“I’m really glad that it paid off, because I felt good on the court,” he said. He also lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his opening match in Monte Carlo, which was his only other clay tournament this season.
He lost to Jiri Vesely in the Dubai quarterfinals. “I have done everything I possibly can to build my fitness and also improve on all aspects of the game, on the court.”ĭjokovic played in only one hard-court tournament after having not been allowed to participate in the Australian Open because of his vaccination status. “I had a week, 10 days to get ready for this match, and for this tournament,” he said. He had needed three sets in each of his last three victories this season, all in Serbia before losing the final there to Andrey Rublev. “I’m very pleased, considering, you know, that up to today I was not playing my best tennis in the few tournaments that I played this year and still kind of finding my rhythm, finding my groove.”ĭjokovic arrived in Madrid with a 5-3 record in the three tournaments he played. “Just generally very, very good performance,” he said. The match was interrupted at 2-2 in the first set as rain forced the roof on center court to be closed. It was the Serb’s 18th straight win over Monfils.
