Novak Djokovic is confident he can recapture the form that saw him win last year’s Australian Open title despite a shock first round loss at the Brisbane International last week.
The world No.3, who was awarded a wildcard into the Medibank International after his early departure in Brisbane, conceded by playing in Sydney he would be changing his customary routine of taking off the week before a grand slam tournament.
“I usually try to keep the week before any grand slam [free] because I want to prepare and I want to save as much energy as I can,” Djokovic told the media in Sydney.
“Because you’re playing the best-of-five and it’s not easy under the difficult conditions, under the big heat.
“But, as I said, I’ve had a lack of the matches and I made some major changes, with the racquet for example, so I need to get some more matches under my belt so I can feel comfortable.”
“I wasn’t supposed to play here but I decided to play here because of the lack of the matches prior to the Australian Open and I think I need some more official matches so I can get into the rhythm.”
The defending Australian Open champion said he would also use the Sydney tournament to further adjust to using a new racquet, which he used for the first time during his first round loss to Ernests Gulbis at the Brisbane International.
“I went to Wilson, which I played with for the last three years, to Head and there’s a lot of mental involvement obviously if you make a big change and it takes some time,” Djokovic said.
“Of course you have to hit a lot of balls and you just have to feel comfortable. I didn’t feel in Brisbane comfortable with the racquet and with the circumstances, but it’s going to be better.”
The 21-year-old Serb down-played the controversy surrounding his decision to play a leisurely game of golf the day before his loss to Gulbis and insisted he would probably play another game in Sydney.
"This is something I do to relax on my off days," he said. "I have a big rivalry with my coach. The last game I won, so I'm pretty confident right now coming to Sydney playing some golf."
As top seed in Sydney, Djokovic has a first-round bye and will open his campaign on Tuesday against either Andreas Seppi or Paul-Henri Mathieu.
For more news and live scores from Sydney go to: www.medibankinternational.com.au
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