Tennis
Get out! Djokovic yelled at his brother. Then he won his 92nd career title
Novak Djokovic is back in Australia after a year and this time no one is stopping him from going to the Australian Open. Before the Grand Slam itself, he had a nice tune-up at the Adelaide tournament, where he won his 92nd title on the ATP circuit.
Novak Djokovic is back in Australia after a year and this time no one is stopping him from going to the Australian Open. Before the Grand Slam itself, he had a nice tune-up at the Adelaide tournament, where he won his 92nd title on the ATP circuit. But many were surprised by the former world number one’s behaviour in the final against American Kord.
It was not an easy tournament for him though. He had to overcome some very tough matches on his way to the championship.
In the final he had to face the son of the famous Czech tennis player Petr Korda, Sebastian. He is slowly building on his father’s legacy and is ranked 31st in the ATP rankings.
And the young American started the match much better. In the first set, he had three set points in the tenth game. But Djokovic still held on. But he didn’t manage a very difficult tiebreak, which Korda decided with the tenth point.
This made the Serb very angry and he started gesticulating wildly towards the stands. In Italian, he yelled “Vypadni” and indeed, two of the five people in the players’ box left their seats.
They were Djokovic’s brother, Marko, and after a while two agents of the famous Serb also left the box. Ironically, however, the great anger ended up helping the winner of the last Tournament of Champions.
In the second set, although he again faced one set point from Korda’s racquet, he turned it away and set himself up to turn the whole match around. First he managed a tiebreak in the second set and in the last set he took advantage of his opponent’s hesitation in the tenth game.
Djokovic thus won after sets 6-7(8), 7-6(3) and 6-4 and could celebrate his 92nd title on the ATP circuit. He has now equalled Rafael Nadal and is only ahead of such names as Ivan Lendl (94), Roger Federer (103) and Jimmy Connors (109) in the number of triumphs.
In his post-match speech, he tried to temper his fury after the first set. “I would like to thank my team for the way they handle me, the way they tolerate me in good times and bad times,” Djokovic said.
“I appreciate them being here with me. My brother Marko is here. I don’t see him that often and I appreciate him coming here. I love you,” he continued, referring to his brother
The Serbian phenom can now slowly prepare for the Australian Open, where he will fight for his tenth Grand Slam triumph. He has won the last three editions he has participated in.
Sources: ATP, sport.cz, Twitter