‘WHAT A MOMENT THAT IS’ WHEN NOVAK DJOKOVIC SMILES AS BEDENE HITS A ‘PERFECT’ SHOT IN FRENCH OPEN.
Novak Djokovic may have been the player that attracted a big crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier on Friday afternoon for his third-round match at the French Open, but Aljaz Bedene arguably produced the shot that had the fans most excited early in the match. The world No. 1 may have been in control, but he could do nothing to repel one “perfect” shot that had him smiling.
Sometimes all you can do is smile. Despite his dominance in the match, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic got comprehensively beaten by a sublime shot from Aljaz Bedene.
The 20-time Grand Slam singles champion, who is defending his second title at Roland-Garros from last year, was 2-1 up with a break point on Bedene’s serve when his opponent came up with something special.
Djokovic let rip with a ferocious backhand passing shot that appeared destined to be a winner to clinch a break, only for Bedene to somehow manage to flick the ball back with the “perfect” stop-volley to skim the net and drop it just inside the other half of the court.
As the crowd roared its approval at the shot, Djokovic let out a shout and smiled over at his opponent to express his admiration for the effort and execution of what was a very difficult shot to pull off under immense pressure.
“Oh! Djokovic says ‘no, how can you?!’ exclaimed Barry Millns in the Eurosport commentary box.
“What a moment that is! A wonderful shot. That’s for the highlights reel today from Aljaz Bedene.”
Annabel Croft added: “It was like the perfect stop-volley. Look at how he opens up the face of the racquet, skims [the ball] over the top of the net. Even Djokovic is admiring that one!”
Perhaps it is no surprise, given just how on fire Djokovic has been so far at Roland-Garros that Eurosport expert John McEnroe had him down as his tip for glory come June 5th in Paris.
“I don’t think we have to worry a whole lot about Rafa at Roland-Garros, if you look at his record, it’s crazy, it’s insane how good it is. 13 times he has won this, so it is all about if he is feeling good physically,” said McEnroe.
“If he is feeling good physically, even Novak says he is the favourite because he wants to take a little pressure off himself – you always say ‘the other guy is going to win’.
Nadal has won it 13 times and Novak has won it twice – who do you think the favourite is if they are both healthy?
“I know that Novak beat him last year in the semis, Rafa did not play for six months. All of a sudden, they go to Australia where everyone is saying Novak is going to break the record and guess what? They don’t even let him play, they throw him out of the country.
“Rafa Nadal wins the Australian Open after not playing for six months. These guys are incredible. Amazing. So it is going to be tough to beat them.
“I’m not sure he [Djokovic] is at his best level, but he is getting close to it. Novak has a way of fuelling these situations into something positive – that is very hard to do.
“All of a sudden he [Djokovic] loses to Alcaraz [in Madrid], what’s happening? Well, he wins Rome; now it looks like, there is Novak Djokovic – he’s back! He’s 35, in incredible shape.”
