After his win over another young, spirited opponent at Australian Open 2025, Novak Djokovic thanked tennis for giving him the chance to shine.
The sport thanks him, too, for his sustained excellence that saw the 24-time Grand Slam champion achieve yet another milestone.
MORE: All the results from AO 2025
Even before completing his 6-1 6-7(4) 6-3 6-2 victory over Jaime Faria at Rod Laver Arena, the 37-year-old set the record for most Grand Slam singles matches played (430).
He pulled ahead of his 'Big Three' rival Roger Federer, a man who he duelled with in a quartet of Australian Open semifinals.
“This sport has always been giving me so much in my life, an opportunity to play at the Grand Slams,” Djokovic said to reporters. “I try not to take it for granted after great achievements that I'm very proud of.
“Of course, Grand Slam matches and Grand Slam wins are what count the most in our sport. I'm very thrilled with that.”
Djokovic took somewhat of a winding road on Wednesday to get the better of the 21-year-old Portuguese qualifier, who had never won a top-tier tennis match or featured in a Grand Slam main draw before arriving in Melbourne.
A set and break lead dissipated, although Djokovic won a remarkable cat-and-mouse point the way his coach, Andy Murray, used to, during the drama of the second set.
He scrambled, defended instinctively, struck a lob, then finished the point up at the net.
“It's always tricky to play these kind of opponents, mentally to sustain that level,” Djokovic said. “Obviously you don't know whether they're maybe going to fold under the pressure of playing on the centre court or they're actually going to go the different way.
“A great test for me. I wish maybe I stayed a set less on the court.”
These tougher matches early at majors are becoming more commonplace for Djokovic - he is, after all, nearly 38.
It marked the second straight year at Melbourne Park where the 10-time champion lost a set in his first two rounds. That hadn’t happened prior to 2024.
As Djokovic mentioned, his opponents - including this week’s first round foe, 19-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy - knew his game a lot more than vice versa.
This is where Murray comes in.
Speaking of giving, you could say Djokovic gave tennis fans a gift when he chose to hire his friend, rival and three-time Grand Slam winner. Just look at the buzz it created.
Murray has been working hard, Djokovic revealed, on the scouting front.
“Andy has been spending quite a bit of time watching videos,” he said. “He watched live my first match, but then he watched the replay of the entire match the next morning.
“He’s really dedicated, and I love that because when you watch the match from a different perspective, you watch the replay, you can maybe see things that you haven't seen in the heat of the battle.
“That’s what we talk about, some of the elements and cues that he might see or I might see when I watch myself. I don't see the entire match like him, but I see the highlights and certain moments where I feel like I was maybe off balance or I should have played better or moments where I played really well, what I did well.
“Then we take those informations on the practice court.”
Djokovic - no stranger previously to video and statistical analysis - meets a much more known commodity in the third round, Tomas Machac.
The Serb's supporters might have been drawn to Reilly Opelka in this particular section of the draw since the towering American with the devastating serves just won their quarterfinal at the Brisbane International earlier this month.
But No.26 seed Machac, who beat Opelka in five sets earlier on Wednesday, topped Djokovic last year on clay as part of a breakthrough year that filled plenty of highlights.
“We had to do more I think work in terms of the first preparation, analysis preparation, for the first two guys that I faced here because there were not too many matches of them,” Djokovic said. “Very young. We had to really also talk to people in the locker room that played them and so forth to try to get as much information as possible.
“Obviously, as the tournament progresses, you know the names better, like my next opponent.”
Everyone knows Novak Djokovic’s name, too.