Another night session for Djokovic

The Serb played pretty well for his opening match, but he still showed major signs of physical weakness.

It had been a long time since I’d seen Djokovic play this well over an entire match, despite the little physical dips he had during this encounter. He finished with a rating of 8.6, which confirmed the feeling I had while watching the match. I thought the Serb was particularly good on serve, but especially from the baseline, where he played with incredible intensity. I even felt he was playing faster than usual, probably to try to conserve himself a bit. From a pure tennis standpoint, I don’t have the slightest criticism to make about what I saw in this first round. On the other hand, physically, there’s a lot to say. Already, from the end of the first set, Djoko started struggling for breath, squatting down after points and going into energy-management mode. Then he had a hip problem, it seemed to me, and he kept stretching during the second set. He did his usual Djoko stuff, there was surely a bit of bluffing in all that, but I think it’s inevitable. With age, he’s more and more confronted with physical problems, and that’s not going to get any better.

A showcase match awaits the Chinese player Bu, who will be able to test himself against the Djoker and try to bring him down at home. It would certainly be the biggest win of Bu’s career. But we’re not there yet. In any case, the Chinese player has been doing what’s needed for several weeks now to get back to his best level. I once again liked his first-round match where he lost the second set without really deserving it. He also often has physical dips within his matches, because he’s a player who plays with crazy intensity on both sides and never spares his efforts. He also feeds a lot off energy to keep playing his rhythmic game and, to put it simply, he’s playing good tennis at the moment.

As we’ve already seen several times, some of Djokovic’s opponents are impressed and very tense at the start of matches against the Serb before managing to loosen up and also take advantage of the Serb’s physical drops. That’s kind of what we’re going to try to target here. I think Djokovic will start very strong and, given the level he always shows in Beijing, Bu is likely to be struck by lightning. However, after that he will surely be held back a bit by his body, and if Bu keeps believing and seizes the slightest opportunity, then he’ll have his chance in the second and then the third set.