NOVAK WARY OF LENDL’S RETURN
NOVAK DJOKOVIC believes Andy Murray’s reunion with Ivan Lendl will stoke the fires of their rivalry at Wimbledon following the coach’s vow to end the world No 1’s Grand Slam domination.
Murray, back under Lendl’s guidance, has been confirmed as Wimbledon’s second seed behind Djokovic, meaning tomorrow’s draw will separate them until a mouthwatering potential final on July 10.
The Great British hope has only won two of 15 meetings with the No 1 seed since splitting from Lendl in 2014 and the reunited pairing are desperate to halt the Serb’s run of four consecutive Grand Slam triumphs.
Djokovic suffered a stuttering start to his grass- court return yesterday, losing 6-3, 7-5 to David Goffin at the Boodles exhibition event in Buckinghamshire.
But afterwards he made it clear Lendl’s plan to ‘ruin’ his chances of a ‘Golden Slam’ (all four majors plus Olympic gold in the same year) came as a compliment. He also talked up the potential for a rivalry on court and in the SW19 locker rooms, even quipping that Lendl and his own coach Boris Becker will have to be kept apart behind the scenes.
‘ It’s flattering to hear Ivan’s comments,’ Djokovic said. ‘Ivan is one of the legends of our sport and, of course, he’s been a great rival with my coach Boris.
‘I was joking with my team that they’ve got to extend the locker room for the legends.
‘Having all this rivalry, in the locker rooms and now in the coaching side, is pretty good for our sport. It attracts a lot of attention.
‘I know there’s been a lot of talk about a match-up between Andy and me with Ivan coming to his team but it’s still very early. We’ve got to be respectful to everybody competing in Wimbledon, so we’ll take it step-by-step.’
At Stoke Park, Djokovic rarely got out of first gear against world No 11 Goffin, throwing away five chances for a double break in the second set before crumbling.
The first set went with serve until a backhand unforced error from Djokovic on break point gave Goffin a 5-3 lead.
The world No 1 benefited from a Goffin double fault to go 3-1 up in the second set but failed to take his opportunities to stretch his lead, including three set points at 5-2, and lost five games in a row to surrender the match.
‘I’ve been on grass for many days before this practising, so this is all part of a lead-up to Wimbledon,’ Djokovic said.
‘Boodles is a great way to get some match play, get that feeling of it counting in your mind even though it’s an exhibition tournament. It’s good.
‘One thing that we all learn in tennis is to re-set a day or a week later. That is the kind of sport we are in. We are moving on, it is back on grass now and starting from scratch. It is great we have Wimbledon around the corner, that will definitely make me focused and determined.’
In the women’s draw, Serena Williams will be top seed as the American looks to equal Steffi Graf’s open-era record by sealing a 22nd Grand Slam triumph.
Djokovic returns to Stoke Park today, taking on Wimbledon 15th-seed Nick Kyrgios in another exhibition match.
British No 2 Aljaz Bedene came through 6-4, 6-4 against Dutch No 1 Robin Hasse earlier in the day at Stoke Park as the Sloveniaborn world No 55 completes his own SW19 preparations.
‘It wasn’t easy to play because it’s wet, tough conditions,’ he told Sportsmail afterwards. ‘But I love playing on grass, it’s a unique surface and today was good. It was a good, fun game.’