Novak Djokovic \u201cresolved a question\u201d and \u201cset a marker\u201d with his dominant opening round 2026 Australian Open win over Pedro Martinez, according to a former British No 1.<\/p>\n
The tennis legend delivered an imperious display to crush world No 71 Martinez 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in two hours on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n
Djokovic<\/a> was outstanding on serve as he landed 77% of his first serves, won 52 of his 57 total service points, fired down 14 aces and did not face a break point.<\/p>\n The 38-year-old Serbian, who is chasing an 11th Australian Open<\/a> crown and 25th Grand Slam overall, also recorded a sublime ratio of 49 winners to 21 unforced errors.<\/p>\n The world No 4\u2019s victory was a landmark 100th win at the Australian Open, which makes him the first man to reach 100 wins at three different Grand Slams (Djokovic has 102 wins at Wimbledon and 101 at Roland Garros).<\/p>\n He is now just two wins away from equalling Roger Federer\u2019s record of 102 Australian Open men\u2019s singles match wins.<\/p>\n Following his dismantling of Martinez, Djokovic gave his reaction to his latest remarkable feat.<\/p>\n \u201cI always give my best whenever I\u2019m on the court,\u201d he said. \u201cHistory; making it is a great motivation, particularly in the last five-10 years of my career.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I got myself in a position where I could eventually create history, obviously I was even more inspired to play the best tennis and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very fortunate early on in my career to encounter some people who taught me and guided me to play the long shot, so to say, with my career. Not to burn out too quickly, take care of my body and my mind and try to have as long a career as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m blessed to be still playing at this level and another win tonight here is obviously a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n Novak Djokovic motivation question asked by former top 10 star at Australian Open<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Four major milestones Novak Djokovic can hit at 2026 Australian Open<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Djokovic also addressed how his body felt having entered the tournament with questions over his physical condition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt always feels good at the beginning of the tournament,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cLet\u2019s see how I progress. I cannot complain about tonight\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI served really well, to kick-start the competition in the right way on the right note and send the right signal, not just to yourself but your opponents too.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a couple of days without a match, recover my body, I\u2019m using every hour I can to get my body in shape. Let\u2019s hope for the best.\u201d<\/p>\n Former British tennis stars Tim Henman and Laura Robson discussed Djokovic\u2019s victory on TNT Sports.<\/p>\n Tim Henman, a former world No 4:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAn absolutely clinical performance from Djokovic. All aspects of his game were firing on all cylinders.<\/p>\n \u201cThe serving was just absolutely spot on. At the back of the court, the movement was sharp.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you could have given Djokovic the opportunity to write the script for the first round match, that would have been it. He was so clean with everything in his game. There were no real hiccups, there were no dips in concentration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talked about him trying to conserve energy for the latter stages of the tournament; to be out there for just two hours on the dot, straight sets victory, it was a perfect night\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cI think if Djokovic is going to have a chance if he gets to the latter stages, matches like these are important, and tonight was ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n Laura\u00a0Robson, a former world No 27:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt was 49 winners, just outstanding from Djokovic.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there was any question mark about the movement, I feel like that\u2019s kind of resolved.<\/p>\n \u201cVery fast around the court, but very small, quick steps as well, so that intensity was there from the start.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt like it set a marker for the other players in the draw, because obviously we pencil in Alcaraz and Sinner towards the final, but there\u2019s really Novak and then everyone else for that number three spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch every match of the Australian Open live on TNT Sports and discovery+<\/strong><\/p>\n READ NEXT: How Novak Djokovic hopes to \u2018hide\u2019 his weaknesses by working with \u2018highly educated expert\u2019<\/a> The post Novak Djokovic \u2018resolved\u2019 key \u2018question mark\u2019 with history-making Australian Open win<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic \u201cresolved a question\u201d and \u201cset a marker\u201d with his dominant opening round 2026 Australian Open win over Pedro Martinez, according to a former British No 1. The tennis legend delivered an imperious display to crush world No 71 Martinez 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in two hours on Rod Laver Arena. Djokovic was outstanding on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What did Novak Djokovic say after his opening round win?<\/h2>\n
Australian Open News<\/h2>\n
What did analysts say about Novak Djokovic\u2019s performance?<\/h2>\n
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