Novak Djokovic warned by harmful Cincinnati rival with Federer and Nadal declare
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has fired a warning at Novak Djokovic forward of their upcoming showdown on the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard has already upset the world No 2 as soon as earlier than at a Masters occasion and believes he is able to defeat him once more. And Davidovich Fokina paid his rival the final word praise, saying he was a mixture of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic is gearing as much as return to competitors within the singles draw for his first match since shedding the Wimbledon remaining to Carlos Alcaraz a month in the past. The 36-year-old already had an outing in Cincinnati on Tuesday, partnering Nikola Cacic within the doubles where they lost to Jamie Murray and Michael Venus.
The second seed will now have his full consideration on the singles as he begins his warm-up for the ultimate Grand Slam event of the 12 months. But he has a harmful first opponent in Davidovich Fokina, the world No 23 who reached the semi-final finally week’s Canadian Open.
Having already overwhelmed Djokovic on the 2022 Monte Carlo Masters, the 24-year-old was relishing the possibility to show himself in opposition to the champion as soon as once more. “I wanted to one day play against him and obviously if I can beat him, for me it would have been a dream. I think it is the same now,” Davidovich Fokina instructed the ATP.
“If I can win this match tomorrow, for me it’s a dream because in the end you don’t win against these guys every day.” Looking again at his 6-3 6-7(5) 6-1 victory over Djokovic 16 months in the past, he continued: “I remember that I was dominating him very good. And in the middle of the second set, he broke me back.
“When he won the second set, he was on fire. But I just was [focused] on being on court, to play against him and to be focused on every ball. I think that the key to win was to be focused in every point. It doesn’t matter the result, you forget about the result. You have to play against him because at the end, he’s a legend. And you don’t play every day with these types of guys.”
Djokovic has a 3-1 report in opposition to Davidovich Fokina and received their most up-to-date assembly at this 12 months’s French Open 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 6-2. Based on his expertise of dealing with Djokovic, the Spaniard believes {that a} mixture of Federer and Nadal’s finest belongings made the 36-year-old so powerful to beat.
“He has everything of Rafa and Federer. His body is so elastic and he can be very, very solid and he has the weapons to push you to make errors. Then he has winners. He’s very good serving,” he defined. “But the key of his is that he sees the match very good. The moment of the match, he knows how to [judge what he needs to do] very good.”
As properly as drawing confidence from his Monte Carlo victory over Djokovic, the 24-year-old can be filled with perception after reaching his second profession Masters semi-final in Toronto final week. Davidovich Fokina added: “It helped to give me a lot of confidence to beat the top guys. It gives you a lot of power, a lot of confidence, a lot of strength to focus for the next match.
“This week for me, it’s like a new challenge. Because always when I do a good result, the week after is a little bit tougher for me. But I think I am prepared because I am better mentally. I know that it’s going to be Novak Djokovic next and it’s going to be a very, very tough match. But I think I’m prepared now to face him and to try to beat him.
“[My win] was last year and on clay. On hard it’s different, but it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be fun to watch. And for sure, we will enjoy playing against each other.”