Novak Djokovic double-faulted, shook his right arm and grimaced.
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“I am hitting very well the backhand, but it’s true that the forehand I need time”.
Djokovic had to call for a medical time-out just five games into his 6-3 5-7 6-2 6-1 victory at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night. “I’m glad that I’m experiencing that”, Djokovic said.
“To be honest, I take it day by day”.
During the match, the victor of 12 Grand Slam titles hit first serves around 100 miles per hour, 25 MPH or so below his norm, and second serves in the low 80s. How each man looks as he begins a bid for a third career title at Flushing Meadows will be one of the main things to watch Monday at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament.
Djokovic headed into the tournament on the back of a disappointing run having suffered an early exit at Wimbledon and first-round losses at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but he was in better form on Monday as he required one break of serve to take the opening set.
Heading into the US Open, Djokovic spoke about dealing with a left wrist injury that flared up in the days before the Rio Olympics this month.
Novak Djokovic says he was relieved to have progressed at the US Open following his battling opening win over Jerzy Janowicz.
Sure, there were matches that provided more drama or surprises on Day 1 at Flushing Meadows.
Milos Raonic returns during his first round match.
The 2013 champion won his 44th match of 2016, an effort which the 30-year-old characterized as average “not very good, not very bad”.
But the French Open champion needed courtside treatment from a doctor after dropping the first set.
In his US Open debut, 21-year-old Brit Kyle Edmund upset 13th-seeded Richard Gasquet.
Hercog, who’s never been past the third round at a major, came in 2-1 against Kerber in tour-level matches, though they hadn’t met since 2011. The Serb, who has reached the semi-finals or better here for the last nine years in a row, dropped only three more games in the match.
“It’s not easy to go two months-and-a-half out of competition in the middle of the season without hitting a forehand”, he said. Asked to sum up his physical condition, he said: “It’s getting better and better each day”.
Her path to a fourth round rematch against Johanna Konta, who beat the Spaniard in the second round previous year, was eased when Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig became the first notable casualty of the tournament.
American eighth seed Madison Keys beat compatriot Alison Riske 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 in a tie which ended at 1.48am, the latest finish to a women’s match in tournament history.
The year’s final grand slam got off to a glitzy Hollywood-style start, with a performance from Phil Collins to mark the arrival of the $150 million retractable roof at the stadium.
20th seed John Isner, nearly followed Gasquet out of the tournament but the American came back strong to beat 18-year-old compatriot Frances Tiafoe 3-6 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 7-6 (7-3).
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Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic, the 2014 champion and victor in Cincinnati last week, eased past Brazil’s Rogerio Silva 6-4, 7-5, 6-1 while flamboyant French 10th seed Gael Monfils took his summer hard court record to 15-2 with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 win over Gilles Muller of Luxemburg.
