I’LL BE FINE
Djokovic is ready for a battle — as Murray gets off to a flier
WHILE many were waiting for the rain to subside, Novak Djokovic could relax at his Manhattan hotel and watch his rivals fret. That was just one advantage of being on the other side of the US Open draw to Andy Murray and Roger Federer. Djokovic does not even have to worry about a semi-final against the stricken Rafael Nadal as part of a draw that looks tailor made to help him defend his Flushing Meadows title.
Yet all is not entirely well in the world of the game’s second-ranked player, and not just because Federer knocked him off the top spot with that triumph over Murray in the Wimbledon final early last month.
He is constantly having to parry questions about outside ‘problems’, which were alluded to by his confidante and childhood coach Jelena Gencic when talking to the Serbian media after he lost in the semi-finals at SW19 twice this summer.
Djokovic did not douse speculation by admitting that he had certain offcourt issues, but while he will hardly thank Gencic for bringing the matter up, he insists they are not that serious. ‘I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm, and everybody can observe the situation around me, you know, as a regular person,’ he said.
‘I’m not going to say anything about that because everybody has problems. I’m sure you all agree. You know, my problems are much smaller than an average person’s problems. I cannot complain about my life.’
It certainly does not appear to involve his girlfriend Jelena Ristic, who has been at his side during the Masters events at Toronto and Cincinnati, which were shoehorned into the brief space of time between the Olympics and the Open.
And it is not as if there has been some spectacular crash in his form. With Nadal and Federer missing and Murray withdrawing, he won the Canadian title and reached the final in Cincinnati, which is hardly a disas- ter. What is indisputable, though, is that he is not the same imperious force as last year, losing 10 times in all since starting the season with the Australian Open title, giving him a relatively modest 54-10 record ahead of his first round against Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi.
Meanwhile, Sam Stosur picked up right where she left off 12 months ago with an impressive start to her title defence.
The Australian, who won her first grand slam title at Flushing Meadows last year, crushed talented Croatian Petra Martic 6-1 6-1 in just 51 minutes to reach the second round.
‘I think probably today I carried on from exactly how I was feeling last year,’ said Stosur, who upset Serena Williams in last year’s final.
‘Hopefully that’s a good omen. As far as first rounds go, I was very happy with today.
‘Last year I did feel that comfort out there and nothing bothered me; today was along the same lines.’ The 28-year-old Stosur lost in the first round at this year’s Australian Open and London Olympics, while she was beaten in round two at Wimbledon. Expectations and pressure have got the better of her at times but she looked perfectly at ease against Martic, winning t he first 19 points of the match before doublefaulting to allow the Croatian her first point. ‘The match had been going pretty quick and obviously in my favour,’ said Stosur (left). ‘[The idea of a perfect set] did pop into my head for a split second but then I hit the double fault and it was erased a nd I was quickly on with the next point.’ The seventh seed hit a total of 10 aces and felt comfortable being back on hard courts after early defeats on grass this year. ‘I was definitely pleased to get back out on these courts, a surface where I do feel comfortable,’ she said.
‘It felt like I hadn’t had that good feeling for quite a while. Since being back, it’s a good feeling.’
Stosur admitted that she had buckled under the pressure before but said she felt comfortable in New York.
‘You want to perform at your best no matter where you are but then when you’re at home and maybe there is that little bit extra [pressure], you can’t fall into that trap of [thinking] I’m at home so everything has got to be better,’ she said.
Elsewhere, Andy Murray got his tournament off to a winning start by beating Russia’s Alex Bogomolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.