Novak Djokovic has had to deal with a lot of difficulties at the start of the season. Due to his choice not to get vaccinated against Coronavirus, the Serbian champion was unable to take part in the Australian Open (where he would go hunting for his tenth seal).
As if that weren’t enough, the Australian soap opera also caused him serious damage to his image. The 34-year-old from Belgrade made his seasonal debut in Dubai, but his race stopped already in the quarters at the hands of a wild Jiri Vesely.
Strict US regulations forced him to miss the Indian Wells and Miami Masters 1000s as well. The 20-time Grand Slam champion is struggling more than expected to regain confidence and rhythm, as evidenced by his premature exit from the stage in Monte Carlo.
Nole gave signals of awakening in Belgrade, reaching the final after surviving three real battles. In the last act, ‘Djoker’ surrendered in three sets to a great Andrey Rublev. Speaking to the Tennis Channel, Christopher Eubanks assured us that we will see the best Novak again soon.
Eubanks talks about Djokovic
“I’m starting to see the sparks of the Novak Djokovic of last year because Novak’s last year was incredible,” Eubanks said. “Novak’s year last year was one of the greatest years a tennis player has ever put together, one match short of a Calendar Slam, it’s absolutely incredible.
But, like you said, the way the year started off, with the way that year started off, he hasn’t been playing many matches, just practicing. It’s very, very tough to replicate match-play situations in practice. We’re seeing a glimpse.
I think in the first match, he just had to kind of find a way, just give himself another chance to just keep going,” Eubanks said. “That was against Laslo Djere, then against Kecmanovic, we started to see more glimpses.
I think Kecmanovic won the first set, Novak, again when his back is against the wall, he produces some of his best tennis and then there were points, probably 5 or 10 instances in that match when we said ‘That’s Novak!
I think Novak is finding his form and if he contines this, he’s going to be really, really scary in the next few weeks,” Eubanks concluded. Novak is all set to play both the French Open and the Wimbledon. Earlier, it looked pretty impossible for the Serb to play the Grand Slam tournaments after the Australian Open snub.
However, after the French government changed the rule regarding vaccination, it was certain that Wimbledon will also do the same.
