How Djokovic became grass master
Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Tim van Rijthoven (Ned) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
Unerring groundstrokes
Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon day began in the company of some of the greatest grass-court tennis players in history and ended with him taking another stride towards the very summit of that list.
That might once have seemed like a surprising destination for a player who is not in the classic grass-court mould of a John Mcenroe, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras or Roger Federer, but his place among those greats is already assured. A four-set late night victory against Tim van Rijthoven was his 25th in a row on the Wimbledon grass and, should he triumph again on Sunday, he will join only Sampras, Federer and Bjorn Borg in the Open era to have won four consecutive Wimbledon titles.
The name Borg in that list is instructive because it shows that there have always been several ways to attain greatness, even on the fastest courts. Like the Swede, Djokovic’s biggest technical weapon is the unerring power and accuracy of his groundstrokes, especially the depth he maintains. It pins his opponents to the back of the court and leaves virtually no opportunity to step in and win the sort of quick points associated with a slick surface. Djokovic made 19 unforced errors during 2 hours and 38 minutes on court against Van Rijthoven – almost three times fewer than his opponent.
Iron will and concentration
Probably Djokovic’s greatest single attribute and evident in bundles during this win against Van Rijthoven, perhaps most impressively in the second set that he actually lost. Why? Because the way that he forced such a flurry of deuces and break points at the end of that set was what actually prised open his 5-0 gallop to a third-set lead. That might sound odd, but Van Rijthoven only edged the second set with a monumental effort that always felt impossible to sustain. A dip then understandably followed. By contrast, Djokovic’s focus and concentration almost never wavers and, before Van Rijthoven knew it, he was in sight of the finish. That mental focus was tested by the length of the day, with Djokovic calling for earlier show-court starts at a press conference that finished only shortly before midnight.
“I heard there is a discussion about moving it a bit earlier,” he said. “I think that most of the players would probably agree that we would want the start of the Centre Court earlier.”
Return and second serve
Van Rijthoven had only had his serve broken three times in three matches during a wonderful breakthrough tournament before facing Djokovic. Four sets and six breaks of serve later and he had discovered what it was like to go up against one of the greatest returners in history. Like Borg, Chris Evert and Andre Agassi previously, Djokovic has shown that this single shot can be every bit as deadly on a grass court as booming first serves and volleys. “You’ve got to give Novak something different if you don’t want to get broken a bunch of times,” Mcenroe said on BBC commentary.
Another weapon is Djokovic’s second serve. Virtually every player will win a healthy majority of the points when their first serve goes in. Djokovic often also does it on his second serve, and he won virtually the same ratio of points (69 per cent against 75 per cent) against Van Rijthoven as he did with his first.