Novak Djokovic’s return uneven with a win and a loss in two separate exhibitions
Novak Djokovic displayed a dominant form over world No. 5 Dominic Thiem in his first exhibition match at the Kooyong Classic with a relaxed win, but his follow-up loss to Hewitt at Tie Break Tens still leaves his comeback questionable. Fans will get to see how ready he is once he starts competing at the Australian Open next week, where he’s achieved the most success.
Novak Djokovic lost his top ranking spot at the end of 2016, ending his incredible dominant run that saw him secure 12 grand slams in just a few years. He won only two ATP titles last year, and when his troublesome elbow injury became too much, he took six months off to recuperate.
After announcing that he would return to tennis at the Mubadala exhibition championship at the beginning of the year, the Serb withdrew, saying he wasn’t ready to compete just yet. Negative signs continued when he decided to opt out of his first warm-up to the Australian Open, in Doha.
But all that became a thing of the past with his exhibition match with Dominic Thiem this week. The one-sided winning score was reminiscent of the kind of dominant victories Djokovic used to pull out, winning the match against a Top Five player, 6-1, 6-4, at the Kooyong Classic.
But the Serb followed up this win with a loss to former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the Tie Break Tens event, 6-10, putting his return back in doubt.
Confidence is key
The former world No. 1 appeared calm and poised playing Thiem, something his fans have been anticipating for quite some time.
“I don’t want to be over-confident,” Djokovic said. “Obviously, I’m very, very happy with the way it went today, but I don’t want to say it’s 100 percent. I’ll say that when I start a tournament and when I get to actually feel that it’s 100 percent. For now, I’m in the [Australian Open] and let’s hope with God’s grace that everything will be fine in the next five days.”
Gearing up for his most successful tournament
Despite the loss to Hewitt, the 30-year-old is very happy with his progress in practice, most especially the week before the Australian Open starts. He holds the record of most titles won in Melbourne, six. With Roger Federer the front runner in this year’s tournament Down Under, the Swiss will be looking to equal this record since he is one AO slam short, something that Nole would like to prevent.
“Luckily for me, I’m here,” Djokovic said after he beat Thiem on Wednesday. “So glad to be back and so nice to start in a country and a city where I have the greatest memories.”
He’s retooled his game, but still working things out
The 12-time grand slam champion also unveiled a new tool in his game, a modified serve. As we’ve seen with Federer and Rafael Nadal, in order to play into their 30’s, changes to their style of game have been necessary.
“It was a fantastic test for me to see where I am, to see what we have done as a team and whether it works on the court and it works pretty well. Especially the serve – that was the biggest question mark because of the elbow, that shot in my game was compromised,” Djokovic said according to The Guardian.
But in the match against Hewitt, the Australian was able to attack Djokovic’s serve with aggressive play.
Still not 100 percent, but showing progress
Djokovic played both matches wearing a sleeve on the problematic arm, but said he was able to get through the match pain-free, an especially good sign considering that he was still dealing with physical issues in practice just a month ago in Monte Carlo.
“It’s the first time in my career that I’ve had such a long break,” Djokovic explained. “It will probably be ideal if I got another tournament under my belt coming up to the Australian Open but I haven’t had a chance, it wasn’t meant to be, my elbow was not ready. Of course I had doubts coming here, personally I don’t know what is going to happen.”
Plagued by rumors about personal issues last year—alongside having gotten rid of his entire training team and switched coaches from Boris Becker to Andre Agassi—the world No. 14 seems to have put those behind him and is trying to stay positive.
Djokovic faced off against Lleyton Hewitt—coming out of retirement in singles to participate in the exhibition—displaying some sharp movement and fitness around the court. However, the six-time AO winner also seemed rusty in his second competitive match. But he knows that the only way to get back into tournament form is competitive match play.
‘I’m just happy to be back on the court, it’s been six months since I played any competitive play – today was my first match in Kooyong,” Djokovic said about his win at the first exhibition. “That’s what matters. Hopefully I can get in some practice hours in the next few days and I’ll be ready for the [Australian] Open.”
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Djokovic is still considered a long shot to win at his first grand slam back, but having him competing in Australia again is an injection of excitement Down Under. We will have to wait and see how ready he is to compete on the grand slam level once the tournament starts.
The Australian Open begins Jan. 15.