Novak Djokovic: Why Djokovic Needs to Dominate in Australian Open Semifinals

Novak Djokovic has gone under the radar in this year's Australian Open. He is just doing his thing while Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal grabbed all the headlines heading into their semifinal match. That being said, he needs to have a strong performance vs. Andy Murray. 

He did have some problems in the fourth round against Lleyton Hewitt, which is leading some analysts to question whether or not he has anything left in the tank for the semifinals and (potentially) finals. 

From Ravi Ubha of ESPN.com:

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Djokovic's serve and forehand, in particular, tailed off (vs. Hewitt). In the first two sets, he made a combined five forehand unforced errors. The number rose to 14 in the last two. His first-serve percentage fell in the middle of the third, and overall Djokovic was broken four times.

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Those doubts were squashed when Djokovic squashed David Ferrer on Wednesday. It was the kind of victory that we have become accustomed to seeing from the No. 1 player in the world since the start of the 2011 season. 

Murray is the perfect opponent for Djokovic to get ready for a matchup against Nadal in the finals. They have a storied rivalry against each other thanks to 10 career matches, and in last year's Australian Open final, it was Djokovic who defeated Murray in straight sets. 

It is going to take a dominant performance in the semifinals against Murray for Djokovic to get the spotlight that he so richly deserves. 

Despite being the top ranked player in the world, Federer and Nadal are always going to take precedent over Djokovic because of their history together. Even the match the two had today is likely going to be the story of the next three days.

Djokovic can remind them, and the rest of the world, why he is the best tennis player in the world today with a dominant performance against Murray before knocking off Nadal in the finals of the Australian Open. 

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