Djokovic admitted to Kyrgios in a funny way that he wasn’t pleased with his serving against Djere.
Novak Djokovic wasn’t happy with two things after progressing into the US Open third round as the Serb told Nick Kyrgios on the court that he didn’t want the match to end via a Laslo Djere retirement before adding that he also wasn’t pleased with his serve.
On Wednesday evening in New York, Djokovic was 6-4 6-4 2-0 up against fellow Serb Djere when the world No. 109 was forced to retire the match.
When the match started, Djokovic missed out on two break points in the second game and two more in the fourth game. But also, the defending champion saved two break points in the third game and saved another four games later. In the seventh game – with Djere serving to stay in the match – Djokovic stepped up and got the first break of the match to seal the opener.
Early in the second set, Djere saved a break point before earning his first break of the match and ultimately opening a 4-2 lead. But then, Djere started to deal with something and he required a medical timeout – during which he received treatment in the abdominal area.
Unfortunately, Djere’s movement appeared to be impacted – and after Djokovic won six games in a row – the 29-year-old walked up to the net and retired.
“Obviously not how you want to win. He had elbow surgery 6 months ago. To see him back on court playing amazing… How heartbreaking is it to see him having to retire tonight?” Kyrgios asked Djokovic during an on-court interview.
Djokovic responded: “It’s not what we want or what the crowd wants… To see a walkover. He had an injury that took him off the tour for some time and he is struggling to come back physically to his level. He’s such a good player. It should’ve been his 2nd set honestly. He was 4-2 up… I don’t know whether me winning the 2nd set put more burden on him mentally. Overall it was a big fight.”
Djokovic drops a joke while slamming his serve
Against Djere, Djokovic just made 47 percent of his first serve. However, he was at least able to win 79 percent of his first-serve points. Still, the record 24-time Grand Slam champion wasn’t happy that just 42 of 89 first serves he had landed in.
And when making that clear, Djokovic joked that not everyone can have a great serve as Kyrgios does.
“Over 2 hours for 2 sets. I served awful. Playing without a serve, you have to grind and run. Not everyone serves like you. I guess I have to rely on my baseline game,” Djokovic said.
Over the last few years, Djokovic and Kyrgios completely changed their relationship so banters like this between them are nothing new.
Djokovic wary of the Alexei Popyrin challenge
For a place in the second week at the US Open, Djokovic will play against 28th-ranked Popyrin. Heading into the match, Djokovic owns a perfect 3-0 head-to-head.
On paper, it may look like Djokovic dominates Popyrin. But this year, Popyrin twice made Djokovic work hard before the former world No. 1 sealed four-set wins against the 25-year-old at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
And ahead of their upcoming clash, Djokovic was the first to highlight that Popyrin wasn’t an easy opponent in the past and he also praised the Australian for becoming a Masters champion in Montreal this month.
“Yeah, I’m happy to win four-set another time. Don’t get me wrong. But, you know, he keeps on getting closer and closer, knocking on that door. He’s a really good player. He has improved a lot. He’s won his first Masters in Canada. We always knew he has a big serve and forehand, but I think his backhand and his movement improved a lot,” Djokovic explained.
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“So he’s much better defending, and he’s more consistent. He doesn’t make as many errors as he used to. Just overall great improvement from his side. He’s pumped. He’s confident, and he shows that. He’s been playing some great tennis, so no reason for him not to believe that he can put up a great performance, and he’s going to go for the win. I know that.
“But I know what to expect as well. We played, as you said, a couple of times. I’m going to, of course, do my homework, analyze those matches, and see what needs to be done.”
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