Former Spanish tennis star Alex Corretja feels that Novak Djokovic should not be hard on himself after his US Open final defeat to Daniil Medvedev. Corretja feels that it was a perfect season for the Serb.
Djokovic’s dreams of winning the Calendar Grand Slam were shattered as he failed to beat Medvedev in the finals of the US Open. The World No. 1 was nowhere near his best against the Russian as he lost 4-6,4-6,4-6. Medvedev surprisingly looked a lot sharper than his counterpart and seized his moment to win his first Grand Slam.
Djokovic was clearly disappointed with himself as he wanted to create history and win the Calendar Grand Slam desperately. But Corretja recently in an interview with Eurosport believes that Djokovic will bounce back from this defeat.
“This is a learning process for Novak as well and I’m sure he will come back strong,” Corretja said.
This was Djokovic’s sixth loss of the season and first loss in Grand Slams. Therefore the Spaniard said that Djokovic should take pride in his performances this season.
“He (Novak Djokovic) needs to realise that his season was perfect and it was just that he lost a couple of matches,” Corretja added. “For him, it’s going to relieve the whole pressure and he will take on new goals for the future.”
Corretja has full faith in the Serb and believes that he can turn things around in the next season at the Australian Open or this season in the ATP Finals. However, that depends on his participation.
“And that will come again in winning the Australian Open next year, or even the ATP Finals at the end of this year if he decides not to take a little bit of time off to chill,” Corretja concluded.
Djokovic started the season exceptionally as he successfully defended his Australian Open title against Medvedev. He then followed it up by winning the Roland Garros against the spirited Stefanos Tsitsipas. The World No. 1 also conquered Wimbledon after he defeated Italian sensation Matteo Berrettini.
The dip in form started at the Tokyo Olympics where he lost the semifinals against Alexander Zverev and then even failed to win the Bronze medal match against Pablo Carreno Busta. He had the same fate at the US Open and his dreams of the Calendar Grand Slam also ended.
