Novak Djokovic says last 16 clash with Hubert Hurkacz was like two matches

James Richardson 10 Jul 2023 8:20 PM

Novak Djokovic stretching to play a shot

Defending champion Novak Djokovic said his match against Hubert Hurkacz, split over two days was really like two different contests.

Djokovic admitted that he was put under pressure by the big serve of Hurkacz.

He felt that made his own service games that much more important.

Djokovic said the conditions the match was played in changed dramatically overnight.

” Kind of two different matches: last night and today,” Djokovic said at the post-match press conference.

“Completely different conditions. Playing under the roof more humid, more slippery. Obviously no wind. A bit easier for the rhythm for the serve. At the same time a bit slower from the back of the court, more rallies.

“Today, completely different. Very, very windy. Difficult to get the rhythm and tempo on the toss. It didn’t seem to affect him much.

“I thought maybe that could be my chance to start reading his serve a bit better. That wasn’t the case. He was serving incredibly well. I don’t recall being so helpless on the return games, to be honest.

“I knew that he’s a big server and he’s a fantastic player on the grass particularly, but I didn’t expect him to serve this well and this accurate. Credit to him.

“It was a very, very close match. It could have gone a different way. He had his chances, particularly in the first set tiebreaker. Yeah, in the important moments, particularly in the fourth, I managed to read his serve, make that break that was the key to success.”

Djokovic showed great mental strength to reload after quickly dropping the third set when play resumed.

“You don’t want to know,” Djokovic joked when asked about his internal monologue when things got rough.

“No, I mean, look, I go through my moments. I think in matches like this where you don’t have many chances at all on the serve, service games of your opponent, when they’re presented, you don’t use them. Then obviously the pressure builds up.

“I don’t have as strong of a serve that Hurkacz has. I had to probably work a bit more for my service games, and I knew that. Eventually that pressure that builds up just goes out.

“Yeah, I was frustrated the way I played the last game of the third set. Also credit to him, he played really, really good game. I was a bit passive and the set was gone. I like my chances going into tiebreak in the third set. That’s why I was, of course, more frustrated.

“After that I just regrouped. I said, Okay, we’ll start from scratch. I don’t know, I felt a bit more energetic, a bit more I would say in balance, especially in the return, in the fourth set. The 3-All game was a great return game because he was making most of his first serves, but I was managing to read and anticipate.

“It’s kind of a gamble really with him because he hits all angles. He’s so precise. He hits over 130 miles basically every serve. It’s kind of good luck and choose a side type of thing.

“I was fortunate there to read his serve and get into the rally, which I always wanted. I think I like my chances in the rally. But I thought he also played much better from the baseline today than he did last night.

“Just a very, very close match. Amazing battle.”

Djokovic goes on to face Andrey Rublev in the last eight at Wimbledon.