It’s a struggle for Djokovic

Who would have expected another sizzler after last year’s Australian Open between the Champion retriever and Simon, the French retriever?

In this battle of the two retrievers the Champion obviously won at the end.  Once again the talented French displayed his crafty craft and skills just to go down tamely at the end when it was time to take what truly belonged to him this time around.

Djokovic should thank his stars and Simon’s mental fragility for getting past this one, and nowadays he’ll probably take anything that he can get.  However, without over analyzing this match deeply, here are the broad points that stand out.

1. What really is the matter with Novak?

Djokovic is still struggling and my guess is that it will not get any easier.  It is not just mental anymore!  It also has to do substantially with his style of play and its sustainability beyond a certain age.  Djokovic’s style of play requires him to prolong points rather than finish them off as soon as possible.  His style of play has added more mileage at 29 than Roger’s at 35!  Djokovic may be able to stay in the top three for another year or so and perhaps have another sniff at the number one rank but that style of play is NOT sustainable after 30 if he wishes to stay in top 3.  Basically, his strength will gradually turn into a serious disadvantage moving ahead.

2. Is his elbow okay?

It seems his elbow may not have fully recovered but that’s the nature of this beast and there is rarely a player in the circuit who doesn’t have some niggling injury at least 200 out of 365 days.  Basically, if you are on court then you are well enough to play. It’s as simple as that.

3. Should Novak rehire Becker?

The plain and simple answer is NO.  There will be nothing gained by hiring Becker this time around.

4. What’s with this Simon chap?

Simon over the course of his career so far has made life very tough for the very best on the tour.   He is a tough and tricky opponent to handle and even Federer has suffered more than his share of heartaches against Simon.  The problem with Simon is that he just can’t close most such important matches, and he proved that yet again!    He had Novak by the ropes only to set hi free to play another round.  With Simon, and certainly some others, this happens far too often which is precisely the reason that they are not champions.