Australian Open 2016: Novak Djokovic in great shape to defend his title

Paul Newman15 January 2016

No wonder Novak Djokovic had a smile on his face here today as he posed for the cameras holding the Australian Open trophy which he will defend next week. Everybody in tennis seems to love the year’s first major tournament, which Roger Federer once labelled the “Happy Slam”, but Djokovic has more reason than most to enjoy playing at Melbourne Park.

The world No1 won his first Grand Slam title in Rod Laver Arena eight years ago and has since lifted the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup four more times, which makes this his most successful Grand Slam event.

After his phenomenal season in 2015, when he won 11 titles and suffered his only defeat in Grand Slam play in the final of the French Open, the 28-year-old is the odds-on favourite to extend his remarkable domination when he begins his Melbourne campaign here on Monday against the promising young Korean, Hyeon Chung.

Following Djokovic’s stunning 2011 season, when he won three Grand Slams and did not suffer his first defeat until June, it was difficult to imagine him having another year like it, but in 2015 he enjoyed even more success. The early indications this year are that the Serb, an outstanding all-rounder with no weaknesses, might be playing even better than ever.

Last week Djokovic started his season by winning the Qatar Open in Doha, which was the only tournament where he failed to reach the final last year. Since August he has been beaten only once, by Federer in the round-robin stage of November’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals — a defeat which he promptly avenged by beating the Swiss in the London final.

While most of the top men played in exhibition events or the International Premier Tennis League in Asia during the off-season, Djokovic took a fortnight’s holiday before focusing on his physical preparations.

“I felt like I had already played too many matches last season and that I needed some time to regroup and recuperate, spend time with my family, do something else and just recharge for another long season,” said Djokovic, who lives in Monte Carlo. “In an ideal world an athlete would have about a month or a month and a half of rest and then about a month and a half or two of preparation. But tennis has the longest season of all sports so we don’t have much time.”

Always renowned for his fitness and flexibility, Djokovic is looking well rested and in exceptional shape. “In Monte Carlo there are a lot of hills and mountains,” he said when asked about his pre-season training. “My coach tells me, ‘You see the top of that hill there? Just wave to me when you get there’. But it’s fun. The off-season is actually the time of the year when we can apply different kinds of exercises and preparations.”

Andy Murray is the second favourite to win the title. The Scot nearly always plays well in Australia, though he has lost all four of his finals and has lost here to Djokovic four times in the last five years. Stan Wawrinka, who beat Djokovic in the quarter-finals en route to his first Grand Slam title here two years ago, should be another serious contender. He is the last man to have beaten the Serb in Grand Slam competition, at Roland Garros last summer.

Rafael Nadal also has a decent record at Melbourne Park, having won the title once and finished runner-up twice. The Spaniard is in much better shape than he was six months ago but he has not won a Grand Slam title since the 2014 French Open and was crushed by Djokovic in the Doha final last weekend. Federer has won the Australian Open four times but has not made the final since 2010.

Chris Evert, who will be part of the ESPN commentary team here, believes Djokovic’s rivals will need to avoid baseline slugging matches to have any chance of beating him.

“When you play somebody like Djokovic, who rules and dominates the baseline as well as he does, you have to break up his rhythm,” the 18-time Grand Slam champion said. “One thing you can control is your serve. I’d get a big percentage of first serves in.

“I think you’ve got to get him off the baseline. That might mean short cross-court angles, drop shots.

“You can’t just trade groundstrokes with him — you’ve got to break up his game. I think you have to experiment a little bit when you play him.”

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