“Just can congratulate him for making that happen”.
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“I’ve had a really good preparation”, Williams said.
Djokovic told RT last summer that being a father has enabled him to become a better tennis player: “Knowing that you’re giving up your love and your time to your baby, your child, that gives you freshness in the mind”.
Murray said: “In practice, there are things you’d look to do for matches against them, but also rather than it just being in practice, looking at matches that you’ve played against them and understanding tactics and things that are happening in the match that you can maybe change, as well”.
“In practice, you’re always trying to improve your overall game”.
“It’s always tricky, especially going into a match against somebody I’ve never faced before”, she said.
After a tough opener against Camila Giorgi, the highest ranked of the unseeded players in the women’s draw, Williams may have to face former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round and No. 5-ranked Maria Sharapova in a quarterfinal match that would feature last year’s finalists.
That could, in theory, hand Djokovic the awkward honour of a free pass to the title but the Serb understands Murray’s stance, having welcomed his own first child Stefan in October 2014.
“It was good”, he said. We have a good relationship. “I’m going to do a little bit more of analysis and research [to] get myself ready”.
The absences left the door ajar for Azarenka to win her first title since 2013, and demonstrate a renewed confidence after two injury-interrupted seasons.
It’s unproven still if anyone else’s best can match that of Djokovic’s current form. “It’s important to have someone who is motivated and if she wasn’t motivated to do the job, she wouldn’t have come back to do it”.
“(I) started well. I won the trophy again in Chennai (and a)… title, it’s something really special.
“Sometimes it’s very hard to handle (the conditions) if it goes over 40 degrees”, Djokovic said.
Australian favorite Hewitt overcame Marcos Baghdatis in near five hours, a match that finished at 4:33 a.m. local time just days earlier. It’s very, very exciting. Yeah, I still think the same guys are playing very well. When I’ve been training, not distracted on that side of things.
“But it’s not just him you have to win against”. The final, though, is two weeks away and his first task will be to dispose of Alexander Zverev, the world No83 from Germany, on Tuesday.
RUNNERS-UP REMATCH: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France plays Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the last night match on Margaret Court Arena on Monday, and both players have bittersweet memories of past Australian Open glory.
The Scot will also be joined by three other Britons, after Dan Evans qualified to join direct entrants Aljaz Bedene and Kyle Edmund, while Jamie Murray will go into the event in good heart after he and new partner Bruno Soares won the double title in Sydney. “Not really. That was more something that went into the press”, he said when asked if Ljubicic had helped him switch up his game for Djokovic.
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“Novak is playing at (a) better level than the rest of the players now, that’s obvious”, Nadal said.
