LONDON: Three weeks after an acrimonious exit on the US Open, world primary Novak Djokovic will resume his pursuit of an 18th Grand Slam title when he takes on Sweden’s Mikael Ymer within the first spherical on the French Open on Tuesday (Sep 28).
The Serbian had began as a heavy favorite to win the title at Flushing Meadows however was disqualified from his fourth-round match towards Pablo Carreno Busta after inadvertently putting a line decide within the throat with a ball.
“I needed to settle for it and transfer on. In fact, it was a shock for me and lots of people,” Djokovic instructed reporters.
The incident raised query marks over Djokovic’s risky on-court behaviour in an in any other case excellent 2020 season, by which he has assembled a tour-leading 31-1 document.
Djokovic was relieved to show a web page on the New York chapter and appeared proper at dwelling on his claycourt return in Rome, dropping only one set en path to his fifth Italian Open title.
“I do not need to sound conceited. I’m very happy and happy to win a title. I do know I nonetheless have a few gears,” mentioned Djokovic after sealing his document 36th Masters trophy.
Six-times Grand Slam champion John McEnroe mentioned Djokovic had proven power of character to reply so positively to his New York debacle and believes the 33-year-old has mounted his thoughts on surpassing the Grand Slam data of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
“I believe he is very considerate, he comes out and says that he desires to make historical past and be the most effective of the most effective, which is placing much more expectation on your self however he is embraced that,” Eurosport analyst McEnroe mentioned.
“He is been capable of break himself into the 2 all-time biggest gamers and be a part of that blend the place you determine perhaps Novak would be the biggest.”
Ymer, ranked 80, will probably be dealing with a world primary for the primary time when he walks out to play Djokovic and can take some coronary heart from that indisputable fact that the Serbian misplaced to a lower-ranked participant in a Grand Slam when he fell to quantity 117 Denis Istomin within the second spherical of the 2017 Australian Open.
It might symbolize an enormous shock although because the damp claycourts, that includes a decrease bounce than through the match’s standard Could/June slot, seem tailored for the precision baseline energy and accuracy that Djokovic boasts.