A ten-time champion in Melbourne, Novak Djokovic is once again in the semifinals of his favorite tournament, where he will take on the newly rejuvenated Lorenzo Musetti on hard courts.
Both players reach the final four after very different fourth-round outcomes, with Djokovic receiving a walkover to this stage, while Musetti produced the performance of his life against Taylor Fritz to reach the final eight. As always, LWOT will provide you with a complete match guide for the clash.
Head-to-Head
While Musetti has managed to defeat the former World No. 1 once and has played him closely in both best-of-five and best-of-three matches, this rivalry remains fairly one-sided, with Djokovic leading 9–1, including an ongoing six-match winning streak.
However, Musetti has improved significantly over the past year. He has pushed Djokovic to five sets at the French Open on two separate occasions. The pair also met in the Athens 250 final to end the 2025 season, which was another extremely tight encounter, with Djokovic prevailing in three razor-thin sets.
Match Time and Where to Watch
The match will be the third played during the day session on Rod Laver Arena on Day 11, scheduled to begin not before 2:30 PM local time in Melbourne (10:30 PM EST on Tuesday, 3:30 AM GMT).
The match will be broadcast live worldwide on major networks, including:
- United States: ESPN
- Canada: TSN (English), RDS (French)
- Australia: Stan Sport
Coverage in Europe will be available on:
- United Kingdom: TNT Sports
- Italy: Eurosport
- France: Eurosport
- Germany: Eurosport
- Spain: Eurosport
Complete global broadcast details can also be found on the tournament’s official website.
Match Details
One reason this matchup has looked so one-sided historically is that Musetti had to face a multi-Slam-winning level Djokovic very early in his career. Even so, this remains one of the toughest matchups on Tour for the Italian.
One key issue for Musetti has been his forehand, which requires time to load due to a longer backswing. This is something Djokovic can exploit with his clean ball striking. Additionally, while Musetti’s single-handed backhand is solid and offers great variety, Djokovic has historically dominated players with one-handed backhands.
To address issues on the forehand side, Musetti has made several changes recently. These adjustments have made him more solid defensively and given him more power on both his forehand and his serve, which had previously been underpowered and a weakness in matchups like this.
This match, then, becomes a fascinating test: a battle between the improvements Musetti has made recently, improvements that have helped him crack the top five for the first time, against a Djokovic who has made a clear effort to play even more aggressively at this tournament and who will also be well rested after receiving a walkover in the previous round.
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images
