Novak Djokovic said even his vivid imagination could not have dreamt up playing a 10th Australian Open final 15 years after winning his first at Melbourne Park.
The Serbian great has the chance to win a record-equalling 22nd grand slam for a male player after hammering Tommy Paul 7-5 6-1 6-2 – a scoreline that would have been even more commanding had Djokovic not endured a first-set blip from 5-1 up.
Djokovic is already a nine-time singles champion in Melbourne, with his first triumph coming back in 2008, and only Stefanos Tsitsipas stands in his way of a 10th.
"I have a pretty vivid and strong imagination, but even I don't think I imagined it would turn out this way," he said during his on-court interview on Rod Laver Arena.
"Super blessed and grateful, I'm trying to cherish and marvel in every moment. Without my family, without my team these things wouldn't be possible.
"You're by yourself, all eyes are on you, you take responsibility, you take credit, but you have to give credit where it's due and that's to the team who live with me day by day in good and bad moments. This is as much their success as it is mine."
Only one other male player has won double-digit titles at a single slam, that being Rafael Nadal at the French Open.
Tsitsipas is a player Djokovic has faced in a major final before, defeating the Greek at the 2021 French Open showpiece in a match where he had to come from sets down.
"I won that match, so my recollections are very positive!" Djokovic added to a laugh.
"I came from two sets to love down, I think it was the first time I came down from two sets down in a slam final. It was his first slam final, a really physical and emotional battle. It always is with Stefanos.
"I respect him a lot, he's one of the most interesting guys off the court, with his interests and hairstyle. But it's all business on Sunday, let the best player win."
Both players were involved in a slog at the start of the second set and when asked about his energy levels, Djokovic joked: "It's great, it's perfect, it's 110 per cent!"
He then added: "Look, of course you're not as fresh as at the beginning of the tournament that's for sure.
"We put a lot of effort in the off season weeks on our fitness, to be in good enough condition to play best-of-five sets."
Sunday's victor will also ascend to the top of the ATP rankings, something Djokovic concedes does add extra spice.
"Of course it does, winning grand slams and being number one are the two biggest peaks you can climb as a tennis player," he said. "Let's see what happens."
Jurgen Klopp has sympathy for Frank Lampard following his sacking as Everton manager and believes the Englishman still has a big coaching career ahead of him.
Lampard was dismissed on Monday following a 2-0 loss at West Ham, which left Everton 19th in the Premier League and two points from safety.
The 44-year-old was only appointed by Everton 12 months ago and left Goodison Park with a record of nine wins from 38 league matches.
He was also previously sacked by Chelsea, but Klopp has backed Lampard to succeed in his next position after being given a tough time of things at Everton.
"That's the business, that is how it goes," Klopp told reporters on Friday ahead of Liverpool's FA Cup fourth-round tie with Brighton and Hove Albion.
"I feel for Frank. He tried everything. It was not easy for him last year and he did well. They lost Richarlison [to Tottenham] and we know how much injuries can affect a team.
"Frank will come back. He's still a young coach and has everything ahead of him."
Sean Dyche is expected to be named as Everton's seventh manager in as many years on Friday as the Toffees bid to avoid a first relegation since 1951.
Former Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa is reported to have been the favoured choice of owner Farhad Moshiri, and Klopp joked Dyche's appointment may not be as clear-cut.
When told Dyche is set to take on the Everton job, Klopp replied: "Is he? That's clear? But I saw Bielsa landing..."
Everton, who are on a four-game losing run, return to action with a home match against league leaders Arsenal on February 4.
Novak Djokovic will play his 33rd grand slam final on Sunday, extending his men's Open Era record and edging closer to Chris Evert's leading mark across all singles players.
Djokovic beat Tommy Paul at the Australian Open on Friday to advance to a 10th Melbourne final, having won each of the prior nine.
The Serbian has also played nine title matches at the US Open, eight at Wimbledon and six at the French Open.
