Novak Djokovic & Andrey Rublev impress on Adria Tour

"When COVID is over, you'll know who really worked during this period,” said Alexander Zverev. Since the COVID-19 pandemic is nowhere near defeated, Zverev should have plenty more time to salvage his second serve, which once again failed him miserably in his 4-3 (2), 4-3 (1) loss to world No. 157 Danilo Petrovic. The German committed 12 double faults while winning just 24% of his second serve points. Disgusted with himself, Zverev swatted a forehand error on match point with little to no intention of putting the ball in the court.

Perhaps Zverev is tossing the ball too high, as tennis analyst Matthew Willis pointed out. Ideally, one should hit their serve at the apex of the toss, during the few milliseconds the ball is perfectly suspended in the air. Zverev is hitting his serve while the ball rapidly descends, which decreases the margin for error, as hitting a moving ball is more difficult than a still one. But most of the time, such travesties are never just one thing, but a combination of things. Zverev’s service yips are alive and well. After the match, commentator Lindsay Davenport was stunned, and simply said “well we hope (Zverev) is feeling OK.”

Excluding Grigor Dimitrov’s opening round dud against Borna Coric (Dimitrov would withdraw following his 4-1, 4-1 defeat), the quality of play was markedly higher in the following matches. Novak Djokovic fought back from a 3-1 first set deficit in his opening match against Pedja Krstin. Once the world No. 1 found his footing, there was nothing his fellow Serb could do.

In his second match, Djokovic once again fought from a break down, but this time it was in the second set, as he outclassed Borna Coric 4-1, 4-3 (1). The Serbian owns arguably the best backhand of all time, and was using his two-handed weapon mercilessly. Seemingly every backhand landed within inches from the line. It’s no secret that Coric loves pace, so Djokovic made sure to hit plenty of high, heavy, loopy forehands crosscourt to Coric’s weaker forehand wing.

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In the highest quality match of the day, Andrey Rublev survived Marin Cilic 4-3 (5), 2-4, 4-1. Rublev, who began the season with a sizzling 15-3 record before the tour was suspended, hasn’t missed a beat during the hiatus. The Russian and his fearsome forehand eliminated any weak reply from Cilic. The 22-year-old is well on his way to owning the perhaps the most lethal forehand on tour, but it was his down-the-line backhand that made this difference in this match.

By redirecting his backhand down the line, Rublev virtually guarantees himself a forehand on the next shot. While Cilic played fine tennis, he was unable to handle Rublev’s unrelenting pace and aggression. In his second match against Petrovic, Rublev wasted no time, dispatching the Serbian 4-2, 4-1 in just 38 minutes.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow to catch Djokovic vs. Rublev, as it’s shaping up to be a phenomenal display of ball striking.