Novak Djokovic fought hard to enter the third round of the Italian Open beating Tomas Etcheverry 7-5 (7/6), 6-2 in a surprisingly tight fight. Novak struggled for almost an hour against 61st ranked Argentine. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner has not been knocked out of an ATP tour for the first time since Monte Carlo last year.
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With an injury to his right elbow, he battled Etcheverry winning the first round by way of a tie-breaker, finally entering the next round. He was returning after a 3-week off due to lingering tissue damage & subsequent surgery to his right elbow. He lost to Lorenzo Musetti in the round 16 at Monte Carlo. After his serve was broken in the opening match of the game and he put on a black sleeve over his right elbow, he fell behind 3-1 before getting back on track.
While it was all slow at the start, there were moments of old Djokovic. He produced a delicate forehand stop volley winner to stop a long shot midway through the first set, after which there was a loud cheer from the crowd.
Djokovic was unhappy with the condition of the clay on Campo Centrale and he told the chair umpire at one point during the first set that the court was an “absolute disaster.”
“Every bounce is different,” Djokovic said as workers smoothed the court out. “It seems like there’s too much clay. A half meter in, half a meter out.”
