It’s good to be back, says Djokovic as gets off to winning start in London
World No 1 Novak Djokovic flexed his muscles at the O2 Arena in London last night, beating John Isner in straight sets in his opening match at the ATP Tour Finals.
Isner didn’t play that badly at all, in fact the big American hit 13 aces and put 69 per cent of first serves in. But the world No 10 lost 6-4, 6-3 because he came up against a Djokovic in simply imperious form.
“It’s great to be back in the O2, it’s been a lucky place for me over the years,” said Djokovic, who received the year-ending world No 1 trophy on court on Sunday and is red-hot favourite to win in London and equal Roger Federer’s six-title haul.
“The match was great.i managed to be at the right place at the right time, and I held my serve very well and played solid.”
In yesterday’s earlier match, Marin Cilic suffered more ATP Finals misery with a straight-sets defeat by Alexander Zverev.
The world No 7 was edged out in two tie-breaks, losing 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1).
Last year’s Wimbledon runner-up has now won just one of his ten matches at the end-ofseason tournament, and that came against Kei Nishikori in 2016 when Cilic had already been eliminated.
It was also a sixth straight defeat inflicted upon Cilic by
German rising star Zverev, and a lot of it was of the Croatian’s making.
Cilic had break points for 4-0 and 5-1 in the opening set but could not take advantage. He also broke for 4-3 in the second but, ever the nervous frontrunner, he promptly let Zverev straight back in and then wilted in the the tie-break.
The pace of the court has been a topic of discussion so far this week with both Cilic and Zverev seeming to struggle with the bounce at times.
Zverev said: “It’s very fast. It’s definitely one of the quickest courts we have on tour. It’s tough to find your rhythm.”