Former world number one Novak Djokovic says he intends to play in the Australian Open “for now”.
The Serb returned after six months out with an elbow injury to win 6-1 6-4 against world number five Dominic Thiem, 25, at the Kooyong Classic.
The 30-year-old said he was “very happy with how it went” after his first competitive game since Wimbledon.
When asked if he will play in the Grand Slam that starts next week, he added: “For now, I’m in the tournament.”
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Djokovic, who has dropped to number 14 in the world, will be chasing a record seventh Australian Open title if he competes in the tournament, which begins on 15 January.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion said potential five-set matches in Melbourne hold some fitness concerns for him.
“There was a doubt, especially after I pulled out of the first week of the year,” said Djokovic, who had not played since retiring in the Wimbledon quarter-finals last July.
“I don’t say I’m at 100%, I can only say that when I get the feel of a tournament.
“Ideally I would have had another tournament before the start of the Open, but it was not meant to be.”
Djokovic, who pulled out of a warm-up tournament in Abu Dhabi last week, easily overpowered Thiem, who only arrived in Melbourne on Monday night after four days in bed with a virus.
“I’m free of fever and healthy again. I’m still jet-lagged and was slow at the beginning of the match but I’ll be fine for the Open,” the Austrian said.
Andy Murray, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams have already withdrawn from 2018’s opening Grand Slam while Stan Wawrinka remains a doubt.
Analysis
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Djokovic’s busy day concluded with an appearance at the Tiebreak Tens exhibition event on the Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park.
The appearance was a brief one as he was well beaten by Lleyton Hewitt in the opening match. He was once again wearing a compression sleeve but there was no strapping on his troublesome elbow, and he appears to be playing without pain.
Rafael Nadal played with the intensity of a Grand Slam final, ultimately losing the final to Tomas Berdych. That’s what two months without competition can do to a man like Nadal.
But there was no Stan Wawrinka. The three-time Grand Slam champion has had knee surgery since his last appearance at Wimbledon and pulled out hours before the start. There is now a major question mark over his participation in the Australian Open.
Juan Martin del Potro drew on his experience to overcome #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov on Wednesday for a place in the ASB Classic quarter-finals.
The World No. 12 struck just six winners, and committed 11 unforced errors, in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Shapovalov in 65 minutes. Shapovalov, who hit 20 winners and made 40 unforced errors, had previously beaten Del Potro in August 2017 en route to the Coupe Rogers semi-finals in Montreal.
“I was surprised by the match today,” said del Potro. “I didn’t expect to play at this level in the first match of the year. But I’ve been working hard to play this tennis and hopefully I can still improve in the next matches.
“If he has a good day, he is very dangerous as a lefty, he serves well and volleys. Denis played better than me in the Montreal match, but today I broke him three times to love and that was the key. I served well throughout the match.”
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Shapovalov said, “I was struggling on my serve a little bit, but I felt pretty decent off the ground – expect for those three games. I was a little bit too excited and missed a lot. I’m pretty optimistic for the next tournaments. He served massive and played incredibly well. Unfortunately, I didn’t have many chances today.”
Del Potro is competing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the first time since 2009, when he beat Sam Querrey for the Auckland title as a 20-year-old. The victory, nine years ago, propelled him up to No. 6 in the ATP Rankings. “It’s so nice to come back to this tournament,” said del Potro. “Many Argentinean fans came to support me in this match and the crowd was full.”
The 29-year-old del Potro will now face Russian Karen Khachanov for the first time. Khachanov knocked out sixth-seeded Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 7-6(4) earlier in the day. “Karen is as tall as me and his forehand is very powerful, so I will see if I can play at the same level as today,” said del Potro.
Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head advantage to 3-1 against Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, knocking out the top seed 6-3, 7-5 on Wednesday at the Sydney International. Lorenzi had an immaculate day serving, capturing 90 per cent of his first-serve points and saving both break points.
