Djokovic is back and raring to go
Fears of Novak Djokovic continuing his lacklustre form from the second half of last year has been eased with his run to the Doha title. After a tentative start to the tournament where he struggled against Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round, the Serbian soon found his footing. On route to the final, Djokovic won 86% of his service games (38/44), winning 81% of his first service points (133/164). One of his biggest tests occurred in the semifinals when he saved five match points before battling past Fernando Verdasco.
“I feel content that I managed to turn the match around… it looked very much in the hands of Fernando tonight. He was clearly a better player for two sets,” he said after the dramatic win.
“It’s not because I’ve done something right. It’s just that it happened that way. Only thing I could do is fight and get myself in a position to win the match. That’s what I’ve done,”
Awaiting Djokovic in the final was Andy Murray, who snatched his work No.1 ranking last year. It was a chance for Djokovic to silence his mounting critics since suffering a straight sets loss to the Brit at the ATP Finals in London. Displaying high levels of emotion, some of which got him in trouble, Djokovic held his nerve to down the Brit 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. This extends Djokovic’s head-to-head lead to 25-11 against Murray.
“It’s definitely one of the best ways to start the year,” the Serbian said.
“All the way to the last shot you never know with Andy. It’s no strange occurrence for both of us to play three sets for three hours. It’s a very physical battle and we’re both going to need some time to recover from that and get ready for Melbourne,”
Djokovic enters the Australian Open as the second seed for the first time since 2014. He trails Murray by 780 points in the ATP Emirates rankings.
