Novak Djokovic breaks grand slam record before surviving scare at Australian Open
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Few things have come easily for Novak Djokovic in these early days of his 21st grand slam season, but the most successful player in the history of the game continued his attempts to build momentum on an incredibly familiar court, Rod Laver Arena, and trust with his extremely unfamiliar new coach, Andy Murray. Despite a difficult test against a fearless, young opponent, Djokovic shut the door on Jaime Faria, a qualifier, as he reached the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 win.
![[Djokovic and Jaime Faria meet at the net at the end of their encounter.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/87947fd36ab58d1b0c812029c2eb99071a282d91/0_0_8256_5504/master/8256.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
By stepping onto Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday afternoon, Djokovic set a new record for the most grand slam matches played in the history of tennis, overtaking his former rival Roger Federer’s count with 430 matches. “When I was a kid, the first image I had of tennis was watching the Wimbledon final at four or five years old,” said Djokovic. “Grand slams are definitely the most important tournament in the world in our sport, it has been over 130 years of existence of this incredible event. I’m just blessed to be making another record, I guess, today.”.
![[Naomi Osaka beat Karolína Muchová on day four in Melbourne.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9f6e77bda62ae999dcd7b7aa35510edfb11341a6/0_27_4700_2820/master/4700.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Two days after struggling early on against his inexperienced-19 year-old opponent Nishesh Basavareddy, a wildcard, before breaking the American down physically, Djokovic found himself up against another talented young player in Faria, a Portuguese 21-year-old also competing in the main draw of a grand slam tournament for the first time. Faria arrived at the biggest match of his life after navigating the qualifying draw last week, then securing a comfortable straight-sets win in his first round match.
