Djokovic Ready To Feel The Love In New York
Djokovic Ready To Feel The Love In New York
Original Link: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/08/34/US-Open-Preview-Djokovic-Ready-To-Begin-Title-Defence.aspx
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic is eager to begin where he left things off in New York last year as he prepares to open his US Open title defence.
The Serbian, who enters as the Emirates Airline US Open Series champion, has produced consistent results at Flushing Meadows, reaching the semi-finals or better in every US Open since 2007.
“I love playing in this tournament; the last five years I have had lots of success,” said Djokovic. “It’s incredible and a very unique feeling to come back to New York as defending champion.
“It’s one of the most exciting cities in the world. So you definitely can feel that. Especially the night matches that you play as a player here and in front of the packed stadium. It’s a lot of entertainment, a lot of fun. Interactions with people, with fans, they get into every point, they play with you, so it’s quite different from all the other tournaments.
Every Grand Slam obviously has something unique to offer.”
After winning three Grand Slam titles, a season record five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns and finishing as the year-end World No. 1 in 2011, Djokovic has handled the pressure of trying to repeat his results this year. He retained his title at the Australian Open, successfully defended trophies at the Sony Open Tennis in Miami and the Rogers Cup in Toronto, and reached his first Roland Garros final. He did however lose the top South African Airways ATP Ranking to Roger Federer after the Swiss captured his 17th major title at Wimbledon.
“It’s been a long season and a long summer, but my year has been really good,” Djokovic said. “I actually try to always look from a positive side. I do feel physically stronger and [more] prepared than I did last year. Mentally I had some ups and downs throughout the season, but I think that was maybe expected in a way. It’s normal to have ups and downs.
“But as I said, I feel good… I was very glad that I had very successful Toronto and Cincinnati tournaments. Coming into the US Open, it was very important for me to get into some hard court matches. Hard court is my most preferred surface, so I really look forward to the start of this major.”
Djokovic will play Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi in the first round and has been drawn in the same half as fourth seed David Ferrer. The fifth-ranked Spaniard, 2009 titlist Juan Martin del Potro, countryman Janko Tipsarevic, 2011 quarter-finalist John Isner, Citi Open champion Alexandr Dolgopolov and Andy Roddick, the last American male to win a major title (2003 US Open), are among the players who will be looking to halt Djokovic’s path to the final.
“There are 128 players here who have plenty of motivation to perform their best in the Grand Slam, the last major of the year, so I’m sure that they want to cause some upsets in the opening round,” said Djokovic. ”I’m truly taking it one step at a time. I’ve had good and bad draws in the past, but it’s something I cannot affect, so I’m not calculating or predicting anything. I’m just trying to focus on my game, which is the most important thing.”
Share this article:
Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:
10sBalls Top Stories
- No Key Biscayne, No Problem; New Site, Same Great Miami Open Tennis Event
- 10SBALLS SHARES FAVORITE EPA TENNIS PHOTOS Of 2018
- THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT FOR ANY TENNIS PLAYER & FAN
- ATP MEN’S TENNIS • WILL IT MOVE FROM LONDON TO MANCHESTER OR TOKYO OR SINGAPORE? OR TURIN?
- ALIX RAMSAY WRITES TO “TENNIS SANTA CLAUS” WITH HER WISHES • ANDY MURRAY!
- CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT THE JACK KRAMER CLUB – DECEMBER 15 TO 22 2018 • UTR • ORACLE • AND AN AWESOME NEW TENNIS EVENT
- 10sBalls.com Shares Alix Ramsay’s Rambling On About Tennis and The Holidays
- ROGER FEDERER JOINED BY RAFA NADAL FOR THE 2019 LAVER CUP FESTIVITIES IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- TENNIS PLAYERS’ UNION – IS IT NEEDED? BY MARK WINTERS
- Tennis News: Wilson’s Revolution Is Here – THE CLASH
- ROTTERDAM TENNIS TOURNEY DIRECTOR RICHARD KRAJICEK ANNOUNCES DAVID GOFFIN TO PLAY IN 2019 ABN AMRO
- JELENA VEMIC’S PHOTO GALLERY
- TENNIS NEWS FROM LONDON • 10SBALLS REPORTS ON THE LAWN TENNIS WRITERS HOLIDAY LUNCHEON AT WIMBLEDON’S DEBENTURE CLUB
- 10sBalls.com Shares a Great Gift For A Tennis Player – The Functional Tennis Match Journal
- BNP PARIBAS TENNIS OPEN NAMED 2018 WTA PREMIER MANDATORY TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT YEAR
In Case You Missed It
EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA
Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.
TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE
Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!
TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER
According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!
Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife
Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos