Novak Djokovic; Will the Serbian claim his second Grand Slam in 2011? Part two
An important factor regarding Djokovic’s performance in 2010 was his consistency as the Serbian tennis ace reached the final eight round in all four Grand Slam tournaments. However, after winning his season first crown in Dubai, the right hander had to wait
until October as he picked up his second and final title of the year in Beijing.
In Miami, the Belgrade born suffered his first opening round exit since January last year, followed by another first round departure in his home town where he pulled out due to illness.
Djokovic conceded a two set lead to Jurgen Melzer in the final eight round at French Open and went out of Queens in round three.
Nevertheless, the Serbian was taking the first of several significant steps towards transfusing his game with the excellent hues of his former palette. The Monte Carlo resident parted ways from his coach Martin, citing communication hurdles between the American
and Novak’s long standing coach, Marian Vajda. Moreover, Djokovic also commented on the effect of the partnership on his serve.
“He tried to change my serve, however it was all too complicated in the end and now I am back to the old one,” said Djokovic.
It had certainly looked that Novak serve was not up to its natural standard and the less reliable it became, the greater the confidence appeared to leach from the rest of Serbian’s game.
According to the stats, his opening serve percentage between his first clash in Indian Wells and his final in Rome, was in the 50s on four occasions and topped seventy just once, whereas his double fault rate in a couple of clashes soared.
By the Rogers Cup in Toronto, it did not drop below 68 in all four encounters. By the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York, most clashes ranked from the high 60s to the mid 70s. Between the Flushing Meadows and Barclays World Tour
Finals in London, the world number three Djokovic averaged only one and a half double faults in each of his twenty nine clashes.
Another significant confidence boost came at the Flushing Meadows itself, in a final four clash with the Swiss tennis maestro, Roger Federer, who was looking to make his way into his seventh title battle in New York.
Novak carried the baggage of defeats to the Swiss native on Arthur Ashe in each of the past three seasons and, when the right hander went down at 7-5 in the opening set to an aggressive Federer, it had the makings of a similar story.
However, the Serbian bounced back, winning the next set comprehensively at 6-1. The following two sets seesawed in the similar manner and when Federer took two match points during the fifth set, the outcome appeared inevitable. However, the saving of those
points proved to be the turning point of the match in the end, the Serb while playing at his very best, emerged victorious in the end.
The way Djokovic triumphed in the battle made it all the more impressive as he overpowered Roger in a twenty one stroke rally, remained cool and hit every ball in the heart of the racket.
In spite of the fact that the Swiss tennis maestro got the better of him in three remaining clashes of the season, the Serbian knew he had made a major breakthrough. He while commenting on his success against Federer said, “I just knew I had to be patient
and not lose my emotions too much, because that was the case in the past where I was losing the momentum. Federer uses that nervousness of the opponent. He feels it.”
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