Djokovic is no longer ‘out of form’
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With all his (perhaps continuing) struggles in 2016 and now 2017, Novak Djokovic came into Wimbledon in not-so-ideal form. The defending champion at both the Australian Open at Roland Garros, he was knocked out in a shocker by Denis Istomin early on in the former, then made it to the quarter-finals at the French Open before being completely outplayed by Dominic Thiem.
After taking a last-minute wild-card entry to Eastbourne, Djokovic went into Wimbledon winning the title at the event and clearly in high spirits. A three-time Wimbledon champion, the Serbian ace appears to have been bolstered by that win, which likely benefited him more mentally than anything else.
Although Djokovic was aided early on by a Round 1 retirement for his opponent Martin Klizan, he was up two sets at the time and quite convincingly so, and despite a third-round, third-set challenge from former French Open semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis, Djokovic took a fairly one-sided tiebreak in the end.
Gameplay-wise, Djokovic seems really intent on winning, and following his win over Gulbis last week let out quite the audible roar. Both player and former coach Boris Becker said the “passion is back,” and now with both former World No. 1 Andre Agassi, who joined him at the French Open, and former top 10 player Mario Ancic, who came on for the grass court season.
Those changes have appeared to make a world of difference to Djokovic, who looks renewed and refreshed for this Slam, at least.
