Djokovic still lacks his ruthless touch as Cilic takes prize
Serbian unable to end year-long title drought First defeat after holding match point since 2009
There must have been a bittersweet tang to Novak Djokovic’s thoughts as he accepted the runner-up trophy at Queen’s Club yesterday. On a mechanical level, he has rediscovered much of his old timing. But where is the cold-eyed ruthlessness we used to know?
Against Marin Cilic yesterday, Djokovic held match point in the 10th game of the second set. It was not exactly a missed opportunity, as Cilic thrashed a serve out wide, which he could only just tip with his racket frame.
But still, Djokovic has established a reputation as one of the game’s great closers, so to go down to a 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 defeat would have stung deeply.
This was only the third time he had suffered a defeat after holding match point in 973 outings on the main tour. The last instance came all the way back in 2009.
“I’m not feeling that great at the moment,” said Djokovic, once he had dragged himself to the interview room. “But when I sleep over, things will obviously have a different perspective for me.”
Djokovic also acknowledged that he had “got a little bit tight” in the second-set tie-break. This was perhaps the real key to the match, for he established a 4-1 lead before entering a mental tailspin as Cilic won the next six points. The turning point was the double fault he sent down at 4-3, thus switching the whole momentum of the match.
Was this rare inefficiency the result of the 51-week drought since Djokovic’s last title (which came at Eastbourne last year)? Was he thinking too much about the prize, so that his emotions got in the way?
“Perhaps, perhaps not,” Djokovic replied. “I wasn’t really thinking about the occasion or the title or whatever when I was match point up. I was just thinking how I can return his serve and how I can get into play and position myself well in the next point.
“Life throws challenges at you
‘Credit to him for playing well. The mental aspect is always the one that decides everything’
when you least expect it. I don’t think I made too many things wrong, except that double fault on 4-3 in the tie-break. Credit to him for playing well. Yeah, the mental aspect is always the one that decides everything in life.”
Once the post-match frustration has dissipated, Djokovic can feel more than satisfied with his four wins at the Fever-tree Championships, including a 6-4, 6-1 thrashing of second seed Grigor Dimitrov that represented his first victory over a top-five opponent in almost 18 months.
Just over a fortnight ago, he was in such a state of distress after his quarter-final exit to Marco Cecchinato in Paris that he suggested – in the heat of the moment, admittedly – that he might not even play the grass-court season. Now he can surely be placed among the top five contenders for Wimbledon.
Djokovic’s serve – an area he has had to remodel repeatedly because of elbow problems – was back to its best this week, pinging down 29 aces and maintaining a first-serve percentage of 70 per cent.
His return remains the gold standard and he is rediscovering the defensive resilience that made him such a nightmarish opponent at his peak. More than once, Cilic fired the ball into the backhand corner and rushed the net, only to see Djokovic contort himself into his trademark splits position and bunt a passing shot up the line.
Despite all these plus points, though, Djokovic could not get the job done this time. Cilic might have suffered a few mental collywobbles of his own at the end of the first set, when he too was guilty of an illtimed double fault. But he grew stronger as the match wore on. This was the longest Queen’s final in history, at 2hr 57min, which means that Cilic finished it in very fine fettle indeed.
“I think what definitely makes it special is the time of the year,” said Cilic afterwards. “We are just before Wimbledon, and knowing that it’s such a short season on grass, you have to be ready every single match, every single point, basically, to play great tennis.”
This was Cilic’s fourth appearance in the Queen’s final, and his second title. It certainly came in more orthodox circumstances than the last one.
In 2012, Cilic had dropped the first set of the final to David Nalbandian and was trying to fight his way back into the match when Nalbandian missed a running forehand and swung a huge kick at one of the sponsor’s boards at the side of the court. The board splintered in front of him and his foot kept moving, taking a divot out of the shin of Andrew Mcdougall, the line judge sitting behind it. As Mcdougall’s leg turned red with blood, Nalbandian was summarily disqualified. It was one of tennis’s most peculiar “What happened next?” moments.
Finally, in yesterday’s doubles final, Jamie Murray and his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares were unable to defend the title they won here 12 months ago. Murray and Soares lost 6-4, 6-3 to John Peers and Henri Kontinen, but still came away in good spirits. “We’re really happy with how the week has gone,” said Murray, “and we’re looking forward to Wimbledon.”