Down the line: Novak’s win could be season’s turning point

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  • Turning point: Djokovic celebrates winning his first title of the season.

    It was only his third event of the season, but Novak Djokovic going title-less for the first two and half months of 2014 might have set alarm bells ringing.

    A set and a half into his Indian Wells final against Roger Federer, it seemed a very likely scenario as well.

    When Djokovic was broken while serving for the match in the final set, many doubted he could mentally handle a tiebreak.

    Instead, it was Federer who crumbled and Djokovic ended up getting a win he desperately needed.

    Heading into Indian Wells, the Serb was over 4000 points adrift of world No1 Rafael Nadal in the rankings and had failed to defend two titles early on, losing a five-setter in the Australian Open quarters to Stanislas Wawrinka and a three-setter to Federer in Dubai.

    Those sound like two very legitimate defeats to two worthy champions, and considering he ended last year with 24 straight wins to cap off a 74-9 season, just thinking that Djokovic was in crisis mode is actually laughable.

    But in the bigger scheme of things, and hearing him admit to his own mental lapses on the bigger stage of late, Djokovic winning just two of the last nine grand slams is clearly not good enough according to the Serb’s own high standards.

    He said he brought in Boris Becker to help him mentally but ended up winning his first title of the year – at a 128-draw event and beating an in-form Federer in the final – not with the help of the German legend but with his long-time coach Marian Vajda in his corner instead.

    Djokovic’s muted celebration after he was forced to dig to incredible depths to overcome Federer was also very telling.

    Along with the double-hug he had with Vajda, his reaction showed how much the title meant to him. Ultimately, it’s those brief moments of fortitude that pay off in the greatest ways.

    The 4000-point lead Nadal had on him is down to 2230, he avoided losing to Federer for a second time in three weeks and he found his mojo at what could prove to be a vital moment in the season.

    Federer’s resurgence is also one of many positive things that are happening at the moment.

    The ‘Big Four’ are now back in the top-six in the rankings; we have an American return to the top-10 in the form of John Isner, we have a new slam champion in Wawrinka, and players like Alexandr Dolgopolov, Grigor Dimitrov and Ernests Gulbis who are stepping up.

    Now bring on Miami, where tennis’ version of March Madness continues for two more weeks.

    One question presents itself though, can Djokovic keep up his form with Boris Becker sitting courtside instead of Vajda?

    We’ll find out in Key Biscayne, where the German is due to link up with the world No2 again.

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