Hey there, fellow tennis enthusiasts It’s your girl Mia Johnson-Carter here, living the dream in Miami. I’m super excited to share some awesome news with you all about an incredible performance by Novak Djokovic at the 2024 Shanghai Masters.
Recently, I stumbled upon an article that caught my eye. It was about Novak Djokovic’s brilliant tennis performance in his second round match against Flavio Cobolli. The 24-time Grand Slam champion has shown a significant improvement in his game, leaving only three games to the Italian player in the third round. This performance is particularly notable given that Djokovic had not shone brightly on his debut against young American ace Alex Michelsen.
Novak has returned to China five years after his last appearance and is looking for his fifth title in this Masters 1000. The former world number 1 seems very motivated to win this tournament and secure a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, where he would defend last year’s title. The fast conditions of the Shanghai courts are definitely helping him at this point of his career. Djokovic can take advantage of his serve and be aggressive from the baseline, as he showed during today’s match against Cobolli.
The feeling is that Djokovic is much more fresh than his rivals this year, which is giving him an edge. His next opponent is the Russian Roman Safiullin, who defeated American ace Frances Tiafoe in the third round. Djokovic and Safiullin have already faced each other this year on the red clay of Monte Carlo, with the clear victory of Nole. Meanwhile, defeating Italian ace Cobolli in Shanghai, Djokovic has surpassed his great rival Rafael Nadal for the highest winning percentage at the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (82.02% for Nole vs. 82% for Rafa).
The 24-time Grand Slam champion was very happy for his performance: “From the beginning I had a clear game plan of what I needed to do, staying aggressive and trying to use every short ball to take the initiative in the point. Cobolli was evidently exhausted after last night’s match against Stan Wawrinka. I think that has taken a toll, physically, on him today. I haven’t played too many matches, I think the positive in that is that I’m fresh, so I am happy to play every day for as long as it takes.”
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