Even before this latest semi-final success, his tally of 32 major men's singles finals was unmatched in the Open Era.
But the 33rd saw Djokovic match Serena Williams in second place among both male and female players, with only Evert out ahead now on 34.
Djokovic will no doubt back himself to reach and perhaps pass that record before the year is out, with Roger Federer having retired and Rafael Nadal injured again – those two great rivals no longer keeping pace with the 21-time slam champion. A 22nd success on Sunday would equal Nadal's record.
With victory over Paul, Djokovic joined Federer and Nadal as the only male players in the Open Era to reach 10 or more finals at one major.
Federer went to 12 Wimbledon finals, while Nadal has played the title match at Roland Garros on 14 occasions.
Novak Djokovic limped into his 10th Australian Open final with a record-breaking 27th consecutive win in Melbourne against Tommy Paul on Friday.
Djokovic, who has never lost either a semi-final or a final at the first major of the season, came through 7-5 6-1 6-2 to eclipse the Andre Agassi win streak he had tied with a last-eight defeat of Andrey Rublev.
Despite a similar scoreline, however, this was not quite as straightforward as that prior match – particularly in a first set the nine-time champion threatened to throw away.
Djokovic also appeared to be suffering again with the hamstring injury that hampered his preparation for the tournament, but he now needs to come through just one more match, against Stefanos Tsitsipas, to add another title.
The semi ended as it started, with Djokovic in control, yet there was a blip when he looked to be coasting through the opener.
Having just passed up his first set point, Djokovic confronted the umpire when he was not allowed time to take a towel and appeared to lose his focus, allowing Paul to win the next seven points en route to consecutive breaks – the second clinched with a stunning 30-stroke rally.
Finally, with the set level, Djokovic regained some composure and soon enough took a long-awaited second set point before cupping his ear to the Melbourne crowd and being greeted with jeers in return.
It quickly became clear Paul had missed his chance as Djokovic cruised, his primary foe now that troublesome injury.
After stretching out his leg during the first-set collapse, the Serbian appeared in discomfort throughout a dominant second, asking for ice at 5-0 up ahead of Paul's sole hold in the set.
That ailment did not prove enough to derail Djokovic, though, as the third set followed a similar theme in an ultimately commanding semi success.
Data Slam: Djokovic closing on career-best streak
Now the sole owner of the longest Open Era winning streak in the main draw of the men's singles tournament at the Australian Open, Djokovic will match his best run at any grand slam if he beats Tsitsipas, having claimed 28 straight victories at Wimbledon.
Only Roger Federer (40 at the US Open and 40 at Wimbledon) and Bjorn Borg (41 at Wimbledon and 28 at the French Open) have previously had 27-match win sequences at two different majors.
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Djokovic – 12/5
Paul – 4/0
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Djokovic – 31/39
Paul – 18/32
BREAK POINTS WON
Djokovic – 7/11
Paul – 2/9
Jurgen Klopp once again lamented Liverpool's fixture list and suggested FA Cup ties should not be played on weekend days.
Liverpool head to Brighton and Hove Albion in the fourth round on Sunday, eight days on from their most recent match – a 0-0 Premier League draw with Chelsea.
It has been a rare week off for Klopp's men, who won both the FA Cup and EFL Cup last season, but the German is still not entirely pleased with his side's schedule.
"We're not famous for going long in the cups, apart from last year," he said at Friday's pre-match press conference. "Cups are difficult when you have midweek games.
"Now we have full weeks to prepare, but in our schedule, I'm not sure the FA Cup should be at a weekend. But we deal with it. It's not a problem for now."
Liverpool are aiming to avoid successive losses against Brighton for the first time ever following their 3-0 league defeat at the Amex Stadium earlier this month.
Klopp described that performance at the time as the worst he has ever seen from one of his sides in a coaching career spanning 1,000 matches.
The Reds have since defeated Wolves 1-0 in the previous round of the FA Cup and played out a stalemate with Chelsea, which leaves them ninth in the league.
