“Everything in life happens for a reason”, said Djokovic.
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“My two best performances arrived in semi-finals and finals – the right moment for me”.
“After Grand Slams, these are the biggest events we have in sport of tennis”, Djokovic said.
Novak Djokovic sealed his winning return to tennis a month after an early Wimbledon exit as he beat Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-5 on Sunday at the Toronto Masters.
The 29-year-old has seven victories this year and 66 overall, a record 30 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events such as the Canadian stop. I knew I had to step it up, otherwise he’s going to come back. Djokovic struck five aces, did not double-fault a single time, and earned three service breaks before getting the job done in one hour and 22 minutes.
Top seed Djokovic was in impressive form in his last four clash with Monfils, the tournament’s 10th seed, as he maintained his flawless record against the Frenchman.
Djokovic’s success on the serving front helped cause Nishikori to commit 28 unforced errors.
The world No. 1 then looked set to make light work of his opponent, breaking Nishikori early in the second set before the Nishikori fightback began. After the break point Nishikori bent over, clenching his fist in celebration.
True to his word, Djokovic hugged the man next to him as fans embraced each other in the stands.
Next Djokovic advances to the Rio Olympics with roughly the same parameters – mystery injury(s), mystery balance/footwork issues – but this time with world No. 2 Andy Murray (and maybe Nadal) thrown in the mix.
But looking at the previous set scores between Djokovic and Nishikori we can take on a correct score wager here that’s more of interest than the 2-0 to the world number one. Before the final, Nishikori had won 86 per cent of the Rogers Cup games in which he had served.
Wawrinka served for set one at *5-3 and had set points to win it 7-5 and in the ensuing tie break, but as we’ve seen many times from Wawrinka in non-Grand Slam events he capitulated feebly when things didn’t go his way. On the next point, Wawrinka’s shot ricocheted off the net cord and out of play, and his forehand error on the clinching point was truly untimely.
Give me Djokovic to win yet another title. “The fact that I lost in the first week of Wimbledon allowed me to have a week more of the time with my family and quality time off the tennis”, he said adding that he spent his down time “recharging my batteries, and coming in here with plenty of motivation to do well”. “It wasn’t easy for me to try to find any solution”. “I’m quite disappointed, especially with the way I played with that first set and also the second set”. He will also represent Serbia at the Rio Olympics.
Where Djokovic rarely erred, Monfils’ mistakes were costly – like the first-set overhand smash that landed on his own side of the net.
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TORONTO-Trailing by a game in the second set of his Rogers Cup semifinal, Gael Monfils walked to his courtside chair and unsheathed a shiny new black Wilson racquet from its plastic wrapping.