Ramos-Vinolas has been the top seed two times in his career, and he’s lost in the first round both times. The Spaniard also fell in the first round of the German Tennis Championships 2017 to eventual champion Leonardo Mayer of Argentina. The 36-year-old Lorenzi will next face Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev, who beat American Jared Donaldson 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and six minutes. Medvedev also beat Donaldson in four shortened sets in November 2017 at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.
Fourth seed Fabio Fognini, Lorenzi’s countryman, achieved his best showing in Sydney, advancing to the quarter-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov. Fognini had been 0-3 in Sydney second-round matches (2012, 2013, 2015).
The Italian will next play fifth-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who didn’t face a break point in his 6-2, 6-1 win against Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, who was a finalist in at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow last October.
Is it David Ferrer’s turn to roll back the years and enjoy a throwback season? The 35-year-old Spaniard looked as dominant as ever on Wednesday, needing only 66 minutes to prevail past 2017 finalist Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-2, 6-2 at the ASB Classic in Auckland.
Ferrer, a four-time champion (2007, 2011, 2012, 2013), lost only eight service points (33/41, 80 per cent) and won almost 75 per cent of his second-serve return points against Portugal’s No. 1.
Ferrer enters the 2018 season just inside the Top 40, at No. 38. He won his 27th ATP World Tour title last year in Bastad after finishing 2016 without a title. Ferrer captured five ATP World Tour crowns in 2015.
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The former World No. 3 will meet fourth-seeded American John Isner or Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung in the quarter-finals. Isner and Chung play the final match on centre court on Wednesday evening.
Top seed and defending champion Jack Sock didn’t win a set in his return to Auckland. The World No. 8 was upset by German Peter Gojowczyk 6-3, 6-3 in only 61 minutes. The big-serving Sock was broken four times and won only 33 per cent of his second-serve points (9/27). Gojowczyk picked up his second Top 10 win.
The German reached the quarter-finals last week at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha before falling to eventual champion Gael Monfils. Sock was playing his first match of 2018. In the quarter-finals, Gojowczyk will face Dutchman Robin Haase, who beat Slovakian Lukas Lacko 7-6(4), 6-3.
Czech Jiri Vesely, the 2015 champion, won in a third-set tie-break for the second consecutive match, advancing past third seed Sam Querrey of the U.S. 6-4, 6-7(10), 7-6(5). The 24-year-old Vesely is going for his second ATP World Tour title this week and will next face 2016 Auckland champion Roberto Bautista Agut. The Spaniard improved to 5-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against American Steve Johnson with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory.
Sydney defending champion opens up about how his kids have motivated him
At every barrier Gilles Muller crossed during his career-best 2017 – the usual ups and downs of a season, the elbow injury and the mental wear of it all – the left-hander had two people on his mind: Lenny, 6, and Nils, 5 – his two sons.
Ever since the boys were born, Muller had sought to share tennis with them. The Luxembourg native wanted to extend his career long enough so that he would still be playing at a high level once Lenny and Nils were old enough to remember Dad’s tennis life.
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“I always wanted to see them in the stands, watching me play,” Muller exclusively told ATPWorldTour.com.
A year ago in Sydney, it happened. During the 2017 Sydney International final, Muller, then 33, ended his five-match losing streak in ATP World Tour finals and won his maiden ATP World Tour crown (d. Evans). His wife, Alessia Fauzzi, and their boys were in the stands, and Lenny and Nils joined Muller on court for the celebration.
“All those years paid off, to stay patient, show a lot of perseverance and just keep believing in yourself. Those are the most important things,” Muller said.
Watch Muller Share His Maiden Title With His Sons
The 6’4” left-hander returns to Sydney this week but in a much different place than where he was 12 months ago. Not only has Muller won a title, but he added another in 2017, winning the Ricoh Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (d. Mahut). The two-time titlist also has two brand-new words in front of his name in Sydney: defending champion.
