Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action during his second round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 16 April 2019. EPA-EFE/SEBASTIEN NOGIER
By Ricky Dimon
Novak Djokovic kicked off his Monte-Carlo Masters campaign with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over familiar foe Philipp Kohlschreiber on Tuesday. It was and up-and-down performance from the world No. 1–complete with one racket destruction–but he did well to scrape past a difficult opponent in what was his first clay-court match of 2019.
“In a way it’s good I got to spend two and a half hours on the court in my first match [of] the clay court season,” Djokovic noted. “This surface is very demanding physically. Tactically, as well, you have to construct the point, be more patient, (and) put more spin into the ball…. I think from the positive side, it’s actually good that I got to have that much match play because I did play a lot of practice sets and so forth. But it’s just completely different when you are nervous and playing an official match.”
Djokovic did not play many matches in March, a he lost right away in Indian Wells–to none other than Kohlschreiber–and then fell to Roberto Bautista Agut in the Miami fourth round.
There would be no repeat for Kohlschreiber a couple of tournaments later. The German had plenty of opportunities in this match, but he converted only four of 16 break-point chances and could not capitalize on dreadful serving by Djokovic (eight double-faults).
“I had ups and downs and in a way felt a bit rusty on the court,” the top-seeded Serb admitted. “I had a tough opponent, of course. Philipp beat me in Indian Wells. It was a match that happened less than a month ago, so of course it was in the back of my mind a bit. I thought I should have maybe stepped in and played a bit more aggressive in the second set, but credit to him for mixing up the pace and playing well.
“I’ll take this win. Hopefully I can play slightly better in the next round, because if I want to go deep in the tournament I definitely have to up my game.”
Djokovic awaits either Diego Schwartzman or Taylor Fritz for third-round action on Thursday. Elsewhere in the top quarter of the draw, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniiil Medvedev will battle for the other quarterfinal spot. They already have plenty of head-to-head history in the early stages of their careers, and none of it is friendly.
Medvedev has crushed Joao Sousa and Radu Albot this week, while Tsitsipas opened with a straight-set win over Mikhail Kukushkin.