Djokovic Smashes Again—Nathan’s Notice
By: Nathan M. Cuny
Okay, so Djokovic has been out of the game for nearly a month and comes back whipping everybody’s butts. But, he has some very, very dangerous competitors knocking out opponents as readily as he is. On Wednesday the 28th Djokovic overcame No. 74 Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6⁵, 6-3 in the tournament’s second round. It took Djokovic 1 hour and a half to overcome the Ukranian. Djokovic is looking to win the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to win his second tournament of the year.
Djokovic’s first victory came easily on Monday night after beating No.72 Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-4, 6-2. Dubai is only the second tournament Djokovic has played in this year—he, Murray, and Nadal have had similar schedules at this season’s start, that being very sparse schedules, so we can expect the rest of the top four to play more consistently over the next month. The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells is rapidly approaching and very soon after it’s off to Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open.
After Djokovic’s first match at Dubai he was very positive and enthusiastic, willing to carry his eagerness onward, saying, “I was really happy throughout the whole match the way I played. I really didn’t have many downs in the game. He made me play it. He gave me good rhythm and went for his shots and made a lot of winners. Credit to him. I’m happy with the first match after four weeks definitely.”
Djokovic’s second match of the week started slow with the momentum building to his eventual win. It was another positive note for the player as he prepares to face fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the quarterfinals. After Wednesday’s match, Djokovic commented, “I was expecting a lot serve and volley attacks, especially after first serve. He was using it really well, making my return games very difficult. But we both controlled our service games quite well up to maybe the beginning of the second set. I had one bad service game; he had couple. I was fortunate to use the opportunity when it was presented.”
No.9 Janko Tipsarevic defeated No.86 Flavio Cipolla on his way to the quarterfinals. The match lasted a total of three sets with Tipsarevic winning, 6-7², 6-1, 6-1. Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic are currently 3-1 in their head-to-head matchup. That’s pretty close if you ask me, and I’ve got a feeling Tipsarevic will win at least one set.
As for other players, both Andy Murray and Roger Federer advanced to the quarterfinals. Federer won straight sets on Wednesday defeating No.15 Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-3. Federer faces Mikhail Youzhny who upset sixth seeded Mardy Fish in the tournament’s first round. Murray faces No.7 Tomas Berdych in his upcoming quarterfinals match. Murray knows how much of a heavy hitter Berdych is and is preparing to stick it to him by getting the first hit in the rallies and throwing a lot of variety in his game. Djokovic hasn’t said anything about his game plan for Thursday’s quarter finals match, but maybe its best kept secret.
Topics: Novak Djokovic
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