(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Roger Federer’s ex-coach Ivan Ljubicic thinks Novak Djokovic’s ability to do a great analysis of an opponent and then prepare a great tactic is one of the keys to the Serb being so dominant even at 36. Djokovic, who turned 36 in May, is still as dominant as ever on the Grand Slam level and beating him in a best-of-five-sets match is still a very daunting task.
Last year, Djokovic found himself two sets down to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon quarterfinal – that was their first meeting on the grass. Djokovic, who came from two sets down to beat Sinner at Wimbledon last year, handed a straight-set defeat to the Italian in their Wimbledon semifinal meeting this year.
Ljubicic on Djokovic’s ability to analyze rivals, prepare a great tactic
“Novak studies the game so well.
When I was commentating for Sky Italia, we analyzed the match before. Of course, everybody spoke about last year (when Sinner led by) two sets to love and my comment was that unfortunately Novak had a year to study Jannik and I don’t see any kind of major difference.
And that’s bad news because Novak will kind of go deep in there. I think Roger and him and Rafa, the three of them, and Andy is in that group as well, they are well beyond their own game – they are very focused on the opponents.
So they don’t doubt their own skill. They know exactly what they can do, what they cannot do. So they spend the entire time looking at what’s on the other side of the net. And that’s a huge advantage,” Ljubicic told Tennis Majors.After beating Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinal, Djokovic suffered a five-set defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the final at The Championships. For Djokovic, that was his first defeat at Wimbledon since 2017.
