When you tune into Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open quarter-final on Tuesday, you’ll be looking at something different – even if it isn’t obvious.
After all, the world No.1 has spent a whole lot of time on Rod Laver Arena. In fact he’s likely to become the greatest player in the history of the venue, at 78-7 – two wins from surpassing Monica Seles’ record 91.89 per cent win rate on Melbourne Park’s centre court.
No, it’s the big Rolex clock on the court’s walls that will show the difference. Because it won’t show a time after tea; it’ll show that Djokovic is playing in the day.
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The Serb’s quarter-final against Taylor Fritz is, remarkably, the first time he has played a match this deep into the Australian Open during the day session in 15 years. The last was back in 2009, when his quarter-final loss to Andy Roddick played third fiddle to Jelena Dokic’s magical run to the last eight, and Roger Federer’s continued bid for a 13th slam title in less than five years.
While Djokovic has often been the featured act at Melbourne Park, dominating the tournament over those 15 years – winning it nine times – it’s still a surprising level of primetime dominance.
After all, he has never been the massive TV ratings draw that Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer were over that same period. (He also would’ve ranked below an Aussie playing in the quarter-finals; but in that period only Nick Kyrgios in 2015 has made it that deep into the tournament, and on that occasion Kyrgios was given the night session over Nadal.)
And so the remarkable run has come in for criticism. Because it just so happens that a night match on RLA perfectly suits Djokovic.
Djokovic demolishes Mannarino in 4th Rd | 01:31
“If I have to choose one court, conditions, balls, it would be night session Rod Laver with these balls,” Djokovic said after the 2023 tournament.
“I mean, for me, (it was) by far the best conditions that I’ve ever played in.”
He added, during his run to the title: “I love the conditions here, particularly in the night sessions,”
“It’s played really well for me, I think, for my style of tennis.
“And I guess the more you win on the court, the more confident you feel every next time you step on the court.
“This is one of the most important stadiums in the world, so this court, this stadium, this crowd, always gets the best out of me.”
But speaking during last year’s tournament, when Djokovic was in the midst of a 15-match streak playing on centre court at night, the Tennis Podcast’s Caroline Whittaker asked: “doesn’t there reach a stage of the tournament where sporting integrity steps in?”
“I still think he’d be in the final if he’d played every match in the day session, I’m just saying it makes a difference. It’s not nothing.
She added: “I don’t think there’s ever been anybody who played all seven matches at night before (at the Australian Open).”
And she was correct – in 2023 Djokovic was the first player to reach the Australian Open semi-finals without playing a day match. On average his match began at 8:04pm – only Roger Federer on three occasions, and Djokovic himself in 2019 and 2021, have averaged a start time after 7pm (and two of those Federer years were impacted by starting after 9pm on multiple occasions).
Her co-host David Law added: “I think they (Australian Open officials) have gone out of their way to make him feel comfortable.”
But back to that “sporting integrity” comment, because that’s what matters here; it’s not really that important whether a TV viewer has to tune in during the day or the evening to watch Djokovic play.
Some players do prefer to play in the day session, especially if it gives them the guarantee of a normal bedtime.
“I like to play first match. You know the time when you enter. You know that you most likely are going to finish a little bit earlier than other players. Obviously you have more time to recover, also,” No.4 seed Jannik Sinner said earlier in the tournament.
“I like to play day session anyway. Maybe night session, the atmosphere sometimes, it’s more spectacular in one way, but also, today the atmosphere was really nice. I love to play on that court, and it’s always good feeling, no, especially when you play a Grand Slam you play in a big court. It’s always nice.”
But given the Australian Open’s tradition for intense heat, many players when given the opportunity to ask for their timeslot will nominate playing at night, especially that prime first-on-centre-court slot which provides a mixture of cooler conditions and a likely finish by 10 or 11pm. (This is the exact slot Djokovic has monopolised.)
Because of that heat, and thanks to the massive investment Tennis Australia has made into the Melbourne Park precinct over the last couple of decades, night sessions have become a larger feature of the tournament. On the opening day in 2024 there were four official night matches and plenty more that dragged into the nighttime, with the help of three roofed stadiums.
That followed the feature matches moving from day to night; the semi-finals first went under lights in 2000, with the first men’s night final played in 2005.
But that changed the way tennis was played down under, too. Roger Federer said in 2014 the night matches had “slowed down conditions drastically over time”. (For what it’s worth, Djokovic has won six of the nine Australian Opens he contested since that comment.)
The conditions, both in terms of weather and thus how the court plays, are different at night. Play slows down, the ball is heavier, and generally things are more predictable.
Heat, and a faster court, favour big servers and powerful hitters. In contrast Djokovic, the greatest defensive player in tennis history, is helped by the cooler temperatures.
It’s no coincidence Djokovic is unbeaten in semi-finals and finals in Melbourne – until 2022, they were always played at night, because the semis took place on separate days. Now they are on the same day, the Friday before the women’s final, meaning one must be played in the day session.
In the last decade Djokovic has lost twice at Melbourne Park; in 2018, to Hyeon Chung, was at night but he was notably impacted by an elbow injury which later required surgery. The other loss, in 2017 to Denis Istomin, was a day match.
If anyone is close enough to Djokovic’s talent level that beating him is possible, perhaps the swing between day and night conditions would prove the difference. Of course, the bigger problem is that he’s just been that much better than everyone else in Melbourne for so long that he could be playing at 4am while his opponent got a full night’s sleep, and you’d still back him.
The match that broke his primetime streak, the fourth-round day-time clash with Adrian Mannarino, played more like a night match anyway because it was raining; and Mannarino was coming off three consecutive five-setters. The Frenchman was no match for Djokovic and the timing of the contest was never going to impact that result.
But could Taylor Fritz, or whoever Djokovic faces in the semi-final if he wins, take advantage of his vampire-like avoidance of the Aussie sun?
Well, there’s a good chance Djokovic faces the aforementioned Jannik Sinner (who prefers the day session) in that semi. And, since the other semi-finalists won’t be known until Wednesday, it would make sense to play a Djokovic-Sinner match earlier and give the other semi (Carlos Alcaraz vs Daniil Medvedev, perhaps) the night slot, even if the first match is better for TV.
Sinner, who beat Djokovic multiple times at the end of last year, is certainly close enough to the world No.1’s talent level that a fresh timeslot could prove the difference.
So… we shall see.
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