It was a reaction typically reserved for a title, the pouring out of emotion after a week's worth of victories.
Upon beating Kevin Anderson 7-6(5), 7-6(6) on Saturday night in Brisbane, Novak Djokovic dropped his racquet and lifted his arms to the sky, inviting cheers from the boisterous flag-waving and pro-Serbian crowd. He later skipped back to the court and leapt into the air, fist pumping the win.
Djokovic and Serbia had not clinched the inaugural ATP Cup title; they had won only their first ATP Cup tie against South Africa. But that's how much the win – and the tournament – mean to the World No. 2 and his countrymen.
“I thought it was a fantastic opening match of the season," Djokovic said. “I was really pleasantly surprised and I'm very grateful to all the fans coming out and being patient, staying all the way to the end of the match, especially Serbian guys that really showed the great passion.”
He and Anderson typically meet at the end of the tournament, in the final weekend rather than the first. But on day two of the 2020 ATP Tour season, Djokovic and Anderson added Pat Rafter Arena to the list of venues where their ATP Head2Head rivalry has played out, a ledger that includes Centre Court for the 2018 Wimbledon final and The O2 in southeast London for the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals.
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Djokovic won both of those match-ups, and he persevered through some up-and-down tennis to also take their first meeting in Australia. The Serbian No. 1 started quickly, holding to love twice and leading 4-1 as Anderson endured a glacial start.
The 33-year-old was playing his first match since 5 July at Wimbledon and played only five tournaments in 2019 due to injuries (right elbow, right knee). In September, the 6'8” right-hander had to shut down his season because of knee surgery.
“Coming first match back and straight away playing Novak's obviously a little bit tough,” Anderson said. “Definitely got off to a little bit of a nervous start but I am really pleased with the way I was able to turn it around and felt [like I] pretty much went toe-to-toe from midway through the first set through the rest of the match.”
After five games, Anderson resembled his former self, commanding points with his booming forehand and taking the racquet out of Djokovic's hands during his service games. Anderson saved seven of eight break points for the match, but in both tie-breaks, Djokovic was too Djokovic-esque as the Serbian fans pushed him to the finish.
Djokovic pulled away in the first-set tie-break and in the second set, Anderson had a set point at 6/5 but netted a forehand. At 6/6, Djokovic curled a forehand past Anderson at net and tapped a volley put-away on match point.
“I'm pretty pleased with my game. To be honest, considering the fact that he was playing at the very high level, I thought it was a fantastic match,” Djokovic said.
Earlier, Serbia's Dusan Lajovic rallied past South Africa's Lloyd Harris 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3. Lajovic was broken twice in the opening set but steadied himself in the second set of his first match of the season, increasingly passing the 6'6" Harris and troubling him at net. Harris saved all four break points faced in the first two sets, but Lajovic broke twice in the final set.
“I was putting pressure on his serve and I think he was feeling it and that was the key in the tie-break,” Lajovic said. “I knew that if I stayed confident in the tie-break, I'd have my chances. And after the tie-break he went down physically a little bit.”
Harris finished 2019 at a career-best year-end FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 99 and will take plenty from his three-set tangle with Lajovic, last year's Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters finalist (l. to Fognini), as South Africa progresses at the inaugural 24-team event, which is being held in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.
“It was a very tough match at the end. I felt like I played really well at the start, got off to that early break and continued with the momentum throughout the first set, even the second set until halfway I was feeling pretty much in control of the match,” Harris said. “It's been a really fun week and an enjoyable week and we have put in a lot of hard work, so let's see what we can do from here.”
In doubles, Nikola Cacic/Viktor Troicki gave Serbia a clean 3-0 sweep with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Raven Klaasen/Ruan Roelofse.
