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6/22/10 2:41 AM | Cheryl Murray
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic was put through his paces in a tough first round match-up against Olivier Rochus.
Novak Djokovic is not at his best on the grass courts of Wimbledon. The Serb had his best result ever at the All-England Club back in 2007, when he made the semifinals. Otherwise, the Championships have been a struggle for Djokovic.
This year appears to be no exception. In addition to his difficulties with the surface, Djokovic was also forced to deal with a harsh draw. Belgium’s Olivier Rochus is a tricky match-up for the Serb; the two men met 4 times prior to Monday’s match – Rochus won 3 of those.
Djokovic started off the match having difficulty on his serve. At 3-3, the Serb fell in a 0-40 hole. A good serve and good forehand save the first two, but on the third break point, Djokovic sent a forehand sailing beyond the baseline to give Rochus the service break.
The Serb returned the favor in the second set, as he raised his level of play enough to go up 5-1 before Rochus composed himself enough to get one of the breaks back. The game was simply delaying the inevitable. Djokovic broke again to take level the match.
There was yet another momentum shift in the third set. Rochus kicked off the set with a pair of service breaks, only to hand one of them back to Djokovic. There were another 2 service breaks, with Rochus securing the 6th of the set to secure the two sets lead.
After a short pause to close the roof and put on the lights, play resumed for the 4th and 5th sets. Djokovic was finally able to wrest control from the Belgian to close out the match in just a shade under 4 hours.
Djokovic will take on American Taylor Dent in the second round.
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Not true that he started off with difficulty on his serve, Cheryl. In fact, except for the game in which he was broken, he had excellent service games in the first set and at least the first 2 were won at 0.
stu , 6/22/10 3:41 AM