He came into the Australian Open a relative unknown and it seems some are still trying to figure out who Novak Djokovic’s opponent is tonight.He’s the fairytale story of the Australian Open, but Aslan Karatsev still has some work to do to raise his profile if a Channel Nine promotion for his semi-final with Novak Djokovic is anything to go by.
This week, tennis veteran Sergiy Stakhovsky fumed at the lack of respect being shown to Karatsev, taking aim at a commentator who admitted he had never heard of the Russian prior to this grand slam.
“This is exactly why our sport is suffering,” Stakhovsky tweeted.
He might have a bit more ammunition with an advertisement on the host broadcaster flashing up images of Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov, the player Karatsev downed in the quarter-finals, rather than the 27-year-old world No.114 himself.
Promising a ‘David v Goliath’ ‘biblical battle’ and asking if the fairytale can continue “with an upset for the ages”, Dimitrov – headband and all – was shown facing off with Djokovic.
Karatsev and Djokovic meet at 7.30pm tonight.
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