Solid forehand, unclear forecast with Djokovic
Duel in the sun with Monfils, clouds of uncertainty about his body envelop Serbian star
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA— One fine match does not make a comeback.
Novak Djokovic’s elbow or some other body part may get sore again as the rallies and the serves pile up. His confidence, already rattled before he took his involuntary six-month break from the game last summer, may get shaken anew under much greater pressure than Donald Young managed to apply Tuesday in the first round of the Australian Open.
But it was no doubt a reaffirming afternoon for one of tennis’s true champions, who was still debating whether he was healthy enough to play in this major tournament when the new year began and he had not played a genuine match since last July at Wimbledon.
Despite some mis-hits and flubbed drop shots, Djokovic’s 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory Tuesday against Young was much more tour de force than cause for concern. It was filled with familiar flourishes: elastic passing shots, deep groundstrokes and expertly disguised forehands that left Young leaning the wrong way and occasionally shaking his head at the geometry lessons he was being forced to take.
“If Novak plays like that, he will be tough to beat,” said Paul Annacone, the Tennis Channel analyst who knows too well from his years coaching Roger Federer how difficult Djokovic is to beat at his peak.
“I’m not worried about his tennis,” Annacone said. “The question is more about how the mind and body will hold up.”
That question mark hardly applies to Djokovic alone in this injury-riddled phase in men’s tennis. His next opponent in Melbourne, Frenchman Gael Monfils, is also coming back from an extended layoff. So is one of Djokovic’s biggest rivals, Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss star who also had not played an official match since Wimbledon and is still in contention in Djokovic’s quarter of the draw after winning his first-round encounter Tuesday with Ricardas Berankis.
“I still have some pain,” said Wawrinka, who underwent two operations on his left knee last summer. “It depends on the way I’m moving, how I push on it. In general, it’s going the right direction. That’s the best news.”
That Wawrinka is 32 years old, Monfils 31 and Djokovic 30 only makes the outcome more uncertain, even if Federer, now 36, zipped through his opening match at Melbourne Park on Tuesday night, a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Aljaz Bedene.
Still, it seems best to enjoy the spectacle and Federer’s leaping, no-look overheads while they last. It is all just a bad back away from turning into nostalgia.
Federer knows this, and he drank it all in as he returned to Rod Laver Arena, where he experienced one of the biggest buzzes of his long career last year by defeating Rafael Nadal in a five-set thriller of a final.
“It’s big emotions to be back out there,” Federer said. “When I returned for the first time to train, you remember where the ball more or less bounced and what side of the court you were on. You relive those moments, and when I saw the people and the full stadium when I went on court tonight, I really celebrate it as a player to be able to be in good health and to come back again.”
Djokovic also seemed intent on savouring what was no longer routine at the tournament where he has won a record-tying six singles titles, the most recent in 2016.
“Well I did have various emotions, mostly good ones: excitement, joy, gratitude for being able to have an opportunity to compete,” Djokovic said Tuesday. “But I did feel nerves, and I did feel a bit skeptical whether I’m going to be able to continue playing as well as I have the last couple weeks in the practice sessions. But I thought I controlled it well.”
He also has made several changes in his extended layoff. He added the newly retired Czech player Radek Stepanek to a coaching team that already included Andre Agassi.
Djokovic said he also made modifications to his racket without specifying precisely what they were. He has changed shoe models and manufacturers, too, explaining that he was searching for the ideal fit for his playing style, which includes plenty of sliding on hard courts.
“That was a big step for me, and I needed to be100 per cent sure before actually doing it,” he told Serbian reporters of the shoe decision. “I knew this break that I’ve had is ideal for that sort of thing.”
Perhaps most importantly he has abbreviated his service motion in an attempt to relieve pressure on his right elbow. He no longer drops his elbow as low in the take back.
It worked well Tuesday, and his average first-serve speed of 116 m.p.h. was similar to his numbers here in 2016. But what was potentially disquieting was that he lost velocity on his serve Tuesday as the match progressed. In 2016, according to data provided by Tennis Australia’s Game Insight Group, his average speed remained much more stable or even increased in his final six matches.
Next under-pressure opportunity: Thursday in the heat against Monfils, who is 0-14 against Djokovic. Despite winning the title in Doha, Qatar, to start the year, Monfils is deeply resistant to the theory that Djokovic’s layoff presents the best opportunity to finally get on the board.
“Look, I’m not playing as well as when I’m in form,” Monfils said. “And already when I am in form, I have trouble beating him, so imagine the situation now. We keep talking about him, him, him. We’ve got to stop. The guy is a champion. He’s back, and if he’s back, that means he’s ready to compete.”
It remains much less likely, however, that he is ready to steal a page from Federer’s 2017 storybook and win the Australian Open after a sixmonth layoff.