Novak Djokovic he is possibly the fittest player on tour ATP. Nobody is winning as much as him in this stretch of the season, motivated in a certain way by the zero wear and tear to which he has been subjected in recent months. While many other players notice in his legs the demand of a 2022 that faces its final stretch, the Serbian has caught the necessary shooting in recent weeks and seems to put cruising speed in each game. Very few can hurt him as he puts on display after display: his physical freshness is matched by precision in almost all of his shots, creating as a result a perfect machine who has not dropped a set at the ATP level in the last two weeks. .
His second game in ATP Astana Open 2022 it was no different. The Serbian took a little longer to detect the weaknesses of his opponent, a Botic of the Sand Scallop which he was facing for the first time, but once he got it he never looked back. he just left four games, twice as much as in his debut against Garín, but ended up leaving the same feeling of dominance. Before facing the quarterfinals against Karen KhachanovNole reflected at the foot of the track on a match in which he went from less to more. “My serve worked well when I needed to put the problems behind me. When I broke his serve and made it 4-2 I had to face a break point against, I went up to the net and he had a passing shot that missed. The match is decided in In these kinds of moments, there’s a huge difference between being 4-3 or going 5-2 up, and then I served really well to close out the first set.
In the second set I think I started to read his serve much better, I started to throw a little more with my shots as well; I know that Botic is a high-quality player when he has time and space to hit, he can hurt you, so I tried to take time away from him, make him feel uncomfortable. I am very satisfied with my levelespecially in the second set“, sentenced Djokovic, who also had time to define what his physical and mental state right now. “My season is different from anyone else’s, you can’t use it as a benchmark to compare with any other player. I haven’t played an official tournament in three months: definitely I feel fresh on a physical level and motivated on a mental level to keep doing it right”declared a Nole who is already fully focused on his next commitment.
THE ATP FINALS, ALMOST SECURE
Not to mention that the Serb has already secured his ticket to Turin, of course. His string of victories since his debut in Tel Aviv has allowed Djokovic to put land in the middle with respect to his rivals inside the top-20, coming enormously close to being the fifth master confirmed in the appointment at the end of year. With his victory against the Dutchman, Novak climbs towards the 12th position in the Racemoving up three positions this week and ahead of #20 in the table (Denis Shapovalov) in 565 points. It is a distance that already seems insurmountable, mainly due to the number of players who would have to add units to surpass Nole. A victory against Khachanov would leave Djokovic in 11th place, while a title in the Kazakh tournament could lift him into the top-10 of the Race (depending on what Taylor Fritz does in Tokyo). His presence in Turin, therefore, is virtually tied.
