BECKER IS NEW COACH

The former German player Boris Becker is the new coach of Novak Djokovic. He has taken over from Marian Vajda who had been coaching the Serbian player since the last 7 years.

A few weeks back, Djokovic was replaced as the no. 1 player in the world by the Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal and he is really disappointed about it. He wants to get at the top of the World rankings again and to get there soon, he has secured the services of Becker.

Becker has been considered as one of the greatest players produced by Germany ever. He won a total of 49 singles title in his career out of which 6 were the Grand Slams. He retired from the game in 1999.

However, Djokovic has made it quite clear that he is not going to part ways with Vajda. He will remain a part of his team.

Talking to the reporters after the appointment of Becker as his new coach, Djokovic said, “Boris has been a great player himself. He has got immense knowledge of the game and spending time with him is definitely going to help me.”

“Marian will remain there. He along with Boris will form a fantastic combination. I am sure these two guys are going to help me claim a lot of titles in future.”

When asked about his goals for the next season, the Serbian superstar said, “All I want is to play some consistent tennis and keep my body in good shape for the big tournaments i.e. the Grand Slams. Your performance in the Grand Slams matter the most.”

Djokovic has also won as many Grand Slam singles title as his newly appointed coach i.e. six. Out of those six, four have been the Australian Open titles.

DJOKOVIC WINS

Novak Djokovic has defeated Florian Mayer of Germany in the second round of the ongoing Rogers Cup. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 6-1.

It was expected to be a one sided fixture and that’s what it turned out to be. Djokovic didn’t give his opponent any chance and finished the match off in just less than a couple of hours.

This was the 5^th match between these two players and Djokovic has won all of them and that too in straight sets.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Djokovic said, “It’s not easy to enter a tournament like this after a break of 4 weeks. It was important for me to put in a bit of extra effort and I did that. Hopefully, things will keep going well for me in the further matches as well.”

In the first set, Djokovic had a blistering start as he broke his opponent’s serve in the 2^nd game and then, by winning his next service game, he got up by 3-0.

In the next 4 games, neither of the two players dropped his serve and at the end of the 7^th game, the score was 5-2 in the favour of Djokovic.

In the 8^th game, the Serbian ace sneaked in another breakthrough and sealed the set by 6-2.

The start of the second set was quite similar to the first one. Again, Djokovic had a breakthrough in the second game and he was off to a 3-0 lead.

Mayer held his serve in the 4^th game to make the score 3-1, but, that’s all for him in the set. He couldn’t win a game after that as Djokovic bagged the next 3 games in a row with another breakthrough in the 6^th game.

DJOKOVIC LOSES

Novak Djokovic has been defeated by the local lad John Isner in the quarter final round of the ongoing Western and Southern Open on Friday. Isner won the match in three sets by 7-6(7-5), 3-6, 7-5.

Djokovic had been in good form in this tournament and he was supposed to walk away with an easy win against Isner who is 13 positions behind him in the world rankings. But, the 28 years old American player didn’t let that happen. He played some brilliant tennis and pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career.

This was the 5^th match between these two players and Isner defeated Djokovic for the second time.

In the post match interview, Djokovic said, “My performance was extremely poor. It was horrible. I wasted a lot of opportunities and was nowhere close to my best.”

In the opening set, both the players held their entire serves and the set went into the tie breaker.

Djokovic committed quite a few unforced errors in the tie breaker and ended up losing it to get down by a set.

In the second set, Djokovic seemed to be getting into his groove as he broke Isner’s serve in the second game and then, held his serve in the next game to take a lead of 3-0. Thereafter, the Serbian superstar just won his next 3 service games and wrapped up the set.

In the final set, there were no serve breaks in the first 11 games and Isner was ahead by 6-5 when the 11^th game ended. The set seemed to be going into the tie breaker, but, it wasn’t to be. With an all important breakthrough in the 12^th game, Isner clinched the decider and moved into the final 4.

Isner’s next opponent will be Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina.

DJOKOVIC THROUGH

Novak Djokovic has defeated David Goffin of Belgium in the first round of the French Open. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-5.

This was a comfortable victory for Djokovic. He looked just a bit rusty in the opening set, but, in the next two sets, he was at his best.

