Novak Djokovic's bid to close up on Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the absence of both of the top two this week began with symptoms of the stresses of the modern game began yesterday
Novak Djokovic's bid to close up on Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the absence of both of the top two this week began with symptoms of the stresses of the modern game began yesterday, though not as well as he would have liked.
The top-seeded former Australian Open champion was self-admittedly not impressed with his own performance as he struggled with Flavio Cipolla, an Italian qualifier yet to break the top 100.
"I think I didn't play as the crowd hoped," said Djokovic after a 6-3, 6-2 win which took an hour and 24 minutes and involved many long rallies and grittily contested deuce games.
However it was my first match, so I hope they will excuse me next time I will hopefully be better," the top-seeded Serbian added.
"He was changing a lot of pace," said Djokovic, "and I am not used to playing such a player. I didn't play well, but I won."
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