In Dubai, the Serb won his first-round game against the Italian Lorenzo Musetti sovereign 6:3, 6:3. After 74 minutes, Djokovic won his first match of the year and was also cheered by fans with Serbian flags.
Djokovic’s long break without effect
He enjoyed it very much, said Djokovic in an interview on the pitch: “I couldn’t have asked for better reception.” Since his semi-final exit in Davis Cup with the Serbian team in early December he had none match more disputed. The long break had against the 19-year-old Musetti no consequences. A Break was enough in the first sentence. In the second round, Djokovic took his opponent’s serve twice and fended off all seven Breakbounce against yourself.
“All in all I have to be satisfied with my tennis”, he summed up. In the round of 16, the top seed will now face the Australian Alex deMinaur or the Russian Olympic finalist Karen Khachanov, who will meet on Tuesday (02/22/22).
It’s about number one in the world rankings
Djokovic is also about first place in the world rankings this week. If the Russian Daniil Medvedev wins the tournament in Acapulco, Mexico at the same time, he will definitely replace Djokovic as the industry leader. A change at the top of the world rankings is also possible in several other scenarios.
In order to be able to play in Dubai, a negative is enough for Djokovic, who is not vaccinated against the corona virus PCR-Test. To the Australian Open in January, the record winner was unable to take part because his medical exemption from the tournament was not sufficient for entry. A federal court had finally dismissed his objection to the expulsion a day before the start.