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What Makes Novak Djokovic Unbeatable at French Open 2020?

Published 10/03/2020, 3:40 AM EDT

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Novak Djokovic is on a merry run on the ATP circuit in the 2020 season. With 33 wins, he is yet to lose a match all year, barring his disqualification at the US Open 2020. Even this week at the French Open 2020, the world number one became just the third man to win 70 matches at the Paris Grand Slam.

Djokovic is not the downright favorite this fortnight in Paris. The challenge of Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem looms large on him. However, there is something to suggest that Djokovic could be practically unbeatable this year at Roland Garros.

In his second-round match against Ricardas Berankis, Djokovic produced incredible numbers on serve.

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Why Novak Djokovic is so dangerous at French Open 2020

The importance of making a higher number of first serves is always highlighted. However, what matters more and what separates the great players from the rest is the number of points won on the first serve. Djokovic’s stats on serve against Berankis are a testament to that.

The Serbian superstar produced a lower percentage of first serves at 58 percent. Berankis had more with 75 percent of first serves going in. However, Djokovic won 36 of the 38 points when he put the first serve in, which comes up to a stunning 95 percent.

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Meanwhile, for Berankis, despite the 75 percent of first serves, he was able to win just 20 of 40 points. Eventually, Djokovic ended up losing just five games en route to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

The story was similar in Djokovic’s first-round match against Mikael Ymer. Once again, his opponent had higher numbers behind the first serve. However, Djokovic dominated the ‘points won behind the first serve’ department. He won 26 of the 35 points after making the first serve, at 74 percent.

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Can ‘The Djoker’ keep these numbers up?

In the opening match, he even won 61 percent of points behind his second serve. That is quite an impressive performance given how vulnerable a second serve tends to be.

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Even if an opponent puts Novak Djokovic on defense during a rally, his skills while defending make it highly difficult to win a rally easily against him.

In all certainty, Djokovic will face much tougher tests going ahead at the French Open 2020. But if he can continue to produce such numbers behind his serve, he will make things incredibly difficult for any player.

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Written by:

Aayush Majumdar

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Aayush Majumdar is a NASCAR content strategist, a Tennis Writer, and a sports analyst at EssentiallySports. He is well-tenured as a tennis and NASCAR writer, with over 900 articles across both sports. After pursuing a Post Graduate program in Sports Management, Aayush explored various roles in Sports Media, including a Sports Reporting role at a leading English daily.
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