{"id":313627,"date":"2023-07-04T03:46:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T03:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=313627"},"modified":"2023-07-04T04:58:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T04:58:19","slug":"unrecognisable-aussie-books-date-with-djokovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=313627","title":{"rendered":"Unrecognisable Aussie books date with Djokovic"},"content":{"rendered":"

An unrecognisable Jordan Thompson<\/a> says playing Novak Djokovic<\/a> at Wimbledon<\/a> will be a privilege, even if he doesn't win.<\/p>\n

The Sydneysider rocked up to the famous grass courts of SW19 sporting an all-new look, the mullet and mo gone.<\/p>\n

"No one has recognised me! They think I'm here for juniors so I'll take that as a compliment," Thompson told Stan Sport's Grand Slam Daily<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Wimbledon 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Alternatively, you can stream every match live, ad-free and on demand on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, with centre court in 4K UHD.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thompson's new doo nearly didn't make it beyond lunch after he threatened to bomb out in straight sets.<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

Down 2-6, 2-6 to America's Brandon Nakashima, the Australian fought back to win three sets in a row, 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3.<\/p>\n

"Really slow start and then 2-6, 2-6 and looking like a quick exit first match on Monday at 11 o'clock," said Thompson.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Williams falls, crashes out of 24th Wimbledon in first round<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dogs finally land a kill with Titans gun on the move<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Decorum died': England declares friendship over<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Gus reveals secret warning to Ciraldo over Dogs deal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"I thought, 'Oh geez, I'm packing my bags early'. Turned it around. Started mixing things up and getting to the net a lot more and it paid off."<\/p>\n

Thompson had tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt in his corner, who offered "a few words" that helped the 29-year-old turn the match around.<\/p>\n

\"Jordan<\/p>\n

"Just trying to get to the net as much as possible," he said of the change in tactics.<\/p>\n

"I was getting out-rallied from the back really, so I thought I wasn't going to win it from the baseline, so I've got a better chance at the net and yeah, turned it around."<\/p>\n

With that win, Thompson has progressed to the second round where he'll try to do what no one has done in 10 years at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

The Serbian's last loss on centre court in south-west London came all the way back in 2013.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1676063281763500033<\/a><\/p>\n

Djokovic has won the past four Wimbledon titles and is vying for a record-equalling eighth this year.<\/p>\n

"When I saw the draw, I thought, 'Yeah, I'd really love to get through this match to be able to play him'," said Thompson.<\/p>\n

"This could be his best tournament. I've just seen some pretty incredible stats and I know he's won this maybe (seven) times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It really is incredible. He's arguably the best player of all time. He's got the most Grand Slams. It might not be fun but it'll be good to be out there."<\/p>\n

\"Serbia's<\/p>\n

For Stan Sport commentator Mark Petchy, the only advantage Thompson has over Djokovic is the unknown.<\/p>\n

"The one thing that Jordan has in his favour is that they've never played and obviously it is a bit of a feeling out process for somebody like Novak," he said.<\/p>\n

The pair will face off on Wednesday with coverage live and ad-free on Stan Sport or live and free on 9Now.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An unrecognisable Jordan Thompson says playing Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon will be a privilege, even if he doesn't win. The Sydneysider rocked up to the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":313629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313627"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313633,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313627\/revisions\/313633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/313629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}