While his side have won just one of their five matches this calendar year, Klopp is glad they have kept back-to-back clean sheets for only the second time this season.
"Clean sheets are massive for us. Everyone waits for free-flowing performance but that takes time and it starts with clean sheets," Klopp said.
"That Brighton game is still the worst game I have ever seen of a team of mine. Thank god as we have played a few games since then.
"The first half against Chelsea we were very disciplined and we didn't give them a lot. We have to do that again against Brighton, of course."
Liverpool have progressed from three of their five FA Cup games against Brighton, most recently winning 6-1 in a last-16 tie in February 2012.
However, since the 1925-26 season, only Wolves (30), Sheffield United (28) and West Ham (27) have suffered more fourth-round exits than Liverpool (26).
The Reds make the trip to England's south coast with a number of players still injured, but Klopp confirmed some key men are closing in on a return.
"Diogo [Jota], Bobby [Roberto Firmino] and Virgil [van Dijk] are a couple of weeks from joining training," he said.
"Arthur [Melo] is running a lot, so maybe two or three weeks before he joins team training, but he is looking good. Fabio Carvalho is still out and is not ready for Sunday."
Rafael Nadal remains on course to return to action in March after undergoing further tests on the hip flexor injury he sustained on his way out of the Australian Open.
The 22-time major winner failed to defend his crown in Melbourne after losing 6-4 6-4 7-5 to world number 65 Mackenzie McDonald last week.
Nadal struggled to move around the court in the closing stages of the match and revealed afterwards he had aggravated an issue he had been suffering with for a couple of days.
An MRI scan showed the Spaniard had a grade two iliopsoas tear in his hip flexor, which would usually mean between six and eight weeks out of action.
After returning home to undergo further checks on Thursday, Nadal confirmed he is on course to return in that initial timeframe.
"Today I have been at the Tecknon Tennis Clinic in Barcelona where they have carried out some tests on me," he posted on his personal Twitter page.
"The Melbourne results are confirmed and the deadlines remain the same. I've established the treatments to follow and in three weeks they will perform new tests to see the evolution."
Nadal faces a battle getting back to full fitness in time for the Indian Wells and Miami Masters 1000 events in March.
Those were due to be preceded on his schedule by a high-profile exhibition match in Las Vegas against Carlos Alcaraz, who is also currently injured, on March 5.
Nadal was distraught to suffer yet another injury setback after severe foot and abdomen problems hit his 2022 season.
"In terms of sports and in terms of injuries and tough moments, I mean, that's another one," Nadal said last week.
"I can't say that I am not destroyed mentally at this time, because I will be lying."
Stefanos Tsitsipas always felt he had the "ego" to be challenging for grand slams and the world number one ranking after booking his spot in the Australian Open final.
The Greek defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena and will now face either nine-time Melbourne champion Novak Djokovic or Tommy Paul in Sunday's showpiece.
It marks Tsitsipas' second run to a slam final after he was beaten by Djokovic at the French Open in 2021, a match in which he surrendered a two-set lead.
Victory would not only see him win a maiden slam but take ownership of the men's world number one ranking, two ambitions Tsitsipas always believed he could achieve.
"I remember watching it on TV saying to myself, 'I want to be there one day myself. I want to recreate that feeling for me'," he said.
"I knew that's a very long journey to get there. There are certain steps you have to take to give yourself the chance to be competing for something like this.
"But I very much believed it. First of all, it's your ego that speaks. You either have it or not. As a kid, I was very confident.
"Thank God I was good in my country. Starting from that, I knew if I'm able to get out of my country and compete in other countries, European leagues, European tours, I proved myself over and over again that I'm actually good.
"I did finish as a junior number one. Now I want to do it in the men's side, in the men's professional tennis."
Asked what had changed since losing to Djokovic in the final at Roland Garros almost two years ago, Tsitsipas said: "I'm playing great tennis. I'm enjoying myself. I just see no downside or negativity in what I'm trying to do out there. Even if it doesn't work, I'm very optimistic and positive about any outcome, any opponent that I have to face.
