Novak Djokovic may not be riding the same wave of vigorous confidence that he was last year when he arrived in Melbourne and put down No.1 Roger Federer and the always-attacking Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the Australian Open title, but the 21-year-old Serbia isn’t going to lay down in defence of his title.
The third seed has had a rocky start to the year, falling to Latvian up-and-comer Ernests Gulbis in the first round of Brisbane and to Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen in the Sydney International semifinals, but he’s more than capable of peaking for Melbourne if he can survive a rough-and-tumble first week.
Djokovic recognises that coming into a Grand Slam as the title-holder is entirely different than being a brash contender.
“This is a first-time experience,” he said. “Try to accept it as a positive challenge. Obviously if I want to be on the top I have to, well, accept the pressure of the defending champion. All the things have to come together. It's the start of the season and (people are) still adjusting on some things and haven't played a match in a while. So everybody starts a bit slowly. Hopefully, it's going to come back.”
Djokovic proved his resilience late last year. After a stellar first five months of the year, where he won the Australian Open as well as the Tennis Masters Series Indian Wells and Rome, Djokovic began to wear down, partly due to the tremendous pressure he put on himself to snag the No. 1 ranking.
A tough loss to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros was followed by an upset at the hands of Marat Safin at Wimbledon, and then Nadal stepped on him again in a terrific Olympic semifinal.
Tired yet determined, the Serbian reached the US Open semifinals, but after confronting the night-time crowd after his victory over American Andy Roddick in the quarters, he didn't have the will to defeat Federer again.
He scraped for much of the months that followed, but he finally picked himself off the canvas and won the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai at year-end
"I would put it in the same league as a Grand Slam because the best eight players in the world are participating," said Djokovic. "(To) end up the season the way I started it, with a win in a big event … it's a great boost."
While the growing success of tiny Serbia was a cute sidebar to the triumphs of the major elite players in 2007, last year, that European nation raised its bar extremely high. Not only did Djokovic soar, but his countrywoman, Jelena Jankovic, ended the season ranked No. 1. Djokovic’s childhood friend, Ana Ivanovic, won the French Open.
"I think Serbia's getting used to No. 1, so I'll have to work on that," joked Djokovic. "Probably the fact that we didn't have the best possible conditions gave us more motivation to succeed."
Djokovic is a tremendous defensive player who is capable of going on offensive when his foes least expect it. He is young master of point construction, is extremely fast and sturdy, and has improved his first serve a great deal. He arguably owns the most effective two-handed backhand in the business, and can slap his forehand for winners, too.
But he’s apparently having a little trouble switching from a Wilson to a Head racquet, a subject he’d rather not discuss.
"I'm quite surprised he's made a change like this in his best phase of his career," Federer said. "He can for sure play good tennis, but I think when it comes down to the crunch, he'll just have that bit of a doubt maybe because he's just not that quite comfortable with that racquet. But we'll see what happens; it's going to be a big test for him."
Djokovic realises that defending his Australian Open title could be the toughest test of his career. He’s in Federer’s half, and could face the capable Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in the third round, the big-serving Robin Soderling or Mardy Fish in the fourth round, and Roddick or the red-hot David Nalbandian in the quarters. He’s hoping to inhale a big whiff of his 2008 magic and take it from there.
“I just hope I will maintain my high level of performance,” he said.
“I’ll keep on going.”
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