MONTE CARLO – Novak Djokovic is not satisfied with his game, and that does not bode well for his rivals as he is eager to be playing at his highest level as soon as possible.
The Serb returned to the ATP Tour on Tuesday with an “ugly” straight-set win over Ivan Gakhov at the Monte Carlo Masters and, while the world No. 1 has had extended preparation on clay, he said he needs more time to adapt to the surface.
The 35-year-old, who is not vaccinated against Covid-19, was unable to play at Indian Wells and Miami in March as he failed to obtain a waiver to enter the United States.
He spent the time training on clay ahead of the French Open in May, where he will target a 23rd Grand Slam, but his 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 win over Russian qualifier Gakhov showed he needs more time to get into a rhythm.
“It was probably, if you can call it this way, an ugly tennis win for me,” Djokovic said.
“I haven’t played my best, particularly in the first set.
“Throughout my career, I needed one, two weeks of tournaments to really start to play the way I want to. It’s the case again this year, though I trained for three weeks and felt good playing practice points.
“But it’s different when you play a match, especially today was quite windy and not easy to find the rhythm, to have the ball right, the ball toss and playing a lefty, playing someone that has not much to lose.
“All these things play a factor in the way you feel on the court. I’m really glad I overcome the first step because I hope things will be better and easier from this point.”
The Australian Open champion added that the level of his tennis was “not very high” at the moment and he was not sure when it would pick up.
“The good feelings might come as soon as the next match or later,” said 22-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic, who plays Lorenzo Musetti in the third round. “I don’t know. We’ll keep working on practice courts and see what happens.”
On Wednesday, Alexander Zverev continued to rebuild his confidence on clay with a 6-4, 6-4 second-round victory against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.
The German 13th seed, who suffered a serious ankle injury in the 2022 French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal, won his second match in as many days for his first steps on the red dirt since the Roland Garros drama.
Zverev broke for 3-2 in the opening set and held serve to take the lead in the contest, before breaking again in the fifth game of the second set.
Bautista Agut, however, stole the German’s serve right back to level for 3-3, only for Zverev to take the decisive break in the following game.
Casper Ruud, the 2022 French Open finalist, was also in second-round action, defeating Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 7-5, 7-6 (7-1).
“It is never easy to start at a new tournament and against a player I have lost to before,” said the Norwegian, who recently lost to his Dutch opponent at the Miami Open.
“Miami this year was a tough three-setter. I was a bit sloppy and didn’t take my chances. Sometimes, it is a little tricky playing someone you recently lost to, like you think, ‘Not again’.
“But, in this case, I was a bit happy because I felt like some unfinished business from the Miami match.” REUTERS
