Now without the bulky bandage that surrounded his thigh during the first Grand Slam of the year, ‘Nole’ began his duel against a player from the previous ones with good feelings.
The Serb twice broke his rival’s service, while he conceded a ‘break’ in a first set that was scored in 37 minutes.
Victim of a drop in revolutions, Djokovic he lost his first game serving the second set. machac he gained confidence and took the match to the third set after making another 6-3 in 42 minutes.
Partly rediscovering his tennis, the Serbian said the last word with a 7-1 tie-break in the third set and will face the solid Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (39th) in the second round.
Other favorites to win in this tournament, such as the Russian Daniil Medvedev and the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliasime, also made their debut with victory.
Results of the 2nd day of the Dubai tennis tournament.
Men’s Singles – First Round:
- Novak Djokovic (SRB/N.1) defeated Tomas Machac (CZE) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(1)
- Daniil Medvedev (RUS/N.3) def. Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) 6-4, 6-2
- Alexander Bublik (KAZ) to Alexander Lazov (BUL) 6-1, 1-0 and resignation
- Borna Coric (CRO/N.8) to Daniel Evans (GBR) 2-2 and abandonment
- Christopher O’Connell (AUS) def. Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) 7-5, 6-4
- Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN/N.4) def. Maxime Cressy (USA) 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3
- Botic van de Zandschulp (NED) def. Karen Khachanov (RUS/N.6) 7-5, 6-2
- Mikael Ymer (SWE) def. Francesco Passaro (ITA) 6-2, 6-3.
More weeks as No. 1
The Serbian Novak Djokovic became the tennis player with the most weeks (378) as number one in the world in the history of ranked tennis, men’s and women’s, by surpassing the record set by the German Steffi Graf (377 weeks).
Djokovic, 35 years old, with her achievement at the head of the ATP world ranking, she managed to leave behind the tie with Steffi Graf, according to the ranking released today by the ATP and WTA, the entities in charge of processing the scores in professional tennis.
To achieve that mark, “Nole” added resounding victories in recent months, which he crowned with the first Grand Slam of the year, when he won the australian open last January after defeating in the final Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In his extensive list of hits on the circuit, Djokovic Last January he equaled the Spanish Rafael Nadal with 22 Grand Slam individual titles after celebrating the tournament won in Melbourne -for the tenth time- and adding weeks at the top of world tennis more than any other male player in history.
In addition, “Nole” is one of the two tennis players who have won all four major singles at least twice, the only one who has won nine Masters 1000 and the only one who also finished the year as world number one for the seventh time.
His closest male rival in the historical ranking, which was introduced in 1973, is Swiss Roger Federer, now retired and who spent a total of 310 weeks as world number one.
The podium, to this day, is closed by the American Pete Sampras (286).
On the women’s circuit, Graf came to command the WTA ranking for 377 weeks, which started in 1975.
The German tennis player was the female number one 45 weeks more than the second ranked, the Czech Martina Navratilova (332), with the American Serena Williams in third position (319).
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
