Djokovic ready for desert storm
FORMER NO 1 SAYS HE IS IN A BETTER SPACE With five Indian Wells titles, who can doubt the Serb?
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic will be out to reassert his dominance on the hard courts of Indian Wells over the next week, seeking to shake off the slump that has dogged him into 2017.
Djokovic’s five titles in the desert include the last three.
But the Serb arrives at a tournament he has owned shaken by a second-round exit at the Australian Open, which was followed by a shocking quarterfinal loss to young Australian Nick Kyrgios in Acapulco.
The setbacks come on the back of a troublesome second half of 2016, when he lost his world No 1 ranking to Andy Murray and relinquished his Wimbledon and US Open titles.
Acknowledging that his longedfor first French Open crown last year left him emotionally depleted, Djokovic nonetheless says his game remains good enough to get him back to the summit.
“Right now I feel like it was better than it was, especially in the second part of last season,” Djokovic said this week.
Djokovic, who lifted the trophy in Doha this year before his Australian Open defeat, insisted the latest setbacks haven’t discouraged him.
“I see myself kind of in a larger perspective today compared to the end of last season,” he said.
But he’s got a monumental task in Indian Wells, where he anchors a bottom quarter that also includes four-time champion Roger Federer, and three-time winner Rafael Nadal.
The section also includes Juan Martin del Potro, Kyrgios and young German Alexander Zverev.
Murray heads the draw that gives all 32 seeded players a firstround bye.
Among Thursday’s matches, Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi downed Robin Haase of the Netherlands to book a first-round meeting with No 3 seed Swiss Stan Wawrinka.
Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil defeated Taiwan’s Lu YenHsun 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-3 to earn a clash with Murray, while France’s Jeremy Chardy beat Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 to book a date with eighth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem.
The 23-year-old Thiem, who won his eighth ATP title in Rio last month, is among the young players keen to muscle in on the game’s “Big Four” of Murray, Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. – AFP