{"id":158473,"date":"2024-12-28T17:12:03","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T15:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=158473"},"modified":"2024-12-28T17:12:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T15:12:12","slug":"djokovic-gets-his-first-opponent-he-has-never-played-against-this-player-before-heres-what-hell-have-to-watch-out-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/djokovic-gets-his-first-opponent-he-has-never-played-against-this-player-before-heres-what-hell-have-to-watch-out-for\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0110OKOVI\u0106 GETS HIS FIRST OPPONENT: He has never played against this player before, here&#8217;s what he&#8217;ll have to watch out for!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Rinky Hijikata, an Australian of Japanese descent, will be the first opponent for Novak Djokovic in the new season. The world&#8217;s best tennis player is the first seed at the Brisbane 250 series, while Hind\u017eikata received a wild card as he is ranked 73rd on the ATP list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two have never met before and Novak will have a lot of running and long points, as his 23-year-old opponent is 1.78 meters tall and has excellent movement. Djokovic has already arrived in Australia and completed his first training sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Brisbane doesn&#8217;t start with a big sensation, Djokovic could cross rackets with an old acquaintance in the second round. Gael Monfils, the French veteran, against whom Djokovic has recorded a record 19 wins in as many matches, will have the qualifier as his first opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The quarterfinals would give Novak a chance for revenge for an unpleasant defeat at the US Open. Then, exhausted from winning Olympic gold, he was eliminated in the third round by Australian Alexei Popyrin, and now he is on his way. One of the possible rivals in the quarterfinals is Reilly Opelka, the American who is returning to the court after a long injury break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Frances Tiafoe or Sebastian Korda, the fourth and fifth seeds from the USA, are projected to be opponents in the semifinals, while the final could be very attractive. The main candidates to face Djokovic in the fight for the trophy are Holger Rune and Grigor Dimitrov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">PRO\u010cITAJTE VI\u0160E:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\t<figure class='wp-block-newspack-blocks-iframe'>\n\t\t<div class='wp-block-embed__wrapper' style=\"height:600px; width:100%;\">\n\t\t\t<iframe\n\t\t\t\tid = 'newspack-iframe-SFwvUDYVGBYT'\n\t\t\t\tlayout = 'responsive'\n\t\t\t\theight = '100'\n\t\t\t\twidth = '100'\n\t\t\t\tsrc = 'https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fserbiantimes%2Fposts%2Fpfbid02gFK9CaVMatSrjmGHrpTBEXsTPPGksMMQABkFgLmZTS5jUUddnzJunPkwKkJJzcVul'\n\t\t\t\tstyle = 'height: 600px; width: 100%;'\n\t\t\t\tframeborder = '0'\n\t\t\t\tallowfullscreen\n\t\t\t><\/iframe>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/figure>\n\n\t<script>\n\t\tconst iframe = document.getElementById(\"newspack-iframe-SFwvUDYVGBYT\");\n\t\tconst timerId = setInterval( function() {\n\t\t\t\tiframe.src = iframe.src;\n\t\t\t}, 2000 );\n\n\t\tiframe.onload = function() {\n\t\t\tclearInterval(timerId);\n\t\t}\n\n\t<\/script>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Of the first-round duels, the most attention is drawn to the clash between Nick Kyrgios, who is returning to the court after a long break, and Giovanni Perera, a phenomenal server from France. At 2.03 meters tall, Perera is an ace machine. The winner of this match will face Tiafoe in the second round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Projected quarterfinal pairings when seeds are crossed: Djokovic (1) &#8211; Popirin (7), Tiafoe (4) &#8211; Korda (5), Tabilo (6) &#8211; Rune (3) and Thompson (8) &#8211; Dimitrov (2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of the Serbian tennis players, only Dusan Lajovic is participating, but in the qualifiers. In the first round, the Australian Hul retired while leading the Serb 5:7, 7:5, 2:0, and his next opponent will be the winner of the match Blanchet (France) &#8211; Gomez (11, Argentina). If he wins this match as well, Lajovic will enter the main draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prize money is $766,290, with the champion&#8217;s check amounting to $96,985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">READ MORE: <\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/epic-scandal-in-romania-ruling-party-paid-for-tiktok-campaign-that-led-to-the-annulment-of-georgescus-victory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">EPIC SCANDAL IN ROMANIA: Ruling party paid for TikTok campaign that led to the annulment of Georgescu\u2019s victory!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/chicago-is-cultivating-future-olympic-champions-young-karatekas-promise-to-bring-gold-to-serbia-one-day-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CHICAGO IS CULTIVATING FUTURE OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS: Young Karatekas promise to bring gold to Serbia one day! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/giving-away-his-wealth-for-free-a-farmer-from-golija-donates-10-acres-of-his-land-with-only-one-condition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GIVING AWAY HIS WEALTH FOR FREE: A farmer from Golija donates 10 acres of his land, with only one condition!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/sportklub.n1info.rs\/tenis\/djokovic-saznao-prvog-protivnika-u-novoj-sezoni\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Sport Klub<\/a>, <strong>Photo<\/strong>: EPA-EFE\/ALEX PLAVEVSKI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rinky Hijikata, an Australian of Japanese descent, will be the first opponent for Novak Djokovic in the new season. The world&#8217;s best tennis player is the first seed at the Brisbane 250 series, while Hind\u017eikata received a wild card as he is ranked 73rd on the ATP list. The two have never met before and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":158474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[711,1426,3970,436,3971,91,252,3972],"class_list":["post-158473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-atp","tag-australija","tag-brizbejn","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-rinki-hidzikata","tag-sport","tag-tenis","tag-turnir","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158473"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158493,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158473\/revisions\/158493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}