“Rublev was run over by a Serbian train. It’s simply impossible to fight Djokovic now” – Chesnokov

Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev had no chance in the match against Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open because of the level of play of the Serb, according to the semi-finalist of Roland Garros in 1989 Andrey Chesnokov.

The next opponent of the ex-first racket of the world at the Australian Open will be the American Tommy Paul, who occupies the 35th place in the ranking.

Someone got hit by a train today. Rublev was run over by a Serbian train. Djokovic is simply impossible to fight now. It’s absolutely perfect. He plays such tennis that no one can resist him. The only one who bucked with him, where he really had a hard time, was against Dimitrov. He held him well by the gills. In the first set, Novak led with a break, then he lost his pitch, a very good match came out there. Dimitrov was amazing.

And then against Alex de Minaura and today … After the match, Jim Courier came out for an interview and asked: “Well, how is your leg?” And he replied that nothing hurts him, although he is all bandaged, even today.

Djokovic shows some unearthly tennis. He is the best everywhere. He moves around the court, the density of punches … He finds the point of impact on the court – the most inconvenient place for the opponent, from which he is not able to return. There is simply no place where he himself can be taken by surprise, because he holds everything, absolutely everything. He takes out balls that are impossible to get. Endures those long rallies where the ball flies right and left. Twenty, thirty, forty strokes. Any player gets tired.

There was, of course, a five-set match at the US Open 2021 when they did this there. I remember that 54-hit rally, where they still punched every ball so powerfully. That’s when Djokovic was stale for the final. And now he simply demolished Rublev. And I can’t imagine what Paul will be able to oppose to him in the semi-finals. I think it will be the same story. The American will also get under the train. Maybe his head won’t be torn off, but two legs will definitely remain on the rails,” Chesnokov told Gazeta.Ru.