By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic trampled all over Czech 24th seed Jiri Lehecka to seal a 6-3 6-4 7-6(4) win on Sunday and book a blockbuster clash with Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open quarter-finals before snubbing the Grand Slam’s official broadcaster.
After a couple of tough early tests, Djokovic sharpened his tools in the hunt for a record 25th Grand Slam crown and 11th at Melbourne Park with a mauling of Czech Tomas Machac in the last round and was again at his impressive best against Lehecka.
There were moments of frustration for Djokovic towards the end of the contest and he uncharacteristically declined to do a post-match interview on Rod Laver Arena, drawing boos from a section of the crowd.
“Thank you very much for being here tonight. I appreciate your presence and the support. I’ll see you in the next round. Thank you very much,” Djokovic said curtly on court, before signing a few autographs and heading to the dressing room.
He did a post-match interview with Eurosport and addressed the topic later in his press conference saying that Tony Jones, who works for Channel Nine, had made “insulting and offensive” comments against him during a broadcast.
“A couple days ago the famous sports journalist who works for the official broadcaster, Channel Nine here in Australia, made a mockery of Serbian fans and also made insulting and offensive comments towards me,” Djokovic said.
“And since then, he chose not to issue any public apology. Neither did Channel Nine. Since they’re official broadcasters, I chose not to give interviews for Channel Nine.
“I have nothing against (on-court interviewer) Jim Courier or the Australian public. It was an awkward situation for me to face on the court.
“I leave it to Channel Nine to handle this the way they think they see fit. That’s all.”
During Nine’s broadcast, Jones had mocked Djokovic and his fans who were out in force cheering the Serb.
“Novak he’s over-rated, Novak’s a has-been. Novak kick him out. Oh, I’m glad they can’t hear me,” Jones said.
Reuters has contacted Channel Nine for comment.
On the court, a solitary break in the eighth game was all Djokovic needed to take the opening set, as the 37-year-old looked in total control despite playing well within himself in perfect conditions at a packed centre court.
Seventh seed Djokovic attacked Lehecka’s serve early in the next set and efficiently doubled his advantage in the match, as the 23-year-old Czech was left with a mountain to climb to equal his feat of reaching the quarter-finals two years ago.
A rejuvenated Lehecka recovered after dropping serve again and stayed in the fight to frustrate Djokovic in the third set, but there was only going to be one winner when the Serb went ahead 4-2 in the tiebreak.
With Djokovic’s forehand and serve clicking back into gear, he comfortably closed out the win to equal his now retired rival Roger Federer’s all-time record of 15 appearances in the last-eight stage of the Melbourne Park major.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar and Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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