"This is something that has been sort of lacking in my game. I genuinely believe in what I'm able to produce. That is more than enough. I go about this way. I strive for it every single day. It might not go the way I want it to, but I put 110 per cent out there."
Khachanov has enjoyed back-to-back slam semi-finals having also made the last four at last year's US Open.
The 26-year-old retains belief that he can beyond the semis at future slams.
"Maybe in some situations I could do better. It's always like this. Tennis is always, like any other sport, there is no draw unfortunately in our sport. One guy has to win and to go through," he said.
"I would say I did it second time in a row, consecutive semi-finals. I would definitely go with my head high. Again, rest a couple of days, think with my team for next schedule, again to have a team meeting to discuss those particular situations and moments on what we need to work.
"Hopefully I keep believing that I can pass this step next time, if I am in this situation, hopefully. That's it."
The New York Knicks proved they "can beat anybody" by taking down the Boston Celtics on Thursday, but Julius Randle wants his "special" team to show the same focus every night.
The league-leading Celtics suffered their first home defeat in eight games as the Knicks snatched a 120-117 overtime win at TD Garden.
Randle, back in his All-Star form of the 2020-21 season, was the main man for New York in scoring 37 points, including five in OT.
Boston led by as many as five points in the extra session, only for Randle to respond with a 27-foot three-pointer. The Knicks forward soon put his team ahead for good with a pair of free throws.
Only the Celtics themselves (17-9) have a better road record this year than the Knicks (15-10), who have also celebrated impressive wins at the Philadelphia 76ers and the Denver Nuggets.
Randle and Co. are still only seventh in the East, however, and must show greater consistency.
"We can beat anybody; we can lose to anybody," said Randle. "That's the league.
"We can see how special we can be on a night-to-night basis if we come in with the right focus."
Randle's three biggest performances have come on the road, where he is averaging 26.6 points per game versus 23.0 at home.
Rory McIlroy was tied with rival Patrick Reed for the lead after the delayed conclusion to round one of the Dubai Desert Classic, though the Northern Irishman was not entirely satisfied with his performance.
The build-up to the tournament has been dominated by a spat between world number one McIlroy and LIV Golf defector Reed.
American Reed labelled McIlroy an "immature little child" for blanking him at the practice range and was also alleged to have thrown a tee at McIlroy.
McIlroy said Reed's lawyer served him with court papers on Christmas Eve, although Reed has said he was not behind the subpoena, with the case concerned being one brought by American attorney Larry Klayman relating to divisions between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.
A strong start from both players on a rain-delayed day one raised the possibility of an intriguing pairing over the weekend.
And the chances of that happening were increased with McIlroy – who started on the back nine – closing birdie, eagle, birdie to finish his first round at six under par.
Reed matched that score thanks to a 15-foot eagle at the last.
Asked for his thoughts about how he played in round one, McIlroy said: "Honestly, not very good. I struggled out there most of yesterday. I thought I did well to be under par by the end of the day. I fought back after some very sloppy rusty golf over the first sort of 14 holes.
"And then today I came out and I don't really know if anything clicked because I don't think I hit enough shots to know, but it was definitely needed.
"I would have been happy with anything around 70 the way I played, and then to come in and shoot 66 is quite the bonus."
The highlight for McIlroy was holing out from 114 yards out of the sand at the eighth (his 17th).
"You know, I wouldn't say I'm the best fairway bunker player in the world. The desert is a little nicer, it's a little more packed down, so you get some better lies," he said.
"All I was thinking about was catching it clean. My tendency out of those lies is to hit it a little bit heavy. As soon as I struck it – went down the grip a little bit just to make sure of the strike – I knew it came out really nicely and it was right down the pin.
"Again, anything inside of 20 feet, I would have been happy with, so that was certainly a bonus."
