It may be a new year and a new season but for Novak Djokovic it is business as usual as the world No1 picked up right where he left off last November, cruising through his first match of 2016 in less than an hour on Monday in Doha.
Djokovic wrote “I missed it” on the camera lens following his 6-2, 6-2 51-minute demolition of German-Jamaican Dustin Brown in the Qatar Open first round, but it feels like he never stopped playing during the offseason considering there were no signs of rust from the Serb, who was contesting his first match in almost six weeks.
The 10-time grand slam champion is coming off his greatest season to date but insists he has no intention of slowing down.
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“I think the biggest challenge is, as it is in any of the previous years for me, is to really be consistent with my success throughout the year, try to stay healthy and try to maintain the high level of performance,” said Djokovic, who faces either Fernando Verdasco or Malek Jaziri in the second round.
“That’s what I try to focus my mind on. If I start thinking too much about certain tournaments, it can present a kind of a distraction to me so you try not to do that. I try to actually be as much as I can in the present and work my way through and effect whatever I can effect.
“That is: really working on my game, training myself to be strong and to play confident tennis. And I know as a consequence to that, the results will be positive, I’m hoping, obviously.
“So this year it’s going to be especially congested because of Olympic Games. Davis Cup is there, as well, and obviously – I’m playing first round of Davis Cup, yes. And depending on what we do, I’m not sure. There is going to be a lot of matches, hopefully. If there is a lot of matches, that means I’m doing well.”
Taking Novak longer to come to press than it actually took him to beat his first round opponent. #WhereIsNovak
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) January 4, 2016
Playing in windy and cold conditions, Brown won the very first point of the match as the flamboyant German attacked the net in his signature aggressive style and volleyed for a winner. But Djokovic had all the weapons to extinguish his opponent’s threat, racing to a 3-0 lead and going up a set inside half an hour.
The top seed broke in the sixth game of the second set and again two games later to seal the victory and advance to round two.
“Considering the weather conditions and everything, I think it was a good performance from my side. Obviously I played a player who I never faced before and somebody that is, first of all, I think a very charismatic guy, very good for tennis, for sport, and somebody that is unpredictable. Comes up firing with the shots,” Djokovic said of his dreadlocked opponent.
Djokovic, playing in Qatar for only the second time in his career, hailed the history of the tournament, which is in its 24th edition – the first which was won by his coach, Boris Becker in 1993.
“We are hoping that I can repeat that success this year,” Djokovic said smiling, referring to Becker.
Earlier in the day, Rafael Nadal lost his opening doubles match alongside fellow Spaniard Verdasco 6-7(4), 6-4, 11-9 to Teymuraz Gabashvili and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Wind can’t stop Rafa and I from having a good time at beach-tennis shooting #QatarOpen pic.twitter.com/wM7i3COqSt
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 3, 2016
Nadal will kick-off his singles campaign today against Pablo Carreno Busta, also of Spain, and explained he worked on specific areas during the offseason in order to improve his form on the court.
“It is obvious that I feel more confident this year but anything can happen. This is the sport,” the 29-year-old said yesterday.
“We worked a little bit different (in the offseason). We try to find different positions on court, try to play more inside and we work a lot on the return, too. We feel that we need a few things that are different than other years but on the same time without losing the character of my game.”
Spanish world No17 Feliciano Lopez suffered the first upset of the tournament, falling to his countryman Daniel Munoz de la Nava 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5. It could mean good news for young Brit Kyle Edmund, who qualified for the tournament and won his first round 6-2, 6-3 over Martin Klizan and will now face de la Nava instead of Lopez in round two.
