Tennis legends Justine Henin and Boris Becker have assessed the form of Australian Open favourite Novak Djokovic so far in the Serb’s quest for an 11th crown at the event.
Becker described Djokovic as a “born perfectionist” who “always wants to play perfect tennis”, while Henin suggested the 36-year-old’s level in his early matches is not overly important.
Djokovic has admitted he has felt under the weather during his campaign so far in Melbourne and was below his best in four-set wins over Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin in his first two matches.
Following his second round victory over world No 43 Popyrin on Wednesday, Djokovic discussed how he was feeling and his two performances.
“Look, I haven’t been playing or feeling at my best the last, whatever, week or so,” the 24-time Grand Slam champion explained in his press conference.
“It’s frustrating at times with kind of the level of tennis that I’m playing on the court and some uncharacteristic mistakes that I make. At the same time, that’s sport.
“You can’t always feel your best or play your best, and you have to find a way to win, which I did against the two players that possess great quality, who came out on the court knowing that they can win.”
Henin, a seven-time major champion and former world No 1, spoke about Djokovic’s early tournament form on Eurosport Tennis Club.
“It means, as he put it, that he’s still not able to play his best tennis. He says it much better than we do. You could see from his face that he wasn’t feeling particularly well. After the first round, I thought he was more relieved than today,” the Belgian said.
“Maybe he’s going through some physical difficulties, facing young players who want to take their chances. He got through it in four sets, with a little more time on court, but he’s in the third round.
“At the end of the first set, we were right not to worry about Djokovic. He was playing extremely well. Popyrin destabilised a Djokovic who was losing his intensity. The world No 1 came back with a vengeance.
“There’s some inconsistency, but it’s all about energy and intensity. He made no secret of it: he wasn’t at his best physically, he was a bit ill. You always wonder at what level you’re going to find this player, at the start of the season or at the start of a Grand Slam, but does it really matter?
“With the matches, the confidence, the experience of a tournament, we know that all that can evolve. He knows that better than any other player. Of course he’d like to be at an even higher level, but at the same time he knows that he’s capable of playing better in the next round if he feels better physically.”
Six-time Grand Slam winner Becker, who coached Djokovic from 2014 to 2016, weighed in on the standards the world No 1 sets for himself.
“He (Djokovic) was honest about the fact that he is still behind form and not playing his best tennis. He demands the utmost attention from his box and of course the right tactical support,” the former world No 1 analysed.
“Sometimes this is difficult to understand if the returns were actually good but Novak wasn’t satisfied with them. He’s a born perfectionist and always wants to play perfect tennis – that’s always challenging for a coach.”
Djokovic will take on Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round on Friday.