Luka Doncic looked "fine" and was "smiling" but the Dallas Mavericks require more information on the ankle injury that saw him leave early in the 99-95 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Superstar Doncic lasted just three minutes of Thursday's road game due to a sprained left ankle, doing the damage when standing on a defender's foot and pivoting.
He immediately limped off with director of player health and performance Casey Smith, and later went for an X-ray that was negative.
Head coach Jason Kidd provided a brief update on Doncic after the game, though details of the severity of his injury remained light, saying they will know more ahead of Saturday's contest with the Utah Jazz.
"He was in good spirits. He looked good. He looked fine," Kidd said in quotes reported by the Dallas Morning News.
"But we'll see as we go forward here. We'll have probably more information once we get to Utah.
"He was smiling and he was happy for his team-mates, saying DP [Dwight Powell] made some big free throws but then to come up with that missed free throw rebound.
"Just his grit tonight for DP was at a high level. The character of that team played hard and found a way to win.
"It was the whole group defensively. To hold a team like Phoenix under 100 points is a big deal. The guys in that locker room should be proud."
Without Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie contributed a season-high 36 points, while Dorian Finney-Smith had 18 to go with 12 rebounds.
"It's just an all-around great team effort. Once we found out [Luka] was out, we just stepped up," Finney-Smith said.
The Mavericks (26-24) had lost six straight regular-season games to the Suns prior to the win, though they did topple them in last year's Conference semifinals.
Stefanos Tsitsipas will get a chance to play for his first grand slam title after advancing past Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 in Friday's semi-final.
Tsitsipas was at his aggressive best, compiling a massive 66 winners to go with his 18 aces. It was his highest winner tally of the tournament so far, eclipsing his 48 in five sets against Jannik Sinner, and his 46 in three sets against Quentin Halys.
Despite his high level of play, the first set was closely contested as both players secured a pair of breaks, but Tsitsipas was able to rattle off five consecutive points in the tiebreaker to run away with the opener.
The world number four did not allow Khachanov a single break-point opportunity in a stylish second set, and it was the same story in the third until Khachanov crucially took his one break-point chance as Tsitsipas was serving for the match.
Khachanov showed guts to fight off two match points and take the third in a tiebreaker, but he was just delaying the inevitable as Tsitsipas racked up 17 winners to five and made the fourth set the shortest of the match.
Tsitsipas will face the winner between Novak Djokovic and Tommy Paul in the final, with a chance to become Greece's first grand slam champion at the age of 24.
Data Slam: Tsitsipas conquers his demons down under
It was the fourth time Tsitsipas had reached the final four of the Australian Open, but after failures in 2019, 2021 and 2022, the Greek finally got over the line against his Russian challenger.
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Tsitsipas – 18/5
Khachanov – 10/1
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Tsitsipas – 66/34
Khachanov – 46/32
BREAK POINTS WON
Tsitsipas – 5/12
Khachanov – 3/4
The Brooklyn Nets are having their 'next man up' mentality pushed to the limit after Ben Simmons and T.J. Warren both left Thursday's 130-122 loss against the Detroit Pistons with knee injuries.
Brooklyn are already without MVP candidate Kevin Durant as he recovers from an MCL sprain in his right knee, while bench spark plug Seth Curry also missed Thursday's game with soreness in his right knee.
Their injury situation went from bad to worse against the Pistons as Simmons exited the game in the third quarter and did not return due to left knee soreness, before Warren suffered a left knee contusion and was taken out in the fourth quarter.
Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said after the game that he is unsure whether one or both would undergo MRI scans on Friday, and while both injuries appear minor, it is unknown if they will be able to suit up for Saturday's rivalry game against the New York Knicks.
Despite the loss, it was an impressive day for Kyrie Irving, who was named an All-Star starter before dropping a game-high 40 points (14-of-27 shooting) with six assists, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Speaking to the media after his performance, Irving said he would do all he can to keep the Nets afloat, but lamented the uncertainty the team faces in their next stretch after losing six of their past eight fixtures.
