The Pick: Novak Djokovic v. Aslan Karatsev, Australian Open semifinals

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook and are subject to change

Daniil Medvedev wasn’t kidding when he said that Team Russia had a secret weapon on their ATP Cup squad. After dispatching a seriously hobbled Grigor Dimitrov on Monday, world No. 114 Aslan Karatsev became the 5th qualifier ever to reach the semifinals of a major.

It’s been a career-changing week for the 27-year-old, who will walk away with more prize money from this tournament than he’s won in his entire career. But now, Karatsev will face the second-most daunting task in all of tennis aside from facing Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, beating Novak Djokovic on Rod Laver Arena.

Since 2011, the Serbian is an incredible 62-3 at the Australian Open, and according to DraftKings, is a massive -1,115 favorite to advance to the final.

For Karatsev to have any chance, he’ll need to inflict serious damage with his return, just like he did against Dimitrov.

In addition to his return, he’ll need to quickly find his range on his devastating two-handed backhand.

Karatsev has owned the backhand to backhand pattern in all his matches, but that won’t be the case on Thursday.

Look for Djokovic to use his patented surprise backhand drop shot to throw off Karatsev’s rhythm.

A few days ago, we were unsure Djokovic was going to play his fourth round match. But after defeating Milos Raonic and Alexander Zverev in consecutive matches, you have to assume he is completely healthy.

Injured players don’t typically make plays like this.

If Karatsev defeats Djokovic, it will go down in history as one of the biggest upsets of all time. The Russian is playing the best tennis of his life, but Djokovic will not let a qualifier— even a very good one— deny him ground in the all-time major title race.

The Pick: Novak Djokovic

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