“Novak’s been a player who has been at the leading edge of analytics for years and years,” said Davenport. “He’s been there with Murray going over this. He’s always going to hire someone who also goes all into the data. I can see these two having a lot of conversations about patterns, where to hit second shots, where to hit particular shots.
“But also, if something didn’t work in the first set, and we’ve got to pivot here, Murray will be pretty good with coming up with that game plan.”
Alcaraz is bidding to become the youngest man to win the Career Grand Slam, having already captured major titles at the US Open (2022), Wimbledon (2023-2024), and Roland Garros (2024), defeating Djokovic in the last two Wimbledon finals to help launch him into the top tier of men’s tennis.
But Djokovic, 16 years older than his 21-year-old rival, is on course to win a 25th major title—and his 11th in Melbourne. The Serb appears invigorated by the Murray partnership, winning his third- and fourth- round matches in straight sets against seeded opposition: No. 26 seed Tomas Machac and No. 24 seed Jiri Lehecka.