“Last year I had probably one of the most beautiful days of my tennis career here so coming back, it’s a very special feeling,” Muller said.
The 34-year-old kicked off his 2018 last week at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp (l. to Chung). It was Muller’s first match since 21 September at the Moselle Open in Metz (l. to Basilashvili). The left-hander shut down his season early because of inflammation just under his serving elbow.
“I played with the pain during the [U.S.] summer and then I decided that it was better to stop the season and get ready for next season,” Muller said. “I was feeling it a lot when I was serving and when I was playing forehands. So I did some rehab and then I started to get ready for the 2018 season quite early.”
Muller’s health – or more aptly put, his lack of injuries – was the reason behind his late-blooming career year. In years prior and during last year, for the first time, Muller was able to play consecutive months without having to sit out because of knee or elbow pain.
Watch How Muller Perfects His Lefty Serve
In 2009, Muller’s knees bothered him so much he couldn’t even fully train and practise to get into match shape. But his ATP Ranking was around No. 80, which allowed him entry into Grand Slam draws and some Masters 1000 tournaments, along with their bigger pay cheques, so he felt like he couldn’t afford to take time off to rehab the injuries.
“I was able to play, but I wasn’t in the best shape to be able to play full seasons, to go deep into the tournaments,” he said. “I had a good tournament here and there, but then I had to take some time off because I felt some pain somewhere.”
Another injury, however, forced Muller to sit out. A few years later, he felt a nagging pain in his serving elbow, and doctors found a piece of bone in one of his joints, forcing him to miss six months of the 2013 season. The time off also let him rehab his knees and refresh his mind.
“I was able to work out every day,” Muller said.
At last healthy – and 10 pounds lighter – Muller strung together the best years of his life. He had never finished a season inside the Top 50 before 2014, and he’s never finished a season outside of the top half since.
Getting Better With Age: Muller Climbs The ATP Rankings
Year
Year-End ATP Ranking
Age
2017
No. 25
34
2016
No. 34
33
2015
No. 38
32
2014
No. 47
31
2013
No. 366
30
2012
No. 68
29
“The thing that always helped me to get through the difficult times was my kids,” Muller said. “Back then they were just babies. They had no clue what I was doing. And I always dreamt of having them around in tournaments and watching me play. That was a big motivation, and I’m very happy that I stayed strong at that time.”
Muller, who will turn 35 in May, talks freely and often reflectively about entering the final years of his career. If he could do it all over again, sure, he’d change some things. But being the first player from Luxembourg to achieve a number of ATP World Tour milestones, Muller is mostly just proud of what he’s accomplished.
“I had to find a way to get to the top because nobody was there to help me, nobody was there to show me. I mean now you see there’s so many players from different countries and they’re helping the kids in their countries to improve, to show them how it’s done, to show them what to do to get there, and I didn’t have that,” Muller said.
“Obviously I had to make a lot of things by myself, definitely I made some wrong choices, but at the end of the day I’m very proud because I decided everything by my own. I am now what I am because of me, not because of anybody else.”
Besides his two titles, Muller’s 2017 was also highlighted by his first Wimbledon quarter-final, when he staved off a comeback against two-time champion Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 to advance past the fourth round at SW19.
“There’s a moment where you kind of think, ‘OK, this is it now because there’s no way Rafa is going to drop the fifth set’. But then I told myself to just stay calm,” Muller said.
Read More: Muller Stuns Nadal In Wimbledon Classic
The mindset that helped him against one of the greatest players of all-time was the same one that helped him in Sydney, and will help him again in 2018, where he’ll try to impress his two biggest fans every time he takes the court.
“The most important for me is to stay healthy. I saw again last year how quick it can go with a small injury, and then you’re missing a couple of months,” Muller said. “I worked very hard physically in the off-season. I hope I’m ready to go for the whole season, and to just enjoy it. I’m going to be turning 35 this year so I don’t have many years ahead of me. I’m just hoping to enjoy it and make the best of it.”
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