By Jayita A. Belcourt
In front of a packed Rod Laver arena on Thursday night, Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic has again affirmed to the world that he is back full throttle at the reigns of the world number 1 top spot. It took just 2 hours for the world number one to dispatch of his 2rd round French opponent, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 setting up a third-round matchup with rising star Dennis Shapovalov.
The former Australian Open Champion looked fit, sharp and in control – cruising through the match with steely resolve and focus – dishing 12 aces and 33 winners for a straight set victory. But whilst the results fell in his favour, the Serb admits the clash wasn’t as clinical as it looked.
“We were going through a lot of emotions and trying to concentrate,” Djokovic said. “It’s always tough playing Jo. He had trouble with his knee but ranking does not do justice to him at the moment, he has plenty of experience playing in a big stage.”
Ironically, Djokovic’s performance this week has been in stark contrast to the man we saw at last year’s Australian Open, who stumbled to go past round 4 citing an elbow injury in amongst difficult ‘personal’ matters. Despite taking the second half of 2017 off, the Serb couldn’t shake off his difficulties in March 2018 at Indian Wells either suffering a first round loss to world number 109 Taro Daniel. Coupling this with a straight-set loss at his opening match later in March at the Miami Open, a tournament he had won six times, 2018 wasn’t off to a great start.
Understandably, the brash 31-year old admits the past 12 months journey of healing, rebuilding and recovery hasn’t been easy, but insists it’s one in which he wouldn’t change.
“I was impatient, to be honest, especially after surgery [of the elbow]. I was rushing way too early to get back into competitive tennis. I was able to play a month or five weeks after surgery, which was quite fast considering. To be honest, probably everyone around me was against me playing in Indian Wells and Miami, but I was insisting,” Djokovic said in deep reflection.
“If I can turn back time, would I change it? No, I wouldn’t, because I don’t regret anything. I really believe that has also kind of shaped and formed me months after that where I just had to learn the lessons the hard way, I guess.”
Physical injuries aside, it’s no secret that rumours flew throughout 2017 and 2018 about Djokovic’s interests off the court where he was colorfully labelled by some tabloids as the new “Tiger Woods” of tennis. What a toll this much have taken – undoubtedly impacting both his mindset and performance – both on and off the court. So when probed at press in the early hours of the morning, surprisingly Djokovic candidly revealed his new-found satisfaction in life as the catalyst for bolting his world ranking from number 22 to 1 in the past year.
“There was an amazing, I guess, switch and turning point around grass court season time, beginning of grass court. Probably those mountains in France where I went to climb and visit with my wife, four or five days, we had an amazing quality time together hiking, contemplating on our lives and everything. After that, it was all straightforward kind of upwards trajectory in terms of my tennis.”
“So if I have to pick one period, that would be the one.”
With such a monumental shift in his personal life, merged with reappointment of long-term coach Marian Vajda, Djokovic looks to have emerged from his dark abyss and cracked the code yet again – claiming Wimbledon and US Open titles in 2018.
So does the talented Serb have what it takes to hold his ground and forge ahead in 2019, claiming more titles, including the Australian Open?
I’d say look out Roger and Nadal – the old unstoppable Djokovic looks to be back and back for good.
