did not look in particularly robust health when he took a medical timeout to have treatment on a hamstring injury late in the opening set of his semi-final win over Medvedev. But treatment that went “deep into the night” before the final had the desired effect, with the 35-year-old largely untroubled physically against Korda.

“It was all right,” said Djokovic. “A few times in the match I felt the muscle was tightening up, but nothing that would worry me for my performance.

“I look forward to Melbourne. Rod Laver [Arena] is my most successful court in my career. I love playing there. I look forward to it. I have a week off for recovery now and working on specific things in terms of my game, my body, getting my mind in the right state for the best-of-five and two long weeks hopefully.”

However strongly Djokovic may have pulled up physically, such serenity looked a long way off when Korda, son of former world No 2 and Australian Open champion Petr Korda, converted his seventh set point to take early command of the contest. Bold and imaginative from the baseline, willing and incisive at the net, the 22-year-old American matched Djokovic step for step from the outset and, at 6-5 in the second set, held a match point on the top seed’s serve.

Djokovic confronted the danger head on, working his way to the net behind a backhand approach to draw a lunging defensive lob from Korda. There are worse positions in which to put the Serb on a key point. His overhead is probably the least reliable weapon in his arsenal – although, given that he is one of the most technically rounded players in the sport’s history, that is not saying a great deal – but the Serb backpedalled brilliantly to slot away the opportunity and, having held, he dominated the ensuing tiebreak.

It remained a nip-and-tuck affair down the stretch until, ironically, Korda missed a far simpler overhead to gift Djokovic a match point of his own. As the American glanced skyward in dismay, he must have known what was coming. Sure enough, Djokovic converted at the first time of asking Yet he can only be encouraged by a week that brought wins over Andy Murray, Roberto Bautista Agut and Jannik Sinner before Yoshihito Nishioka retired after falling a set down in the semi-finals. 

“I think it shows me that I definitely have the game to disrupt whoever’s on the other side of the net,” said Korda, who will be assured of a seeding at the Australian Open after rising two places to 31 in the rankings. 

“I take a lot of pride in that. I think going forward, it’s just only going to help me to get these kind of experiences under my belt, even though it hurts.”

In the women’s final, Aryna Sabalenka won her first title since the 2021 Madrid Open, prevailing 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) against the rising Czech star Linda Noskova. Sabalenka, who did not drop a set all week, was forced to draw deeply on her experience and fighting spirit. 

“This young lady is going to play a lot of finals and she’s going to be a top player,” said the Belarusian world No 5. “I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a lot more finals for her, and hopefully for us [both].  She’s playing really great tennis.”  

Novoska, 18, advanced to the final after twice saving match points, first in qualifying and then against Victoria Azarenka, the former world No 1, in the quarter-finals. Over the course of an outstanding week, she also defeated Daria Kasatkina and Ons Jabeur, the top seed, to rise from 102 to 56 in the rankings.

“I think that when I trust myself and my game especially, I can just freely go for it, I can definitely play and actually beat some of the best players in the world right now,” said Novoska. 

“That’s a really great feeling. But I’m obviously going to have to develop my game. There are a lot of blind spots. There’s always things to work on.”

Novoska could do worse than follow the example of fellow 18-year-old Coco Gauff, who stormed to the third title of her career at the ASB Classic in Auckland with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Spanish qualifier Rebeka Masarova. Gauff, whose steady improvement propelled her to the French Open final and a career-high ranking of fourth last year, dropped just 22 games over the course of a dominant week in New Zealand.

“Couldn’t ask for a better start to my season,” said the American. “First title on hard since I was 15. I’m happy to be successful on a surface that I love.”

Djokovic will know how she feels.

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Alcaraz, fresh from his landmark Miami Open victory, said he hoped to make it through to what would be “a great match”. Djokovic, returning to the tour for the first time since February, spoke of how he still felt motivated to “compete with young guys and try to challenge the best players in the world for the biggest titles”. 

