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By Erik Gudris / Monday, January 13, 2014
Defending champion Novak Djokovic won his 22nd straight
match in a row in Melbourne on opening night at the
Australian Open.
Photo Credit: Corleve
It’s 22 and counting for Novak Djokovic,
who started his Australian Open title defense with a straight
sets win on Monday night.
Taking on Lukas Lacko in his first match of
the 2014 season, Djokovic showed perfection and some rust
throughout the first round contest. Djokovic stomed out to a
4-1 lead in the first set, but then traded breaks with Lacko
before closing out the set 6-3.
No. 96 Lacko didn’t back down as he forced Djokovic into a
second set tiebreak. But Djokovic rose to the occasion and
claimed it seven points to two.
With a final ace, Djokovic soon wrapped up the 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-1
victory that extended the Serbian’s win streak in Melbourne to
22 wins.
“I know that I haven’t played my best, especially in the second
set,” Djokovic said later about the match. “But, look, also
credit to my opponent that was playing really nice tennis from
the baseline. On the other hand I was a little bit too passive
in some stages of the match and was trying to find the proper,
I would say, setting and proper balance and footing in the
court. It came at the right time, in the tiebreak in the
second, and the whole third set was great.”
When asked about his new coaching relationship with Boris
Becker and how it is working out so far, Djokovic said that he
and the former No. 1 were still getting to know each other.
“I still see the room for improvement with my serve, with the
return, with net play and so forth. But also from the mental
point of view. Boris has won so many Grand Slam tournaments,
was No. 1 of the world. He knows exactly the way I feel, what I
need to face, what sort of challenges I need to overcome during
the tough moments, the tough matches. That’s also where he can
give the right and positive input. We’ll see. It’s just the
beginning.”
Djokovic will next take on Argentina’s Leonardo
Mayer in the second round.
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