3 key takeaways from Novak Djokovic's stumbling return from injury at Qatar Open

Novak Djokovic returned to the tennis courts on Tuesday (Feb. 18) in Doha where he faced a very inspired Matteo Berrettini who ultimately ended up beating him in two sets. This was the first time we saw Djokovic play tennis since the Australian Open match against Alexander Zverev where he struggled with an injury.

So what exactly did we see from Djokovic in this one. Quite a few things and below are our three main takeaways from this match.

Djokovic is healthy

ATP Qatar ExxonMobil Open - Source: Getty

The last time Novak Djokovic played tennis was in Australia and in that match, it was evidently clear that he was having some sort of physical trouble. He wasn’t able to play his best or anywhere close to it and while that was true today it was quite different.

Djokovic moved really well around the court. He was feeling himself in quite a few moments celebrating and laughing with the crowd. He was running well along the baseline and also toward the net. Quite a few times he actually surprised Berrettini with how quick he was to the ball which are all very good signs.

His injury was a leg injury so if he can move like that and sprint around without too many problems then it’s a sign that Djokovic is fully healthy. At this stage of his career, health remains the priority for Djokovic because if he’s not fully healthy, he can’t compete at the level that he wants to. Today was a positive sign in that regard despite the loss.

Shades of old self

Djokovic hasn’t played close to his best tennis for quite a while. It was arguably at the Paris Olympics that it happened the last time because that was where he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final, a somewhat shocking outcome considering how big of a favorite the Spaniard was. Since then, it’s been mostly shaky.

The second part of the season didn’t feature him doing anything but play in the Shanghai final which he lost to Jannik Sinner. The start of this year was decent Down Under, however, the injury prevented him from going to the final. That event showed shades of his former self and this one continued as well.

At times in this match, Djokovic played superbly well. He was serving ridiculously well for much of it and that’s a great sign. He was hitting the ball quite cleanly for a good chunk of it as well, so overall it was a really good display from Djokovic where he was able to tap into some of that former glory. These are all things he can build upon as the season continues.

The loss doesn't matter

Djokovic did lose this match but how he lost the match is actually the most important part of it. He didn’t lose because he played badly or because he was injured or because he couldn’t compete with Berrettini. He competed really well, too well actually. The reason why he lost is because Matteo Berrettini essentially played the best match he’s played in a very long time.

He didn’t start out that well but with time grew more and more confident which he demonstrated through some spectacular baseline shot-making. Berrettini's bread and butter though has always been the serve, and it was firing on all cylinders in this one.

He was slamming it at 220 km/h quite often leaving Djokovic simply unable to do anything. He had lots of unreturned serves because it was physically impossible to return them. The first set was a close one. It ended in a tiebreak and it was the serve that helped Berrettini clinch it.

Djokovic’s serve went away a little bit in the tiebreak which caused big issues for him while Berrettini was able to cruise. On top of just having an impossibly good serving day, Berrettini was also hitting the forehand at a ridiculous level. Let’s just drop in here that he hit a few running forehands which should tell you what kind of day he had on the court.

He was just playing amazingly well and anybody but Djokovic would have been blown off the court here easily but the fact that Djokovic played really well meant that he was able to keep it somewhat close.

So there you have it, those are the three main takeaways from this match. Djokovic fans can be relieved because the injury is firmly behind him and it didn’t really leave any effects on him either. He played well and the more he plays in the coming weeks, the better he will look. Today he just ran into a player who arguably played his best match in the last three years.

Berrettini finished with 13 aces, losing only seven points behind his first serve, which he hit 75% of the time.