A shaky start from Novak Djokovic – five double faults in the first set – had to raise Gael Monfils' hopes: Is this the day? The Frenchman had lost to Djokovic the first 14 times they had played in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, including during the 2016 US Open semi-finals. Only nine other rivalries in the Open Era had been more lopsided. But after Monfils took advantage of Djokovic's slow beginning, the Frenchman fatigued in the Melbourne sun, and Djokovic settled his game enough to remain perfect against Monfils. The 14th-seeded Serbian advanced to the third round of the Australian Open for the 11th time 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. Most dominant Tour-level head-to-head records (Open Era) Player Opponent FedEx...
Watch highlights as six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic wins his first official match since retiring in the 2017 Wimbledon quarter-finals. Photo credit: Peter Staples/ATP World Tour. Video courtesy Tennis Australia. Watch more video and live matches at www.ausopen.com. Highlights not available in Aus., NZ or Canada and only available in Europe and USA 24 hours after completion of the match.
Elbow problems? What elbow problems? For at least his first-round match, Novak Djokovic brushed aside any worries of his right elbow holding him back during this Australian Open. The six-time champion routed American veteran Donald Young, looking like his old self as he crushed sliding forehand winners and broke Young six times to advance 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. “It felt great to be back on the court and compete again,” said Djokovic. “It’s been a while [so] obviously you don't know how you're going to start off. I was putting a lot of hours on the court in the past couple weeks… I could feel that I was hitting the ball well.” [ALSO LIKE] It was Djokovic's first match in more...
Following a six-month absence from the sport to rehabilitate an elbow injury, the former World No.1 in the ATP Rankings and 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic makes his return to competitive action at the Australian Open armed with a fresh mindset – and a new serve. Djokovic, whose loaded resume includes six Australian Open titles won on the hard courts of Melbourne Park, has always served notice at the start of the season. This year, he’ll be serving a little differently thanks to hard work done in the pre-season with coaching additions Andre Agassi and the recently retired Radek Stepanek. “The service motion is something that we worked on,” said Djokovic. “It was obviously the part of my game...
Few are expecting much of him, and even fewer are predicting that he'll win yet another Australian Open title. A quarter-final appearance? He'll probably take it. Sound familiar? Roger Federer was that guy last year at the Australian Open. Federer came back after having missed six months away, with his final match in 2017 coming at Wimbledon. “It's a great draw because I'm in the draw. So for me I'm super pleased that I made it here, that I have an opportunity to win matches. How many rests to be seen. I'm cautious myself. So, yeah, clearly an underdog this time around,” Federer said before his first match at the 2017 Australian Open. Djokovic's past six months have followed a...
