Wimbledon 2021: ‘Flawless’ Novak Djokovic cruises into the third round
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Novak Djokovic
World No.1 Novak Djokovic had an easy outing and played nearly perfect tennis to beat big serving South African, Kevin Anderson in straight sets 6-3,6-3,6-3 on the centre court. There wasn’t much doubt coming into the match whether Djokovic would not win, but his level of tennis today was a shock to many.
Djokovic handled Anderson’s serve, his main weapon perfectly. He returned deep towards the baseline and was control of almost 90% of the rallies. He minimized his unforced errors and instead focused on engaging in long rallies. He planned to keep the ball was low as possible dur to Anderson’s height and executed his plans to perfection.
He was quick of the blocks and served away from the South African’s body. He was creating chances on Anderson’s serve and finally got the much needed break to close out the set 6-3. All Djokovic needed was one break and he didn’t try for more. The second set was similar to the first. Djokovic was dominating the rally as soon as it went over 3 shots and Anderson had no answers to his plans. Djokovic eventually took a double break lead and won the set 6-3.
Anderson’s only weapon seemed to be his serve. He was serving well throughout the match but one bad service game per set was all Djokovic’s needed. The story repeated again in the third set as Djokovic won it comfortably 6-3 and moved into the third round.
‘Today my performance was almost flawless’: Novak Djokovic
In the post match interview, Djokovic acknowledged Anderson’s performance and revealed his gameplan to counter his big serve.
He said: “I’m very pleased. Kevin is a terrific player, very dangerous on fast courts, on grass courts we played three years ago the final here. It was a straight sets victory but some close sets. Today a straight sets victory again and one break in each set was enough. I held my serve comfortably and was using the angles really well. But against a serve like that, it’s never easy against an opponent like that.”
Djokovic made very less unforced errors in the match and said that it was a tactical plan. “That was one of the tactical goals, to make as less unforced errors as possible from my end of the court,” he said.
Because I knew Kevin was gonna serve big and I knew I wouldn’t have too many chances to break his serve so I tried to play solid but not too risky and I’ve done much better than I thought I would do.”
He then laughed and said his performance was nearly flawless today. “I mean I believe in myself but today, it was almost flawless. My coach is there, hopefully he doesn’t have any complains,” Djokovic added.
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Lakshya Chopra
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