If the second wind was a couple of minutes late, it would have been all over for Nole. I hope this match has made you stronger, Ajde!

stu - I was actually impressed that he managed to pull himself together. I think it bodes well for the rest of the tournament...and you have to admit Troicki DID play well......

troicki played the match of his life IMO - to class net play and court coverage, not to mention excellent serving. too bad he had to lose R1 at the USO, he seemed prepared to go far!

i'm glad Nole's remembering how to make big comebacks when he is down. he's been showing a lot of heart lately...

I heaved a sigh of relief when Djoko made it to the 2nd round.Hope he gets to play some evening matches.It would be great if he could make it to the finals or even get to hoist the trophy..

interesting interview on the court :)

Troicki managed to hold serve for the rest of the set until he served at 5-6 to force a tiebreaker. Djokovic found his outstanding return game and broke to level the match at 2 sets a piece.

Cheryl, there was no tiebreaker in the fourth set. Nole broke victor's serve.

Good match win for Djoker.

Yep, rfzr ... Nole got wisked away quite quickly. :)

rfzr, smr - if you think the on-court interview was interesting, watch the press conference. Video available on the website now.

Thanks stu ... funny listening to him talk about Fed's tweener. :)

Down a break in the 4th set and watching his body language, for a while there I thought Nole has given up. What a pleasant surprise to be wrong. Agree with Cheryl, this bodes well for Nole. He can give Fed a run for his money when they meet in the semis.

Troicki's serve was awesome.

didnt have to see it to figure out what happened:

Troicki simply didnt have the guts to win the match.

Ricky,

I am with you all the way! That was my impression of the match and I watched the thing! Talk about choking! Troicki had that match right in his hand, was about to go up two breaks in the fourth set, up two sets to one and then just disappeared.

5 sets! 3 hours! What a brutal first round match. And poor Troicki, he couldve reached te fourth round at least with that kind of game.
So glad Nole got thru.

Blake with a chance?

well, lets not get carried away...

To be fair to Troicki, he didn't go away. He was also affected by the heat (he was also human) and he was punching above his weight for most of the match and when his level came down, we knew who would be the winner. Nole is simply a better player than Troicki and in a best of five sets match, the better player will usually come through, unless he refuses to fight and gives it all and plays like crap.

Good win by Nole, winning with so much heart, that's why I like Nole more these days. In adversities, he shows he too can fight like Fed and Rafa. Examples, his Dubai final match, his matches against Verdasco during the clay season, his fight against Melzer at RG. He may not win all of them, but I see the effort he puts into them. I hope people stop saying that he'll complete the 'retirement' slam; judging from what effort he puts in today, he'll not want to retire in a slam anymore. Go Nole!!

this

Lets hope the next couple of matches end in straights, or else he's gonna just pass out on court.

Looking at his body language, I really thought he mentally collapsed somewhere in the 3rd set. But after surviving those breakpoints in th 4th and breaking back Troicki, you could feel the momentum shift.

He needs to pick up the pace and win the upcoming matches in 3 sets or under 2 hours, otherwise he'll be exhausted when he enters the QF or SF.

Heroic effort from Nole after being down on the ropes but a shame this match up had to come in 1R for Troicki.

maxi, 9/1/10 3:16 AM: Do read the text more carefully before you correct people. CM did not say there was a tie-breaker.

I know Djokovic struggled in the heat, but this win will do great things for his mental toughness which he has been very vulnerable with.

I am very happy for him and hope he gets to play at night in the second round.

Djokvic and Rafa always seem to draw the short straw when it comes to the draws and scheduling. Murray generally gets a dream draw, no matter what ranking he is. There is something iniquitous about the way the draw comes out, whether it's by chance or not. How is it that Federer ALWAYS ends up with the no hopers in his quarter, and it's not because he can beat everyone except Rafa, Rafa can beat almost everyone most of the time, but some not as easily as others, but Federer always gets people who never ever pose him a threat.

Anyway, back to Djoko, hope his next round is at a decent time of the day, and not too exhausting, he is too good a player not to get far in this tournament.

I wonder what Ricky's beef with Nole is. The reason Troicki lost was because Nole started returning better, and tightened up his groundstrokes and used them aggressively; usually directed towards the Troicki forehand; which then broke down. If Nole hadn't upped his entire game - serving, returning, grounstrokes and volleys - Troicki would have won because he was owning Nole up to that point.


If you want to talk about chokes, Troicki wasn't an example of it yesterday. A choke is more Berdych or Haas in the AO or FO 2009 QFs.

nadline-
It baffles me too, no matter whether his ranked 1 or 2, the draws still look the same.
One thing I know for certain is this, there are only so many lucky draws a player can have before it's no longer luck, but pure manipulation. When people start to notice, you know it's suss, and as they say, if something doesn't feel right it generally isn't.

I have read so many posts by Roger fans saying things on the lines of "I get scared when Roger gets easy draws as he seems to stuff up"
....
ummmmm when have we ever been able to say that Rafa has had an easy draw, or Djokovic or..... the list could go on.

