A New Wind Under Novak’s Sails in Eastbourne
Novak Djokovic has seen a ray of light in his run at Eastbourne, reaching the finals at Aegon International. In the quarterfinals he faced Donald Young. It took him four match points to finally convert and win the match, 6-2, 7-6 (9) on Thursday.
Novak would save two set points in the second at 5-4 with Young serving, only to go on and win the set, as well as the match. His last point was an impressive return winner, a testimony to Novak’s control on his nerves, which had been failing him in the last few months.
“I’m just glad the way I kind of held my composure, my nerves. This is the kind of match situations that I was looking forward to having, and I’m glad it happened today and I managed to overcome that,” said the world number 4.
In Djokovic’s semifinal match against Daniil Medvedev he gave another strong performance, a good re-creation of his play at the end of last year and the beginning of the year. He beat Medvedev 6-4, 6-4 on Friday, making his way into the final of Eastbourne.
Both Djokovic and Medvedev traded breaks throughout the beginning of the first set. That being said, Djokovic didn’t seem too worried about having his serve broken, and kept control of his mental state, enabling him to take advantage of the first opportunity to take control of the match.
At 3-4 down in the first, Novak would serve and give Medvedev 3 break points. Miraculously, Novak would save those three break points and win the game, channeling the flow he gained in his service game to break Medvedev in the next game. At 5-4, Djokovic would take control early in the game with a strong serve and win the set.
In the second Djokovic would break again in the first game, and although he did not exactly cruise through the rest of the set, he did not seem so off balance and tense as before with a break in his hand. He kept his play steady and strong, making sure he did not lose the break advantage he gained early in the set, and ensured that Medvedev did not have the opportunity to make his way back into the match. Djokovic won 86 percent of his first serve points and won the match in an hour and 22 minutes.
“I am undoubtedly enjoying this week and the fact that I’m in the final obvisouly makes it even better. But I felt very welcomed from the first day by the people in Eastbourne. I’m really glad that I’ll be able to fight for the trophy tomorrow. I haven’t had too many opportunities to fight for the trophy in the last 10 to 12 months. I’m hoping that I can continue on this path of raising my performance and and the quality of tennis,” said Novak.
Djokovic has never won a grass tournament outside of Wimbledon and this is his first grass court tournament since the 2010 Aegon Championship. Djokovic might just add another grass court title to his repertoire if he can get past Gael Monfils in the finals, who defeated Richard Gasquet in his semifinal.