“I’m mentally stronger” Karen Khachanov looking to get better of Novak Djokovic
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Karen Khachanov and Novak Djokovic
World No. 26 Karen Khachanov was made to work hard to reach the second round at the 2022 Dubai Championships. Up against Alex de Minaur, Khachanov won the match 6-3, 6-7(1), 7-5 in a match that lasted for 2 hours and 46 minutes. Khachanov now faces a stern test in the second round with a match-up against World No. 1 and top-seed Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic made his season debut this week in Dubai when he defeated Italian youngster Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-3 to make a winning return to what has been a difficult season where he could not play a match until this week. With the World No. 1 ranking on the line, it is a very important week for the Serbian who might lose the rank to currently the World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev.
Khachanov will be looking to assist his compatriot by defeating Djokovic in the second round. If Khachanov wins, it will confirm Medvedev as the new World No. 1 when the rankings are updated in the next week. Djokovic will need to win the title in Dubai and hope that one of his colleagues stops Medvedev from reaching the finals in the 2022 Acapulco Open where Daniil is the top seed.
“I feel like I’m on the rise. I’m excited about my tennis right now. I feel very good. We always want to win these kinds of close matches, that’s obvious. What makes me a better player right now is that I’m mentally stronger. That’s where I want to be, I want to get back into the top 10 as soon as possible, where I’ve been before. At the moment, I see myself capable of achieving it, it only remains for me to continue this path,” said Khachanov ahead of his match against Djokovic as reported by welovetennis.fr.
Karen Khachanov’s record against Novak Djokovic
Khachanov and Djokovic have met on the Tour on 5 occasions with their first meeting taking place in the 4th round of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships where the Serbian went on to win the title. They next met in the finals of the 2018 Paris Masters where Khachanov won in straight sets on his way to picking his fourth career title and his first and so far the only Masters-1000 title.
They next met in the 2019 Davis Cup, then in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Dubai Championships, and again in the 4th round of the 2020 French Open with Djokovic winning all three matches in straight sets to take a 4-1 lead in their head-to-head.
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Sarthak Shitole
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