Gluten-free not for everyone, says Novak Djokovic after cruising through US Open first round

 
GETTY
Chris Jones28 August 2013

Novak Djokovic, the World No1, eased into the US Open second round with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory over former junior world No. 1, Ricardas Berankis and then denied he was leading a crusade to promote gluten free diets for top tennis players.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who won his first round match 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 against Grega Zemlja of Slovenia, have made it clear they have no intention of copying Djokovic’s lead while Britain’s Andy Murray gave up the diet after a short period, returning to his normal food types.

Djokovic (above) detailed his change of eating habits in a recent book and believes the change – which has also seen his dog Pierre become gluten-free – has helped eradicate many of the health problems, including breathing difficulties, that used to beset the 2011 US Open champion who has reached three successive finals in New York.

He said: "Now more players are gluten‑free, I see that. This particular diet changed my life really in a positive way and affected positively my career and my overall feeling on and off the court. But, I am not trying to influence somebody's life and tell the people how they should eat or live. What is good for me doesn't mean it's necessarily good for somebody else. Everybody is different in this world."

Djokovic recognises that Murray has endured the longest wait to start the defence of his title – the British No1 beat Djokovic in the final – and will finally get on court tonight for his first round match. However, the World No1 pointed out that with a finish on the third Monday, this schedule get rids of the Super Saturday that used to mean men’s players facing a semi-final and then a final just 24 hours later.

He added: "I think it's okay to stretch the three days for first round, even though this is the only Grand Slam that actually has this kind of format.”

Federer, a five times US Open champion, believes that successfully juggling his family life has been the key to maintaining his love of the sport after a record breaking 17 Slams.

He said: “Clearly when you win everything, it's fun. That doesn't necessarily mean you love the game more. You just like winning, being on the front page, lifting trophies, doing comfortable press conferences. It's nice.

“But that doesn't mean you really actually love it, love it. That maybe shines through maybe more in times when you don't play that well. For me, I knew it, winning or losing, practice court or match court, that I love it. So I've been around for too long. Clearly when I had, my two girls, I also wasn't sure right off the bat how it was going to be after that. Was I going to be able to play the same schedule? Was my love for the game as big? Were we going to be able to cope with the whole thing, having twins or not?

“They were at the court and I am so happy to see them before and after the match. I am in a good spot right now and I want to enjoy it as long as it lasts.”

Federer is also delighted that the Open organisers are going to install a roof by 2018 to defeat the seemingly annual rain problems that hit the Open.” It's really the night sessions that can get washed out in a big way.

“Everybody's looking forward to the big night match, and then all of a sudden you don't have much margin because you're not going to send best‑of‑five‑set matches out on court at 11:00, 12:00. So at night with the roof you always have a guaranteed match. For TV it's huge. I think it is a future that we have to go. We saw it again last night. Everybody loses in a situation like that.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in