A sensational risk of exiting the tournament and then an extraordinary comeback: it was a very complicated evening for Novak Djokovic, who gets through to the second round of the US Open after a very tough match against Laslo Djere, who had cherished the dream of eliminating his compatriot on the New York stage. After three and a half hours Nole wins 4-6 4-6 6-1 6-1 6-3, almost never managing to play on his opponent’s serve in the abundant first hour of the game. In the round of 16 for Djokovic there will be the Croatian Gojo, who beat Vesely in 3 sets.
the race
—
Djere immediately breaks in the first game of the match (it happens when Nole serves at the beginning of the match) and then he’s good at canceling 3 break points in the first two rounds of service. The real news is that even in long rallies Djere manages to defend himself very well, finding deep and placed shots. Nole is nervous, because he is always the one who risks losing his serve, while the opponent plays in great serenity (in the end, Laslo will put 70% of his first balls on the court with 66% of the points). After the 6-4 of the first set, the same thing happens in the second set, with Djere who finds the break at 15 in the seventh game and keeps it, closing again 6-4. Any other tennis player would give up, but for Djoker the fun starts in the third set. There are 5 consecutive games for the number 1 in the world, who leaves the crumbs to the opponent. 6-1 in 38 minutes in the third set, same epilogue as the fourth, in which we start with three consecutive breaks (one to 0 by Djere), with Nole in full control. Djokovic finds 17 points in a row on serve in the deciding set, breaking the serve immediately. At 5-3 Novak serves for the match, but Djere doesn’t give up. Djoker cancels a break point and gets a match point, canceled again by the opponent. The slap on the fly and a wide backhand by Djere give Nole the 84th victory of his career in Flushing, the 38th in the fifth set of his career, the ninth success in New York in the decisive set. It took 3 hours and 48 minutes to get to the round of 16, with the real risk of leaving the tournament. “One of the toughest matches ever played here, Djere did a great job,” Novak said after the match. “After the first two sets I went back to the dressing room and tried to look in the mirror, I was agitated, I tried to change something. It’s not the first time something like this has happened to me.”