Djokovic Admits Physical Toll After Surviving Vacherot Test At Paris Masters

Djokovic Admits Physical Toll After Surviving Vacherot Test

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has fired back at doubts surrounding his longevity, overcoming a set and a break deficit to defeat Valentin Vacherot 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the Paris Masters.

Making his debut at the La Défense Arena,the tournament’s new venue, the 39-year-old seven-time champion snapped Vacherot’s five-match winning streak coming off his Basel title, keeping his own push for ATP Finals qualification alive.

The two-hour-and-35-minute battle took a severe physical toll on the 10th seed, who struggled early on against Vacherot’s heavy serving. “I expected a match like this with very few opportunities,” Djokovic said.

“He has a tremendous serve coming at 215 to 225 km/h. For a set and a half, I had a very difficult time reading it, which put additional pressure on my service games.”

A rare blunder in the first-set tiebreak nearly proved costly for Djokovic. “I missed an incredibly easy forehand volley. I just had a brain freeze, and next thing you know, I was down a set and down a break,” he admitted.

However, a break back at 2-1 in the second set unlocked the contest, allowing Djokovic to establish control on Vacherot’s delivery.

While the Serbian finished strongly in the third set, he raised concerns over his physical freshness heading into his next-round tie against Rinky Hijikata. “The third set was really good, but it was very tiring physically with a lot of long rallies,” Djokovic noted after sealing his hard-fought comeback.