The Serbian superstar took 2 hours and 13 minutes to knock his Belgian opponent out of the tournament.

In the post match interview, Djokovic hailed his opponent. He said, “David played pretty well right through the match, especially, from the baseline, he was fantastic. He made me work hard in every set. I did well on my serve and managed to pull it off in straight sets.”

In the first set, neither of the two players dropped his serve in the first 12 games and as a result, the set went into the tie breaker. In the tie breaker, Goffin lost his focus and played loose shots to allow his opponent run away with the set.

In the second set, Djokovic broke Goffin’s serve in the 3^rd game and served out the next game to take a lead of 3-1.

Djokovic dropped his serve in the 8^th game and lost his lead. But, he bounced back immediately and got a breakthrough in the 9^th game to get ahead by 5-4. Now, he only had to hold his serve in the 10^th game to win the set and he did that without having any trouble.

In the third set, both the players held their serve in the first 10 games and the scorecard was showing 5-5 before the start of the 11^th game. It seemed that the set would go into the tie breaker, but, that didn’t happen. In the 11^th game, Djokovic managed to sneak a breakthrough and then, by holding his serve in the next game, he won the match.

In the next round, Djokovic will play against Guido Pella of Argentina.

DJOKOVIC BEATS MONACO

Novak Djokovic has defeated Juan Monaco of Argentina in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Djokovic won the match by 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. This win took the Serbian superstar into the final 8.

Djokovic showed a bit of tentativeness at the start and lost the first set, but, he sorted out things after that and by playing some high class tennis, he won the next two sets in no time.

In the post match interview, Djokovic said, “I was tested again. This match also went on for a couple of hours. So, quite clearly, I am not playing at my best, but, I am battling in every match and that’s a good thing.”

In the first set, Djokovic dropped his serve in the third game and then, Monaco held his serve in the next game to increase his lead to 3-1.

Djokovic bounced back with a serve break in the 8^th game which levelled the scores. But, in the very next game, his serve was broken again which gave Monaco the chance to win the set with a serve hold in the next game. The Argentinean didn’t miss out on that chance and served out the 10^th game to seal the set.

In the second set, Djokovic broke Monaco’s serve in the second game and took a lead of 2-0. The next two games went with the serve and then, in the 5^th game, Monaco broke back which decreased the lead to 3-2.

After that, Djokovic just took the set away from Monaco. He got a couple of consecutive breakthroughs in the 6^th and the 8^th game and won the second set by 6-2.

In the third set, Monaco dropped his serve twice early and went down by 1-5. Although, he got a breakthrough in the 7^th game, but, in the next game, he couldn’t hold his serve and lost the match.

In the quarter final round, Djokovic will face Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.

DJOKOVIC EXCELS

Novak Djokovic has defeated Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the final match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2013. Djokovic won the match in the straight sets by 7-5, 6-3.

Djokovic had been given top seed in this tournament. It took him just one hour and 30 minutes to win the final match.

This was the 14^th match between Djokovic and Berdych. In their last 13 meetings, Djokovic had won 12 times.

After winning the title, Djokovic said, “Honestly speaking, my performance in today’s match was not as good as my yesterday’s performance. I had played more aggressively yesterday. However, I managed to win this match in straight sets which is really fantastic.”

Djokovic’s start in the match against Berdych was not that good. His serve was broken in the 5^th game of the first set and he got down by 2-3. However, he got a breakthrough in the 8^th game which made the score 4-4.

In the next three games, there were not any breakthroughs and Djokovic was leading by 6-5 when the 11^th game finished. The Serbian superstar got his second breakthrough in the 12^th game which sealed the first set for him.

In the second set, the first 7 games went with the serve. A serve break in the 8^th game took Djokovic ahead by 5-3. The world no. 1 served out the 9^th game without having any trouble and won the match.

Djokovic’s form in the ongoing season has been amazing. He has not lost any match this year.

This is the second title won by Djokovic this year. Before this, he had won the first grand slam of the year i.e. Australian Open by defeating Andy Murray in the final match. That was a thrilling encounter and Djokovic had won that in 4 sets.