Maxi - I didn't say there was a tiebreaker in the 4th set. I said that Troicki served to force the tiebreaker. If you look at the next paragraph, you'll see that I said that Djokovic broke instead.

Whether or not Nole goes far, I still contend that what he did yesterday was impressive. That hold at 3-1 in the fourth changed the outcome of the match, I'm fairly sure of it.

"heroic" is not a word that comes to mind when I think about this match

Q. Do you prefer to have a night like tonight to start a tournament: a very difficult match to get under your belt? Or would you rather play for an hour and 10 minutes and get it over with?

NADAL: I prefer play one hour and 10 minutes. Win easier, no? Everybody wants win easier. That's no excuse about that, no? I think that no one wins easy, no? Roger did last night. Djokovic, very tough match today. Soderling five sets win yesterday. So no one match is easy, especially in a big tournaments, no? The pressure's there. You play against players that they don't have much to lose, so they play aggressive. This is difficult to stop.

Ricky, what's ur beef with Novak? Why the sarcasm...the guy was out n dusted and came back to win 2 consecutive sets n seal the match...

Heroic isnt the word that should be used to describe it because Novak should have pulled his socks and played aggressive tennis throughout - sealing it in straights. But to say Troicki lost only because he didn't have the guts to close it out is misleading and disrespectful to Djokovic's game.

But I don't expect anything different from a person who puts Nole out before the quarters nearly all the time in his "expert" pre-tournament analysis.

Novak's physical condition. seems not good due to allergy. Novak originally has a lot of stronger shots.

bianca - i have no "beef" with Djokovic, obviously.

nothing about that match was "heroic." Thats a fact, not an opinion.

I was impressed that he came back. Just because I don't hero-worship him doesn't mean I have beef with him.

Ricky, it has nothing to do with hero worshipping just with being objective...
u have been somewhat negative towards Novak of late ...

'Troicki managed to hold serve for the rest of the set until he served at 5-6 to force a tiebreaker'. d'uh?

To me, that reads '5-6 to FORCE A TIEBREAKER'. There was no tiebreaker, so why even mention it?

Ed, thanks for getting on my case - yet again.

You're welcome Maxi.

OK Ricky, calling it heroic was perhaps a bit over the top! Nevertheless I was impressed Nole battled through what was clearly a massive battle with himself (and a very tough opponent0 to overcome his problems with the heat: in the past he would almost certainly have retired.

ed - then we agree, as I was also impressed

i would have been WAY more impressed had it been against someone other than a fellow Serb

"... Federer gets to play someone named Brian Dabul in the first round and Djokovic has to play Troicki? The No. 3 seed must be cursing the draw right about now ..."

rfzr - yep, and thats exactly how it panned out

problem of the play of Novak than the play of Troicki. Problem of Novak own play. It is this year's Wim. looked like the first round of Roger

bianca - you mean "steal" the match obviously!?? djokovic was so deep down in mud the beginning of the fourth.

i agree it was impressive djokovic won in the end. i don't say it bodes well for him though. he looked very vulnerable imo

not so sure troicki would have won against any other player though. he knew he had to play difficult tennis and take many chances. it worked very well for 2 and half sets. but he didn't have the guts to finish it off. against other opponents he wouldn't have done this kind of game plan and he would have struggled as usual.

Night match for the Djoker tomorrow!

"ed: gods are different from God....I certainly believe in the gods of scheduling and they sure don't shine on Novak or Andy."
deuce , 9/1/10 1:17 PM

Please tell me you're kidding!!

Von: going out Day 1 for a nice evening match is a HUGE advantage IMHO. Everyone in Andy's part of draw is disadvantaged, especially if Earl decides to party. :)
Also, I do think it's crazy making anyone play at 40c+. I know it's all about TV audience but why not start at 8am, have 3 hours off for a siesta and start again? Even in the UK (!) we have continual warnings about avoiding the sun because of skin cancer.

Lets see who does Djokovic have to play next after Triocki...that would be PETZSCHNER. The man that took Rafa to 5 sets at Wimbledon. The massive hitter, exceptionally dangerous player with a killer serve.

Now who does Federer get after Dabul....that is A.Beck (Cup cake after cup cake)

I have nothing to say other than, the luck of the draw hey...yeh right!!!!!!!!!

Deuce: You cant beat the system. Money talks. It will be interesting to see how they re-schedule the Friday matches that dont get played cos of rain delays. I bet they wont follow the Wimbledon example and put 'high profile' players on the outside courts in order to catch up!!

ed: if that should happen, why hell would freeze over, or NYC, whichever is hotter :)

ed, Rafa would do anything to play on an outside court, he doesn't like Arthur Ashe, because he says it's too windy. I doubt that they'll put him anywhere else, because so many people would be disappointed if they paid to see him and end up seeing someone else.

As for Fed's sunshine draw, it might work against him at the later stages, because he won't have had much preparation. He would achieve more on the practice courts than playing Dabul or Beck. Let's say Federer got a bye until the SF, because even Sod is a little bit of a soft touch for Fed, unless his serve is working, because Sod's plan 'B' is to try and serve better, nothing else.