Former world No. 1 Andy Roddick thought Novak Djokovic entered his vintage mode in the second set tie-break of the Rome final versus Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic, ranked at No. 1 in the world, claimed his first title of the year after beating Tsitsipas 6-0 7-6 (5) in the Rome final.
While closely following the second set tie-break, Roddick noticed that Djokovic was able to avoid mistakes, all while putting the pressure on Tsitsipas and forcing him into mistakes. “The second-set tiebreaker was vintage Novak.
He’s able to lock down the errors, may be better than anyone I have seen in the history of the game. Playing safe, but still moving the ball around, getting the patterns he wants. When the pressure mounts, being able to get your pattern is important.
He does that as well as anyone.”
Roddick: Djokovic just went into lockdown mode
The two players were to 2-2 in the tie-break, before Djokovic won three consecutive points to open a 5-2 lead. Tsitsipas responded by winning three consecutive points to level the tie-break to five points apiece but Djokovic didn’t panic and won the following two points to complete a straight-set win.
“Why I appreciate the Big 3, winning matches you are supposed to win all the time is difficult with that pressure, and he just went through it again. Second serve was tight. Was barely getting above.70 miles an hour in the second-set tiebreaker, but he went into lockdown mode,” Roddick said.
“It looks like he is pushing. He is not. He is finding the pattern he wants to get into and does it as well as anyone.” Djokovic has finally won his first title of the year and he seems to have found his game and rhythm just before the start of the French Open.
Djokovic lifted his first French Open title in 2016, before winning his second French Open crowd a year ago. It remains to be seen if Djokovic can win back-to-back French Open titles.
