That wasn’t an easy come back for Novak Djokovic that had to fight a lot to win his 20th match of the season.
The Serbian was coming back after recovering from his wrist injury and he didn’t find a really favorable environment. Djokovic had to face a sticky Stepanek and lots of wind. In the first set Nole was broken at the very first game to then counter break and win the opener 6-3. The second set was much messier as by the end of it there were 4 consecutive breaks with Djokovic managing to finally hold service and win 7-5. The match ended after 1 hour and 37 minutes. Match Stats
Djokovic: It was a very tough condition
Nole wasn’t happy about the conditions they had to play “It was one of the most difficult conditions I’ve played in in my life. Playing when it’s very windy on the court, especially on clay, the clay gets in your eyes. It was very difficult to get any kind of rhythm. Stepanek is a very experienced player, so that’s why I had to be super-focused every game because I knew he had this variety of shots. It was a little bit frustrating when I dropped serve twice in the second set, but the positive is that I managed to stay mentally tough until the end and win.”
Next vs. Kohlschreiber
Djokovic will play a dangerous Kohlschreiber in the third round. Head to head is 3-1 for the world no.2, but on clay it’s 1-1
