Novak Djokovic After Miami Open 2019 Loss:- “I Grew Up on Clay”

Novak Djokovic’s flawless display of tennis at the Australian Open 2019, and in the manner that he brushed aside the Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the finals, had Nole fans making bold predictions for the 2019 season. However, it has not been a successful March for Novak Djokovic, having missed out on the Sunshine double(Indian Wells 2019 and Miami Open 2019). The Serb came into the tournaments having taken his personal off-season- as he opted not to play in February.

Novak Djokovic was knocked out of the Miami Open 2019 earlier today, by a man named Roberto Bautista Agut, who has been making confident strides in 2019. Roberto Bautista Agut has had Novak’s number of late, winning 3 out of 3 of their recent meetings, which must be frustrating for a man who has had a near flawless second half of 2018.

However, Novak Djokovic brushed aside the loss, and says it was just another bad day at the office, as he now turns his attention to clay. “I thought I played well today and throughout this entire tournament”, said Novak Djokovic. “I just…Yeah- It’s two, three sluggish games and that’s what happens”, added Novak Djokovic.

On moving on to the clay court season he commented-“Let’s see you know, I grew up on clay, so I like playing on clay although you know statistically hard-court was always my most successful surface”, said the world number one. “So, we will see- you know I definitely have to play better than I have this couple of tournaments(Indian Wells 2019 and Miami 2019).”

Interestingly Novak Djokovic blamed his off-court activities for his loss of focus on the court. For those who do not know, there was an ongoing debate among the players for the removal of Chris Kermode, and Novak Djokovic was in the center of all of it. Novak Djokovic is the president of the players council for the ATP, and hence has to be actively involved in all the proceedings. Players such as Stan Wawrinka raised their voices against the usurpation of Kermode. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer also voiced strong opinions on the Chris Kermode situation, which created a stir in the media.

“You know I just had way too many things off the court and I guess that affected me a little bit on the court and I didn’t feel my best self at Indian Wells and here(Miami Open) you know still rusty” said Novak Djokovic.

“But hey! Look- you learn, you know, thats life!”, he smiled.

It was a short post mach press conference from Novak Djokovic, who did no elaborate much on his loss, as he looks to put the sunshine double behind him, and look to transitioning from hard to clay.