Novak Djokovic overcame a stubborn Nicolas Almagro to defend his Mubadala World Tennis Championship title in a highly-entertaining clash which the Serb says he thoroughly enjoyed.
Following his longest match in the UAE capital, Djokovic remains undefeated in Abu Dhabi but had to fight for two hours and 34 minutes to shake Almagro, who together with the Serb gave the crowd a show that was well worth the money they spent.
“I tend to have a lot of fun when I play with Nico (Almagro) for some reason,” an elated Djokovic said after the final.
“He’s also a tennis player who’s charismatic and comes out on the court with a very strong and powerful game but also likes to have fun. So it was really nice and entertaining. We engaged the crowd in a way and I’m sure they appreciated it.”
The contest was the perfect mix between some stellar tennis and straight out humour on court as the pair made sure they had a good time whether it was Djokovic dancing on court, giving pointers to how a lines judge should call an out, or Almagro messing with umpire Pascal Maria for calling a let too late.
Almagro snuck away with the first set in the tie-break after saving several break points to keep the 54-minute set on serve as Djokovic looked less sharp than he was against David Ferrer the day before.
The world No1 however recovered in the second set, breaking in the very first game, and even though Almagro broke right back, Djokovic edged ahead again and leveled the match to one-set-all.
The decider was a tight affair and a marathon 14-minute sixth game saw Almagro hang on with all his might to hold for 3-3 but in the tenth game, Djokovic got his hands on two match points and all he needed was one when the Spaniard sent a backhand long to surrender the match 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-4.
“He played an amazing match. Hitting the ball very strong from the baseline and he wasn’t giving me a lot of time,” said Djokovic of Almagro.
“I started a bit slow because I didn’t feel as fresh and sharp as yesterday and I expected that because we’ve been working very hard the last few weeks and it’s catching up a little bit, so it’s great to come out a winner from a match like this.”
Despite the joking around on court, Djokovic assured he and Almagro gave their very best last night.
The 25-year-old said: “Don’t get tricked that it’s only an exhibition event. I believe that all the players that have participated in this tournament have wanted to give their best on the court because you want to see where you are. It’s a top-level tennis as you can see tonight. I will see how my schedule works for next year and maybe come back.”
Meanwhile Almagro, who saved nine of the 13 break points he faced, admits that he exceeded his own expectations in terms of how hard he pushed Djokovic on a surface the Spaniard is not as comfortable on, and is happy that the work he is doing off-court is paying off.
“I’m trying to improve. This match today is a really good test, because I played great tennis,” said Almagro, whose 12 title wins on tour have all come on clay.
“I played aggressive, I served really good, I returned quite good too and I’m happy with that. I need to continue working like this and I will see.
“I’m working on my serve because on those surfaces if you serve good you have a lot of chances. I think today I served better than I expected but I’m happy for that, when you go on the court and you see that everything you are working on is going good, you want to continue doing that.”
* For breaking news, follow us on @Sport_360 or find us on Facebook.
