If you ever forget about Novak Djokovic's greatness, there is always another match where he will make sure that all are reminded.
This time it was in the Australian Open Quarter Final as he came from a set down to beat Carlos Alcaraz and that despite obviously having some kind of injury issue to overcome.
The Spaniard will be hugely disappointed by his own performance, but Novak Djokovic battled as hard as he could to remain hopeful of winning a twenty-fifth Grand Slam at the Australian Open and moving clear of Margaret Court to hold the record all on his own.
You wouldn't put it past him, but the favourite remains Jannik Sinner who has a big Quarter Final on Day 11 at the tournament.
Illness rather than injury forced Sinner to dig deep in his Fourth Round victory over Holger Rune, but he will be hoping to have recovered with a full day of rest.
The two Women's Quarter Finals scheduled for Day 11 look like they have been priced pretty well, but the two Tennis Picks will be from the two Men's matches scheduled and can be read below.
Ben Shelton-Lorenzo Sonego over 41.5 games: Big names and big matches have been played in the Australian Open Quarter Finals on Tuesday and Wednesday, but there are also some surprising players making their way into the last eight.
The Second Quarter of the Men's tournament has seen plenty of upsets over the first ten days of this Grand Slam and that means the highest Seed left is Ben Shelton, the World Number 20.
He is a significant favourite against Lorenzo Sonego, the World Number 55, who at 29 years old may not have too many better opportunities to reach the Semi Final of a Grand Slam. This is the first time that the Italian will be playing in a Grand Slam Quarter Final and that is where Ben Shelton has a big experience edge having reached this Round at the Australian Open in 2023 and later followed up with a Semi Final run at the US Open.
Ben Shelton is an improving player and the big challenge for him in the years ahead is to perhaps build up his return game to back up what is going to be a monster serve. That will especially be needed when facing the best players on the Tour at the business end of the Majors, but Ben Shelton feels he is mentally capable of hanging with just about anybody in these best of five set matches.
The serving has been exceptional at the tournament with 94% of games being held, but Ben Shelton's return continues to make matches tougher than they perhaps should have been. He has broken in just shy of 16% of return games played, and that has contributed to matches perhaps going on a bit longer than Ben Shelton would want them to go.
All of that should be tested by Lorenzo Sonego who has held 95% of his own service games through four wins, although the Italian is not as consistent with his serve as much as Ben Shelton.
However, Lorenzo Sonego has shown a bit more from his return game and that could be key in a match that is likely going to need tie-breakers to separate the players.
Overall both players are not at their best on the return and so there is going to be pressure to serve well, which gives Ben Shelton the edge.
They have met twice before on the Tour- Lorenzo Sonego won a Grand Slam match in four sets on the clay courts of Roland Garros, while Ben Shelton was able to earn the win in three sets at the Cincinnati Masters on the hard courts. Both players dominated on the serve in that match on the hard courts and the feeling is that this is a Quarter Final that will likely need four sets to separate the players with the narrow edge going with Ben Shelton.
If the match does go four, you have to believe the serving has been where it should be and that should see this total games line surpassed. Tie-breakers are likely going to be needed at least twice and the two players are capable of running through their service games to at least maintain energy.
Lorenzo Sonego has benefited from a very good draw so Ben Shelton is expected to win the match, but the Italian may just play a part in this Quarter Final and give the fans plenty of tennis to enjoy.
Jannik Sinner - 6.5 games v Alex De Minaur: The home crowd and the player across the net are going to be factors in this match, but the biggest as far as Jannik Sinner is concerned is whether a day of rest between the Fourth Round and this Quarter Final is enough time to shake off an illness.
He was clearly struggling during his Fourth Round win over Holger Rune and the defending Champion would almost certainly have withdrawn if this was not a Grand Slam tournament.
The fact is that Jannik Sinner was able to get himself together and he will have had considerable time to get himself ready for this match. It has been scheduled for the Night Session on the Rod Laver Arena so that is also a positive in terms of time to prepare for Jannik Sinner, but he is taking on a home player who is the last hope to see an Australian Champion at this year's Open.
Before May 2023, Alex De Minuar had only reached one Grand Slam Quarter Final, which is surprising for the World Number 8- things have changed now having reached the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open Quarter Finals over the last several months and matching that run at the Australian Open means De Minaur has reached this Round for the first time at his home Slam.
He has been playing at a very solid level in Melbourne, but Alex De Minaur has not faced an opponent inside the top 30 of the World Rankings and this is a significant step upwards.
To underline the point, Alex De Minuar has a 6-8 record against top 20 Ranked opponents over the last twelve months on the hard courts, while he has lost seven in a row on this surface when facing top 10 Ranked opponents. The Australian has seen his serve attacked by the best players on the Tour, while Alex De Minaur's style of tennis has been exploited with the consistency of those in the top 10 meaning they have been able to protect their serve against him.
Jannik Sinner has been no different with nine wins over Alex De Minaur and eight of those being earned on the hard courts.
It was Alex De Minaur who won the first set played between the players on the professional Tour on the hard courts (not including the Nxt Gen Finals which are sets played up to four games, not six). Since that tie-breaker success in Sofia, Jannik Sinner has won fifteen straight sets on the hard courts against Alex De Minaur and the latter has won more than four games within a set just twice in that run.
The World Number 1 has held almost 91% of his service games played against Alex De Minaur on the hard courts compared with a 63% mark for the latter.
The serve has been a mighty weapon for Jannik Sinner in his run to the Quarter Final in Melbourne and you have to give him a considerable edge as long as he is virtually over the illness that was bothering him on Day 9 at the tournament.
Alex De Minuar will be given a huge amount of support, but he was beaten pretty routinely by Alexander Zverev in the French Open Quarter Final and by Jack Draper in the US Open Quarter Final. The head to head match up with Jannik Sinner has certainly not been in his favour and the feeling is that the defending Champion will have too much strength for Alex De Minuar in front of the home fans.
MY PICKS: Ben Shelton-Lorenzo Sonego Over 41.5 Games @ 1.90 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Jannik Sinner - 6.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (2 Units)
Australian Open Update: 24-10, + 17.86 Units (65 Units Staked, + 27.48% Yield)
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