MELBOURNE, Australia — Until he faced reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena on the opening day of this year’s tournament, Dino Prizmic had never played a Grand Slam match.
The 18-year-old Croatian qualifier, who was born seven months after Djokovic made his major championship debut in 2005, made it last as long as he could. He unsettled the 24-time major winner before Djokovic finished off Sunday night’s match to win 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.
Djokovic has developed a record at the Australian Open that no man can match, with 10 titles at the event among his unprecedented career haul for Grand Slam championships in men’s singles. The 36-year-old Serbian star later said he had been feeling “under the weather” for four or five days, but he also credited Primzic’s talent.
The first set played out just about as expected. From there, it became quite a ride.
Prizmic took the second set off Djokovic and went up a break in the third — stunning a capacity crowd in the process — before the top-ranked player on the ATP Tour broke back and took the set.