CONFIDENCE IS ‘TRICKY’

For young athletes embarking on their professional careers, keeping confidence can be a slippery proposition.

It’s not a lot different for those who have been at the top of his or her respective sport.

Novak Djokovic is fresh off his fourth Wimbledon title, marking his 13th Grand Slam victory overall, but has had to continue to put behind an elbow injury that forced him to the sideline in July 2017, before he returned in January.

“Confidence is a tricky thing,” Djokovic said after advancing to the second round of the Rogers Cup. “It takes a lot of time to really get it, and it takes such a short time to lose it.

“I’ve had many times in my career where I have experienced that first-hand. That helped me in the whole process to really deal with maybe the daily struggles on the court that I had.”

On Tuesday, in his first match since Wimbledon, Djokovic beat Mirza Basic in straight sets.

“After winning Wimbledon, I know for sure things are different now,” the 31-year-old Djokovic said. “More confidence, more optimistic. I’m always going into tournaments with high expectations and ambitions, but it’s quite different when you have a Grand Slam title under your belt.

“It feels great not to have pain in the elbow, and playing on one of my most preferable surfaces (the hard court in Toronto), let’s see how it goes.”