"I can't control everyone's emotions day-to-day, as much as I see myself as one of the leaders of our team," he said.
"But what I can show is just a consistency to continue to work on off-days, and after the games, and before the games, and just continue to prepare at a very high level.
"Whoever's available for us to play will be available and we just move onto the next game. As much as I would love to sit up here and give you guys a nice diatribe of what it looks like in the future, I just don't know.
"T.J. being out, Ben being out, so we just got to take it one day at a time, and we just want those guys to get healthy – that's the most important thing. We just got to carry our own water right now. Chop wood, carry water."
Despite their recent rough patch, the Nets still sit fourth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 29-19 thanks to a 12-game winning streak before Durant's injury.
The Dallas Mavericks will be hoping to get away with a minor injury after franchise centrepiece Luka Doncic sprained his ankle and departed Thursday's game in the first quarter.
The incident occurred just three minutes into the Mavericks' road game against the Phoenix Suns as Doncic accidentally stepped on a defender's foot, turning his ankle.
Dallas immediately called a timeout and Doncic was helped back to the locker room, before being ruled out at quarter-time.
The Mavericks announced their initial X-rays were negative, indicating there are no broken bones, but they will need an MRI to determine how much damage has been done.
Doncic has suited up for 45 of the Mavericks' 50 games up until this point, and he entered play leading the league in scoring with 33.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.6 assists per contest.
His zero points against the Suns could see him fall behind Joel Embiid (33.4 points per game) in the race for the scoring title, but Doncic has already collected one major honour this season after it was announced early on Thursday that he will be an All-Star for the fourth consecutive year, and a starter for the third time.
The New York Knicks rode terrific performances from the dynamic duo of Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson to a 120-117 overtime victory on the road against the Boston Celtics on Thursday.
Randle, who is on track to make his second All-Star team, scored a game-high 37 points on 13-of-25 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds. His partner-in-crime, Brunson, led both teams with seven assists to go with 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting.
For the Celtics, Jayson Tatum had a team-high 35 points on 12-of-26 shooting, including the game-tying basket with 48 seconds remaining to force overtime at 110-110.
Randle and team-mate R.J. Barrett scored five points each in the extra session to pull away for the win, improving to 27-23 overall, which includes the league's second-best road record (15-10). The only team with a better record away from home this season is the Celtics (17-9).
In his fifth start of the season, second-year Knicks center Jericho Sims grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds as he continues to fill-in for the injured Mitchell Robinson, while Immanuel Quickley chipped in 17 points (seven-of-12 shooting) off the bench.
Pistons ruin Kyrie's big night
Kyrie Irving's 40 points were not enough to prevent his Brooklyn Nets from going down 130-122 at home against the Detroit Pistons.
After being named an All-Star starter earlier in the day, Irving shot 14-of-27 from the field while adding six assists, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
But the Pistons had eight of their nine players reach double-figures in a well-rounded display, led by Saddiq Bey with a team-high 25 points (10-of-19 shooting), while highly rated rookie point guard Jaden Ivey had a game-high eight assists with his 16 points and two steals.
The Nets have now lost six of their past eight fixtures to slip to 29-19 as they desperately await the return of Kevin Durant from injury.
Cavs pile on the punishment
The Houston Rockets were relegated to their 20th loss from their past 22 outings as the Cleveland Cavaliers came into town and left 113-95 victors.
Darius Garland scored a game-high 26 points (nine-of-16 shooting) with nine assists and four steals to lead the Cavs, while their star defensive duo of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley both collected double-doubles.
On the bright side for the Rockets – who own the NBA's worst record at 11-38 – it was the ninth game in a row exciting young center Alperen Sengun has tallied at least six assists. Over that span, the only centers averaging more than his 6.8 assists are Draymond Green (7.0), Domantas Sabonis (10.0) and Nikola Jokic (11.2).
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