Bred Gilbert praises Djokovic and revals Coco Gauff’s secret behind her serve
Novak Djokovic talked about his condition at the end of the match with Dino Prizmic, 1st round of the Australian Open 2024. The Serbian champion struggled more than expected and took four hours to reach the second round of the Happy Slam, but on the other side of the net he found a determined opponent capable of putting him in difficulty.
The defending champion will have to be good at managing the two days he will have available before the next match in the best possible way.
“I will talk to my team to establish the program. We will see whether to skip training on the pitch. I could do some light work in the gym, jogging and exercises to maintain shape. Last year I didn’t train between matches ‘other, but I was injured. I think two days is quite useful after playing a first round that lasted four hours,” Djokovic confessed in a press conference before focusing on the new policy adopted by the tournament organizers.
Many spectators entered Rod Laver Arena without waiting for the changeover. “I didn’t know anything about this new policy or rule. I understand that the goal is to improve the fan experience, we play for them. Frances Tiafoe, for example, is one of the tennis players in favor of allowing people to enter freely during matches as in other sports. It’s difficult. I understand this and, to a certain extent, I support this idea, but throughout my career I have been accustomed to a certain atmosphere.
When it changes, it distracts you a little. Today we lost a lot of time when they let people in. My opponent was waiting for them to sit down. I don’t know if it’s really the best rule, but I understand that from the point of view of the tournament and the fans it’s probably better, because they don’t want to wait,” he explained.
Brad Gilbert on Djokovic and Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff’s new coach, Brad Gilbert, praised the Serbian champion for his victory in the first round of the Australian Open. Furthermore he also talked about the improvements to Coco Gauff’s serve.
“Djoker finally getting to the legs of Dino, that was punishing last couple games. ND took it up notch, such a genius at managing himself in greatness of B05 matches,” wrote Gilbert.
About Coco he revealed she was helped by Andy Roddick to improve her serve, on the eve of the Australian Open, as reported by Tennis.com: “I coached Andy Roddick when he was young. He’s has an amazing serve. I was thinking: what a great person to take a look at Coco’s serve? When I coached Andy, I was his age now. Andy was like Coco’s age. It was a great two days. Really helped things out, simplified Coco’s motion.”
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THE NOVAK FACTOR: COCO GAUFF SHARES DESIRE TO PLAY FIRST ON NIGHT SESSION AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN BUT UNDERSTANDS DJOKOVIC DILEMMA
Coco Gauff due to her standing from the start of her tennis career is often designated onto the main show courts at Grand Slams including the 2024 Australian Open and has stated that she would love to play first in the Night Session if she is picked for that.
But Gauff who eased past Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in her first match sees a Novak Djokovic shaped dilemma in such a move which she understands from a tournament organiser point of view in that TV broadcasters and the fans want to see the 24-time Grand Slam champion on prime time.
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The US Open champion though admitted that it is perhaps easier to put the Women’s Night match on first due to the maximum sets which is what was a complaint on opening night with Aryna Sabalenka being forced to play post-midnight due to Novak Djokovic having trouble against Dino Prizmic and Sabalenka blew away Ella Seidel following that in less than an hour so could’ve played both matches in that time.
“Yeah, I was watching Novak’s match last night. I didn’t know the player that he was playing. So I think the thought process was, you know, maybe usually he’ll win his first round in pretty quick straight sets,” said Gauff.
“So I think that’s why they put Aryna [Sabalenka] after, thinking she would go on sooner. It ended up being like a three, I don’t know, a three-hour-ish, maybe longer, match. I went to sleep before it was finished.”
“Usually I always would, if I’m going to play night, I always would like to play the first night match, because usually typically the women’s, our longest match is three hours usually. And then the men’s, it can go minimum three or minimum two. At least you know with three sets it’s going to be at least two hours, and that’s even fast. With an average match, it’s like three and a half.
“I personally, if I’m the women’s match at night, I would love to play the first night match and not the second one. I would like to see that. But at the same time it’s tough with also Novak being, you know, I don’t know, he’s won this more times than I can count. You know, putting him not on the prime slot, which is probably the 7:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. slot.”
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