On a cloudy and rainy day at Wimbledon, defending champion Novak Djokovic survived a five set scare winning 6-7 6-7 6-1 6-4 7-5 against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Djokovic showed all of his fighting spirit as well as the ability he has as a top player to get through matches he could lose against players in inspired form.
Novak Djokovic sailed through his first three matches at Wimbledon without dropping a set even against wily competitors such as Philipp Kohlschreiber and Jarkko Nieminen. He had not elected to play a tune-up event but this has seemingly not impeded his ability to defend his Wimbledon crown. Furthermore, his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka last month which had prevented him from completing a career Grand Slam, could have left him short of motivation and the need to compete. This wasn’t the case on the day as he pushed past a tough Anderson.
Anderson, the 6’8” South African with a huge serve and big game to back it up has enjoyed some excellent results recently with his final appearance at Queen’s being the highlight and allowing him to rise to a career high ranking of number 14. He muscled through his first two rounds with four set victories but cruised through Leonardo Mayer in straight sets, a second set tiebreak with the score 8-6 was rather prescient. His serve has been on fine form with 79 aces in three matches which equates to over three sets worth of aces.
Djokovic is widely regarded as one of the best returners on tour and whilst Anderson will always provide a test due to his serve, one would have expected Djokovic to come through unscathed. It was to be anything but a routine match for Djokovic.
The first two sets went to tiebreaks and even though the serve is a particularly important weapon in the tiebreak, most of the time a top player will find a way to get the mini break and take it. However, Djokovic lost both of these 8-6. 8-6 is an unusual score because it suggests a lack of confidence or nervy play at the end of it. One would not consider Djokovic to be inexperienced in these situations but in fact he is very experienced having won eight Grand Slams. Maybe, his lack of matches as of late or his inability to bring home the victory at Roland Garros was still playing on his mind.
Djokovic seemed to remember that he was the number one player in the world and defending champion in the third and fourth sets and Anderson perhaps thought the impossible had become possible. He was able to engage Anderson in medium to long rallies and won more than 50% of the medium rallies. Furthermore, he tightened up his game to such an extent that he made just two unforced errors whilst hitting 18 winners. Anderson did nothing wrong as he continued to serve impressively and didn’t hit an overwhelming number of unforced errors. The number one player in the world upped his game and through sheer determination managed to draw the match level at two sets a piece. Play was suspended due to bad light and play was to be resumed on Tuesday.
Play was delayed on Tuesday as a rain cloud swept over the courts at Wimbledon and certainly increased the tension the players were feeling. Commentators everywhere were coining the phrase ‘one set shootout’. Anderson started strong as he served consecutive aces, serve-volleyed and added another ace for an easy hold. Anderson knew that holding his serve was key and came out serving bombs as he served four aces in his first two service games. With a double fault at the beginning of his second service game and a strong forehand return from Anderson, Djokovic sank into a 15-40 hole and Anderson held two break points. He quickly saved them as Anderson missed a return on the baseline my millimetres. Anderson backed up his big serves with big shots and looked the better player early on as Djokovic became increasingly frustrated by the aces flying by him.
Serving at 2-3 Djokovic became increasingly angry as the elements conspired against him, wind, rain and the surface were all to blame. Somehow, he managed to hold on. Meanwhile, Anderson was calm and collected as he executed his game plan to serve big and ensure that Djokovic failed to get a rhythm. Suddenly, Anderson blinked at 5-6 as he hit two double faults and gave Djokovic double break point. A failed volley from Anderson gave Djokovic the break and a chance to serve for his place in the quarterfinals. As he served for the match, he went down 0-30 and there was a chance that there may have been another twist. However, Djokovic got out of the hole and as the last shot fell long he raised his arms in victory.
Djokovic will be extremely happy to get through such a difficult match against an opponent who failed to give him any rhythm and used his serve to maximum effect. He’ll now play another big server, Marin Cilic and has had the perfect preparation for this match.
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