Tennis legend Monica Seles has thanked Novak Djokovic after the 24-time Grand Slam champion matched her feat of winning 33 Australian Open matches in a row. Djokovic, who is unbeaten at the Melbourne tournament since 2018, has been in scintillating form once again during the early part of this year and saw off Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals on Tuesday to book a semi-final showdown with Jannik Sinner.
Seles was arguably the best female tennis player in the world during the early 1990s as she won eight Grand Slam titles between 1990 and 1993 before winning her final one in 1996.
That run of form saw her win the Australian Open for three consecutive years between 1991 and 1993. After missing the tournament in 1994 and 1995, she returned to clinch another title in 1996. And following an absence from the 1997 and 1998 editions of the tournament, she went on to reach the semi-finals in the last Australian Open of the 20th century.
Seles, who was born in Serbian city Novi Sad when it was part of Yugoslavia, clearly loved the Australian Open as she dominated her opponents time and time again at Melbourne Park. And she set her winning record after defeating Steffi Graf 7-5, 6-1 in the 1999 quarter-finals, before being knocked out by eventual champion Martina Hingis in the last four.
Djokovic matched Seles’ run of 33 victories by dispatching Fritz 7-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and will move beyond the 50-year-old if he can overcome Sinner. And following the Serbian’s achievement, Seles took to Instagram and wrote: “With Novak’s Grand Slam title wins I stopped counting a long time ago as I knew he would be breaking all the records and setting some ridiculous ones for future generations to try to break.
“I just wish that we played in the same era as it would have been so cool to play mixed doubles together. For me it would be a masterclass. Thank you Novak with gratitude and appreciation and let’s go win AO.”
Djokovic was asked about equalling Seles’ record following his encounter with Fritz. And the veteran paid his own tribute to the former star as he stated: “It means a lot. I didn’t know that I’m sharing this achievement, this record with her. It makes it of course even more special for me. I really love Monica.
“Monica was definitely one of my childhood idols and heroes, and I looked up to her very much. When I got a chance to meet with her first time I was very nervous. Obviously she speaks our language because she was born in Serbia but spent most of her life, as she’s doing now, in the United States.
“I know that she had an incredible career, and particularly she played well in Australia. We all wonder how far she could have went if she didn’t have to go through what she went through [when she was stabbed on court by a fan in 1993]. About Monica, I have only nice words to say about her. I’m really glad that we are sharing this record.”
