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Novak Djokovic will look to continue his return to form in the second round at Wimbledon young clay court specialist Adam Pavlasek. Join The Roar for live scores from 10pm (AEST).
After crashing out of the French Open in the quarter-finals with a woeful performance, the former world No.1 has begun to return to something near form.
While it’s hard to say due to the quality of opponents, a tournament win in Eastbourne has filled him with confidence ahead of Wimbledon, and it’s clear to see his court movement, coverage and the way he is hitting the ball is more like it was at this time last year.
It’s been a rough 12 months for Djokovic. Coming into Wimbledon in 2016 he held all four grand slams – since then, he has made just a single grand slam final, which is not great by his standards.
His return to form is still in the early days really, given the highest ranked opponent he has beaten is Gael Monfils in the final of Eastbourne.
The third grand slam of the year opened with an easy advancement for ‘The Djoker’. He was drawn the dangerous Martin Klizan, but the match was over before it began.
Clearly struggling with injury, Klizan dropped the first set 6-3 and then retired when down 2-0 in the second set.
Pavlasek, on the other hand stuck to his preferred surface of clay right up until the beginning of Wimbledon showing some decent form on the challenger circuit.
Unfortunately, playing a long clay court season and ignoring the grass isn’t the best preparation for Wimbledon. His form is reasonable and he is hitting the ball well though, because Pavlasek managed to see off Ernesto Escobedo in the first round, coming back from a set down to win in four.
It was a strong performance from the Czech Republican, but he has played just five professional career matches on the grass and won’t be a match for most players in the draw – let alone someone like Djokovic.
Pavlasek has only won 11 matches in 2017, including bombing out of the first round of qualification at the French Open on his preferred surface which, in many ways came as a shock, but still is frustrating for the 22-year-old.
The pair have never met before this meeting and the winner will face either Juan Martin Del Potro or Ernests Gulbis in the third round on Saturday.
Prediction
Djokovic is going to win, and he should dominate. All things considered, no match is completely free of danger for Djokovic, with his level unclear. This should be about as easy as it gets though.
Djokovic in straight sets.
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