Davis Cup doomed Djokovic - Ljubicic
Rebecca Bryan
Novak Djokovic never really had a chance to capture a second Indian
Wells crown so soon after his draining Davis Cup appearance, the man who
ousted the world number two said Wednesday.
Team tournament
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Novak Djokovic in action. AFP |
“This is exactly the reason why I’m not playing Davis Cup,” said
Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, who at 30 has opted out of the annual
international team tournament.
Ljubicic, a former world number three now ranked 26th in the world,
displayed a stellar service game as he dismissed Djokovic 7-5, 6-3.
But he said there was no way Djokovic could have been at his best
after a successful title defense in Dubai followed by the Davis Cup tie
in Belgrade.
“You just can’t,” Ljubicic said. “I mean, he (Djokovic) played best
of five sets on clay, five setter against John Isner on Sunday (in Davis
Cup).
“You know, you have to travel all the way here, different surface,
different balls - everything totally different.
Second round
“Yes, he can win first round, second round. But he has to aim to be
100 percent fit if he wants to win this tournament, and he wasn’t.
“If I didn’t get him, somebody would on the way.”
Djokovic was pleading fatigue after a lackluster opening win over
American Mardy Fish, and had to save three set points to get past
Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.
“I am not happy with the overall performance that I had in this
tournament, because I know I could have played better and could have
done better,” he said. “Even though I lost today, I still feel that some
things went better,” Djokovic added.
First serve
“I think I served better even though I was broken a couple of times.
But still my first serve was working better than was the case in the
first couple matches here.”
Djokovic said he had “no regrets” about playing Davis Cup, and he
didn’t foresee any respite for the claycourt season coming up after next
week’s hardcourt Masters 1000 in Miami.
He said mandatory appearances in the elite Masters 1000 tournaments
and the desire to support events he considers home tournaments left him
with little chance to rest more before the French Open, where he lost in
the third round last year.
“I can’t do much, unfortunately, because I have to play Monte Carlo.
I live there, it’s one of my favorite tournaments.
Hometown
“Then I go to Rome, and then I have my hometown tournament, Belgrade.
Then I have Madrid and then Paris.”
For years the number of tournaments has been a topic of discussion
among players.
In Ljubicic’s opinion the solution isn’t to shorten the ATP Tour
season but to make fewer events mandatory.
He doesn’t like to go too long without competitive matches, but would
like a chance to pick and choose a bit more.
“No matter how hard you practice, it’s just not the same when you
play competitive matches,” he said.
Mandatory
“So I really like the way the length of the season is at the moment.
I would just like to see a little bit less of mandatory tournaments.”
INDIAN WELLS, California, AFP |
