During the first half of the season, Novak Djokovic has managed to go from being blighted by injury issues to grand slam champion.
At the Wimbledon Championships the former world No.1 defeated Kevin Anderson to win his 13th major title. The triumph came after what has been a challenger past 12 months. In 2017 the Serbian was forced to miss six months of the tour due to an elbow injury and underwent a further operation to treat the issue earlier this year. He only managed to win back-to-back matches in two of his first six tournaments this season.
“It’s frustrating when you’ve played so well for seven, eight years and knowing that the level that you play on is not there for you for several months.” Djokovic told reporters following his first round win at the Rogers Cup.
“I worked really hard, probably harder than ever, but I just wasn’t able to play at the desired level.”
The turnaround in fortunes has been guided my long-term mentor Marian Vajda, who reunited with Djokovic at the start of the clay season. He now embarks upon the US Open series with a win-loss record of 20-4 since May.
Speaking about the improvements in his game, there is one particular area that Djokovic is impressed with the most. That is his serve. In his latest match against Mirza Basic, Djokovic hit nine aces and won 71% of his service points. Earlier this year, he made adjustments to his service motion to relieve the pressure put onto his elbow.
“I think I served very well in Wimbledon, the fastest surface in our sport, where a lot of the tactics are dependent on how accurately and how well you serve.” He reflected.
“I thought I did extremely well, especially against Nadal when I needed to in that thrilling match, and then against Kevin in the final.”
Almost back to his best
For Djokovic, he believes his resurgence wasn’t something that just happened. He has attributed the surge to being able to play high-profile matches on a consistent basis. Something that he has been unable to do in recent months.
“I think just in general, consistency of playing on a high level match after match, I haven’t had that post surgery for several months.” He replied when talking about the improvements in his game.
“I was struggling to play two or three matches in a row consistently well. So that has changed and obviously feels good.”
Currently ranked 10th in the world, the 31-year-old is targeting his fifth title at the Rogers Cup this week. Djokovic has been handed a tough draw with either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Dominic Thiem lurking in the third round followed by a potential clash with reigning champion Alexander Zverev. A challenge he is relishing with a newfound confidence gained by his triumph at The All England Club.
“I always am very optimistic and going to the tournaments with high expectations and ambitions, but it’s quite different when you have Grand Slam title under your belt.” He explained.
“Hard court has historically been my most successful surface, so there’s no reason for me to believe that I cannot do well.”
Djokovic, who has won 51 ATP titles on a hard court, will take on Peter Polansky in the second round of the Rogers Cup on Wednesday.
