Struggling Djokovic searches for clinical style of old
The Serbian has been out of sorts at the US Open so far and perhaps he can borrow a page or two from Alcaraz’s book
Mumbai: Before this year, Novak Djokovic had never come into the US Open without playing a single competitive tournament after Wimbledon. Before this year, Carlos Alcaraz had never come into the US Open playing less than two competitive tournaments after Wimbledon.
Both multiple-time Grand Slam winners, lurking in the same half of the draw, tweaked their calendars with a similar objective – to be fresher for the season-ending Slam. Early indications couldn’t have been more contrasting of the altered approaches.
We’ll focus on one, for Cincinnati champion Alcaraz has simply carried his momentum to New York and delivered a 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 Round 2 romp of Mattia Bellucci in among his most clinical early round shows at Majors.
Clinical is far from the term that would summarize Djokovic’s second-round outing, where he dropped the first set before cashing in on American Zachary Svajda’s physical dip for a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 outcome.
It’s not so much the 24-time Slam champion dropping a set against the 145th-ranked qualifier that was somewhat worrisome from a Djokovic viewpoint. Go back to the Serb’s first match on Sunday and his 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2 win against American teen Learner Tien wasn’t convincing either.
More so for the man himself, who hasn’t looked like the Djokovic that Arthur Ashe Stadium has witnessed for a couple of decades. Missing is that unrelenting resolve in his eyes, those animated gestures, that steely fist pump acknowledgement of a good point won.
“It’s not a motivation thing. It’s just me (being) a bit frustrated with my game,” Djokovic said of his muted on-court body language in New York.
“I’m just trying to be locked in, just trying to solve the riddle once I’m on the court. It’s not like I’m not finding joy on the court competing. I enjoy competing, but I don’t enjoy not playing well. Today was a little bit of a struggle to find that rhythm.”
That rhythm certainly appears rusty without any game time since his Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Jannik Sinner, on July 11.
The 38-year-old managed to make the semi-finals of the three Slams this season, yet the underlying theme in all of his losses there had been his physical inability to cope with his younger rivals. He retired mid-match against Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open, and seemed gassed out against Sinner at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Djokovic admitted he’d have to find a way to turn up with more gas in the tank at the business end of Slams where his biggest rivals usually await.
And so Djokovic chose to not turn up for any tune-in event in the American hard-court swing and, for the first time in his career, go straight from playing Wimbledon to entering the US Open.
However, instead of breezing through the initial rounds, his return to action after a long break has been a stormy struggle.
After the first set against Tien where he “felt really good”, Djokovic was left “surprised how bad I was feeling in the second physically”.
Speaking after the first round, Djokovic said he struggled to stay with him in long rallies and recover after points.
“Hopefully that doesn’t happen again, because then it makes my life on the court definitely much more challenging,” he said.
His life wouldn’t get any easier on court for his second round, despite having two days off in between. A common factor in both these matches is the usually high unforced error count from Djokovic in a set. In the first set against Tien, it was 20. In the second against Svajda, it was 14.
Djokovic is frustrated about his level. Djokovic is searching for rhythm. Djokovic is fresh but far from clinical.
But Djokovic also knows how to win on days he doesn’t feel at his best. Which he has done so far. And Djokovic also knows how to build into a Slam and crank up the level with each passing match. Which he hopes will happen in this US Open.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz is already dishing out a level of champions.
