Novak Djokovic “was surprised how bad I was feeling” in his first match since Wimbledon

NEW YORK—“Quite a strange match, to be honest,’ was how Novak Djokovic assessed his 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Learner Tien on Sunday night at the US Open.

Strange indeed in some ways. Djokovic mentioned the lengths of the first two sets: The opener lasted 20 minutes, while the second went on for an hour and 20 minutes. Djokovic’s demeanor and physical condition were also mysterious at times. By the middle of the second set, he looked gassed. He walked slowly and took extra time between points. He bailed out of long rallies with drop shots. He breathed hard and bent double. By the end of the third set, though, he was close to his normal self again, and the scoreline looked routine.

In that sense, this was also a predictable result for an opening night at the Open. Typically, this is when we see a very high seed play his first-round match against someone who has never experienced an evening session in New York before. Never felt the bright lights or heard the 20,000 fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Never had the sense that you’re playing in front of the world.

That was certainly true of Tien, who hasn’t made it past the first round of the US Open in four tries. At 19, in his first full year on tour, he’s even greener than Djokovic’s average opening-round victim. So it was no surprise that he looked like a deer in the headlights as he littered up the court with misses in the first set.

But it also wasn’t a surprise that, once he got the blood flowing and got used to the stage, Tien challenged Djokovic in the second set, and briefly brought some buzz and tension to the building. The match really only existed from the fifth game of the second set to the end of the tiebreaker, but it was a pretty good half set. Three times Tien pushed Djokovic; three times he failed to take the next step.

At 3-2, Tien had three break points, but Djokovic saved them all. During one of them, Tien had a look at a forehand, but he tapped the ball tentatively to the middle of the court, where Djokovic quickly bashed it for a winner. Later, with Djokovic serving at 4-5, Tien reached set point. He chose to back up to return serve; Djokovic, seeing his deep position, sent the ball out wide for an ace. Finally, Tien reached 3-3 in the tiebreaker. From there, though, he put a backhand into the net, double faulted, and missed a regulation backhand long. That was essentially that.

Despite not having played a match since Wimbledon, Djokovic’s physical struggles came as a surprise to him.

“I started great. Just over 20 minutes, first set, I felt really good,” he said. “Then some long games to start the second set, and then I start to feel really—I don’t know why. I really was surprised how bad I was feeling in the second physically.”

In the past, Djokovic might have brushed an early dip aside and chalked it up to first-round nerves. But not at 38.

“There are positives, but also things that hopefully won’t happen in terms of, like, how I feel on the court physically the way I felt in the second set,” he said. “It’s slightly a concern. I don’t know. I don’t have any injury or anything. I just struggled a lot to stay in long exchanges and recover after points.”

Djokovic has two days off before he plays another young Californian, 22-year-old Zachary Svajda.

“Good thing,” the five-time champ admitted. He’s three sets closer to another title now, but he’ll need to feel and play much better if he’s going to win 18 more.