Since 8 o'clock last night, two consecutive tennis finals have been played in Belgrade and Barcelona. World number one Djokovic played against Rublev on the tennis court he named himself on his doorstep, and 18-year-old homegrown darling Alcaraz played against compatriot Busta. The two games stacked together gave me the illusion of watching a Grand Slam match.
In the end, Djokovic lost to Rublev 2-6, 7-6, 0-6, and Alcaraz defeated Busta 6-3, 6-2. For these two finals, I am only going to talk about Djokovic's match today.
Djokovic's match was more attractive and more enjoyable in comparison. In Serbia, Djokovic is regarded by many as a national hero and a national pride. Last night's competition was packed, and the audience wanted to witness Djokovic win the championship in his hometown.
This final was also given more special significance. Since being expelled from Australia at the beginning of the year and missing the Australian Open, Djokovic has had a very depressed life. He returned to the race in Dubai and was knocked out after only two wins. After coming to Monte Carlo, he was eliminated in the first game. For more than 3 months, Djokovic's overall record has been 2 wins and 2 losses, which is unthinkable in previous years.
Faced with such a decadent state and unbearable achievements, Djokovic chose to return to his hometown, hoping to regain his strength in the place he knew best and accumulate strength to storm the French Open. Although no one has explained all this thoroughly, the audience is looking forward to Djokovic winning the championship in his hometown, seeing the invincible and invincible king again, and seeing the great champion full of endless energy returning.
Sadly, Djokovic lost his energy in last night's final. Consistently slow and hot, he quickly lost the first set 2-6. In the second set, Djokovic struggled to cheer up, stubbornly dragging the game into a steal of seven, and finally pulled back a set at 7-4. In this game, whenever a beautiful score is played, Djokovic always waves his arm from the bottom up to ask the audience for applause, and the enthusiastic audience never skimps on applause and cheers.
In this way, Djokovic cheered himself up and gave himself more energy.
Before the third set started, both sides went to the bathroom to change their clothes. People are full of expectations for the trend of the third set, thinking that this game is officially on the right track, Djokovic is also getting better, and the most exciting and fierce confrontation is about to be staged.
To everyone's surprise, Djokovic was completely absent in the third set, taking only 13 points and losing the decider 0-6.
At the award ceremony after the match, it was not only the champion Rublev who won the awards, but also the members of Djokovic's original coaching team who collectively appeared and received souvenirs from the event side.
Djokovic introduced several of his former coaches to the audience, namely Vajda, Gephard Gri, Miljan Amanovi and Nikola Pilic.
"I would like to greet the people who have brought me great memories and contributions to my tennis career, not only my colleagues, but also close friends who have spent 10-15 years with me, but also my friends and relatives. We had the best time together and had success together.
"I invited them here because since the end of the partnership, I haven't had the opportunity to somehow bring all the coaches together in one place and organize to commemorate an era that we've created. We did great things and I invited my former coaches together just to have a chance to show them my gratitude. Djokovic said.
Speaking next was Djokovic's meritorious coach Vajda, who accompanied Djokovic to win all 20 Grand Slams but had recently left the coaching staff.
"Good afternoon and Happy Easter!" Vajda, from Slovakia, began in Serbian, then apologized to the crowd and switched to English. "First of all, thank you Novak for all that you have done for me, it was an amazing experience. I want to thank the relatives who trusted me, who trusted Novak, the family who has been behind me, and finally I want to thank myself, I have been through everything in the past, and I have been on novak's side in all important life experiences. ”
Serbian legend Nikola Pilic was the last to appear, and the "tennis dad" known as Novak made no secret of his excitement.
"It's an honor to be here. First of all I have a small idea to correct – Novak is not one of the best players of all time, he is the best ever. In the competition between Federer, Nadal, Murray and others, 366 weeks occupied the world number one position, that is, more than seven years. Even in my humble beliefs, it will take a thousand years to break Novak's record. ”
Next, Piric thanked the live audience, who praised the Serbian Open as one of the best he's seen in his 60-year tennis career.
"You can be proud that there are people like Novak Djokovic in this country!" Pirich choked up a bit at this point. Amid the applause of everyone at the scene, Pilich eased his excitement and continued: "When you are 80 years old, your emotions will be more excited. It's like I don't understand why I'm so excited right now that I can't speak properly. I love Novak and I wish him all the best. I would also like to say a word to Serjan ( referring to Djokovic 's father ] , who has always believed that your son will be a great champion. But most importantly, he was a great man. I regret that he didn't win today, and I congratulate Rublev on playing well, Novak plays three sets every day and he's been fighting. I am very grateful for everything he has done. Pilic finally said.
For the defeat, Djokovic admitted that his progress in improving his form was somewhat slow, and he once again showed that the French Open was the biggest target and would improve his form to the best in Paris.
"I have to see the positives and play this final in front of the audience in my hometown. Unfortunately, in the third set I ran out of energy and couldn't do more fights. After four three-set games, I'm actually tired, but I'm also happy that I can win three games in a row before this final. I think it will help me continue the clay season. ”
Next, Djokovic will head to Madrid, Spain. The Madrid Masters, the second clay masters, will kick off on 1 May, with Djokovic being the top seed. (Source: Tennis House Author: Yun Cirrus Yunshu)