Will skipping the Rogers Cup help Novak Djokovic in Cincinnati?
At the grassy grand slam of Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic played his hand right on most counts and took down his seven opponents with the utmost sets and hours on court. "It was a huge relief," Djokovic smilingly said at the Wimbledon final press conference. After all the years of playing in his career, duelling against Federer one has to get used to much of the crowd being in the Swiss man's favour. When you have to play under that emotion, it's superspecial and to win is extraordinary. "I knew that the atmosphere will be as it was. Roger is playing well..." the Serbian had said with a smirk. But it took nearly five hours to come up the winner and Djokovic admits that "It was probably the most demanding, mentally most demanding match I was ever a part of..." He was aware of being close to a runner-up status at Wimbledon and says relaxingly that "I was one shot from losing the match." The championship and final took everything out of the Serbian but the results were worth the journey of hard work. He had extra stress also in trying to defend his 2108 Wimbledon title, but he did it.
All the boxes were checked within the Wimbledon final for Djokovic and after having left everything on the court, it was time for a break, mentally and physically. The chances of being in the Rogers Cup, the next tournament and playing well after Wimbledon would have been a no-brainer. There was no strategies or game plan that might have been good enough to have a great shot of going deep or winning the Montreal event and Djokovic might have known that. The roster for the Rogers Cup was filled with a variety and caliber of players that could have taken him down. It had the NextGens as Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime. It was filled with big leaguers as Rafael Nadal, John Isner, Roberto Bautista Agut, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils to name a few. There were even guys in the middle as Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori and Nick Kyrgios. There were just too many guys with too many advantages to try and defeat.
It is important to choose the right shots at the right time. Participating in the right tournaments at the right time in a players tour schedule is also paramount in having a chance of doing well. The players to be at the 2019 Cincinnati Open are nearly the same as in the Rogers Cup. The difference will be that Novak Djokovic has had his rest and now will be ready to take his opponents on. The chances are good for the Serbian to enjoy the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati and do well. He is coming into the event not only to defend his title from last year, but as a Wimbledon five-time champion this season.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2KumkA8
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