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It might take an improved performance from the world No.1 Novak Djokovic if he is to get the better of one of the few men to beat him in the last 12 months Jiri Vesely. Join The Roar for live scores from around 4:30am (AEST).
Djokovic, after losing early at Wimbledon and the Rio Olympics had been in better form during the lead up to the final grand slam of the year winning a tournament in Toronto.
His first round match in New York wasn’t exactly confidence instilling though,as he took four sets to get the better of big serving Jerzy Janowicz.
While some of that can be down to the excellent early play of Janowicz, Djokovic never seemed to be in the match and struggled with an arm injury that at stages virtually stopped him from serving or playing with any real power on groundstrokes.
Spending over two hours on court won’t have been the best for that either, and he will be looking to get this one over with quickly.
The problem for Djokovic though, after his recent losses is that he didn’t look mentally like himself.
Vesely is only one of five players to beat Djokovic this year when he won their match during April on clay in Monte Carlo. While the surface was different, the principle is the same – he has beaten Djokovic once and knows what it takes.
In saying that, it wasn’t a grand slam so it’s hard to say exactly where Djokovic’s mindset was.
Unfortunately for Vesely, his form hasn’t been fantastic however he certainly isn’t short of match practice and therefore you have to think he will find a way to get up for this match.
His first round match went to five sets when it probably shouldn’t have against Saketh-Sai Myneni so there are plenty of questions to be answered.
Prediction
Look, I’m not going to tell you that Djokovic will lose – but he does need to improve. He is going to want to get off caught quickly to minimise court time, but that isn’t likely to happen either.
If he has trouble with his arm again, and doesn’t get into the swing of the game then things could go south very quickly.
Still, he is the best player in the world so you don’t tip against him.
Djokovic in four sets.
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