'I can’t attack Novak Djokovic because...', says ATP star

Novak Djokovic has decided: his 2021 will begin with the ATP Cup scheduled in Melbourne (this year the only venue of the event due to the Covid-19 pandemic) from 1 to 5 February next. The world number one will therefore try to defend the title won at the beginning of 2020 together with his compatriots and teammates and will naturally try to take home another important title before going to the Australian Open. The 2021 edition of the Atp Cup will be shorter, the players will be called to play between two and four singles matches and consequently such an event can represent the best way to "warm up" the engine in view of the first Grand Slam appointment. of the season. It is no coincidence that Roger Federer also made it known that, should he decide to go to Australia to face the first part of the season, his intention is to take part in the ATP Cup, hoping of course that over the last few weeks the his physical condition has improved and that the operated knee no longer creates any problems for him. Certainly, however, Novak Djokovic was able to carry out a complete athletic training without the slightest setback, with the aim of appearing at the top already at the beginning of the new year. And once he arrives in Melbourne, after the two-week quarantine imposed by the Victoria state government regarding the containment of the spread of Covid-19, he will train with equal determination to resume the path interrupted last November at the ATP Finals in London. . Someone like him will hardly have digested that defeat in the semifinals against Dominic Thiem, especially considering how balanced that match had been. And already from the ATP Cup you will be able to see a Novak Djokovic in "cannibal" mode as he was in the first part of this strange 2020. Appearing on an online chat event, Japanese player Yoshihito Nishioka said he doesn’t feel he has the game at this stage of his career to get the better of the Serb.

Nishioka praises Novak Djokovic

"Novak Djokovic is the strongest player at the moment,” the Japanese said, adding that he didn’t think he could beat him right now as his skill levels aren’t compatible with the Serb’s. He said that Djokovic has incredible ball control and his returns often grip the surface so much that they are hard to negotiate. “The ball control is accurate. People who see the impression that they are just sticky. You may feel it, but I can’t attack because the quality of each ball is so high.  The base of the ball he is hitting and the level of the ball I want to hit are too different. I really felt the difference between them,” Yoshihito Nishioka said.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/34Iu3o2