But the best laid plans of mice and racket-wielding men often go awry, and a first meeting between Djokovic and the Spanish teenager eventually expected to supplant him as world No 1 is not going to happen. Instead, a day after 22-year-old Alejandro Davidovich Fokina scuppered the anticipated showdown with a three-set upset of Djokovic, Sebastian Korda, 21, offered further evidence that Alcaraz is not the only up-and-coming show in town with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory over the eighth seed. 

Factor in the 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) defeat of sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, 21, by Lorenzo Musetti, the gifted Italian who only turned 20 last month, and the early rounds in the principality have offered encouraging confirmation of the depth of young talent on the men’s side. Just as fears for the post-Ashleigh Barty future of the women’s game were swiftly allayed by Iga Swiatek’s completion of the “sunshine double”, so reports of the death of men’s tennis, once the big three call time on their careers, appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

Korda had lost his only previous meeting with Alcaraz, a straight-sets defeat in the title round of last November’s Next Gen ATP Finals. But on an afternoon when both players struggled to find their range and timing in swirling wind, an early break offered a first hint that things might go differently this time. Korda has proved his mettle on clay, where he won the first title of his career in Parma last year, and here he artfully adapted his attacking game to the demands of the surface.

“I’m very comfortable on the clay,” said Korda, the son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda. 

“I kind of grew up on the clay, the green clay in Florida, a little bit of red clay when we would travel to Prague, Czech Republic. I know how to play on clay, I move pretty well on clay. I’m very comfortable on it. I’d like to think I can play on all surfaces. Definitely my game is [suited to] a faster surface, but I do enjoy playing on clay. I think I can have some good results.”  

For Alcaraz, a player schooled on the surface, it was a sobering afternoon. He spoke afterwards of needing time to make the transition from hard courts, where he has enjoyed unexpected success this year, reaching the semi-finals in Indian Wells before his victory in Miami. Alcaraz’s only previous defeats this year came against Matteo Berrettini and Rafael Nadal, yet he gently rebuffed suggestions that the pressure of expectation might have played a role in his first loss for six months against a player ranked outside the top 10.

“I’m a bit disappointed with myself,” said Alcaraz. “I had a lot of chances to be up in the match and was close to winning, but these losses are sometimes good to live.

“But I didn’t think about the expectation that people have of me. I just focus on me and what I have to do. As I said, you have to play, on clay courts, more matches.”

Having fallen behind, Alcaraz hit back to level at 4-4 and, with Korda faltering on serve, twice served for the set. But the irrepressible Spaniard was denied by a combination of untimely errors and some clutch play from Korda, who went on to dominate the climactic tiebreak as his first serve belatedly clicked into gear. 

While the quality of the contest was variable – the opener alone featured 42 unforced errors, evenly divided between the pair – both men nonetheless showed some fine touches, combining power, finesse and fleetness of foot as they produced a full repertoire of shots and demonstrated exceptional court coverage. 

Alcaraz was again pegged back in the second set, Korda recovering from a 3-0 deficit and later saving three set points. The American’s tenacity continued into the ensuing tiebreak, where he recovered from 4-2 down to level, but Alcaraz held firm to level the contest with a booming forehand winner. When the teenager broke in the opening game of the decider, he looked set fair to continue his winning streak. Korda, though, had other ideas, tempting Alcaraz into an ill-advised jumping backhand to reclaim parity before conjuring some magical forehand passes to move within two games of victory.

A framed forehand cost Alcaraz a seventh break, and Korda stepped up to serve for the match. Seeing out victory has not always been his forte of late – he has failed to close from winning positions against Dusan Lajovic, Cameron Norrie and Nadal in recent weeks – and when he fired a forehand long off a shanked return on match point, Korda looked to his box in disbelief. This time, though, he held his nerve, his delight evident as he sealed victory with an unreturned serve.

“It feels nice,” said Korda, who will face Taylor Fritz, the Indian Wells champion, in round X. “Especially after losing to a Spaniard in Indian Wells having served for it.

“I had to just stay calm and believe in my returning,” Korda said of the vicissitudes of a windswept contest that produced a combined total of 13 breaks and 90 unforced errors.

 “Every time you threw up the ball, it would move around. It was super tough to serve today but I’m super happy with the way I handled myself.

“I don’t know what to say. It was a crazy match.”

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