Novak Djokovic's defeat in the Australian Open semifinals garnered a lot of reactions from pundits, and former rival Andy Roddick recently shared his thoughts.
Djokovic lost to eventual champion Jannik Sinner, with some sections of tennis fans believing it could be the passing of the torch. The Serbian's performance was a far cry from what many have become accustomed to.
By his own admission, Djokovic called it one of the worst Grand Slam performances of his career. And there is truth to those words. The 36-year-old failed to manufacture a single break point in the match.
It was the first completed match of his Grand Slam career that such a scenario unfolded. Djokovic lost in four sets. The only set he won was the third-set tie-break. He could not sustain that momentum in the fourth set despite saving a match point.
Former WTA No. 1 Justine Henin recently confessed to being surprised by Djokovic's "lack of reaction" while working with Eurosport. And now former ATP No. 1 Andy Roddick called Djokovic's subpar performance as "weird" amid struggles to summon the energy required to play a semifinal.
"Time is undefeated, right? And he (Djokovic) has fought it off as well as anyone. From where I sat, it was weird seeing him try to generate energy for a semifinal, especially at his favorite place, Australia. And I felt like for those first two sets, he was trying to find motivation and energy."
"The match against Sinner was the first time in a long time I saw him kind of searching for an energy source or motivation source on top of a match-up that has very quickly become a difficult one for him."
Questions about Djokovic's energy levels have been floated around, and the ten-time Australian Open champion revealed during the tournament that he was battling sickness. Djokovic's preparations for the tournament were hit with a wrist injury that required time away from the court after the United Cup.
His schedule after Melbourne is unclear, having pulled out from Serbia's Davis Cup qualifying tie against Slovakia this weekend to be with his family in Spain.
0 Comments