Miorir Kecmanovic has admired Novak Djokovic for as long as he can remember. When he picked up a racket for the first time to play with his grandfather, at the age of six, ‘Nole’ was already beginning to show his head on the circuit. In 2006 he had won his first two tournaments and was making his debut in a Grand Slam quarterfinal (Roland Garros). They were the first steps of a legendary tennis player closely followed by Kecmanovic, from Belgrade like him.
‘Misha’ is now 22 years old and a promising tennis player. He enters this Wimbledon, his favorite tournament, at the highest ranking position of his career (No. 30) and has long since stopped seeing his idol on television. He has never been able to beat him, but in the last duel he had been close.
In the city of both, in the quarterfinals, he was able to win the first set and force Djokovic to do his best to eliminate him. Those were the days when the third-ranked player in the world barely had matches on his legs. He had missed a good part of the first months of competition because he didn’t want to get vaccinated.
Deported from Australia, like the entire Serbian parish, Kecmanovic came out to criticize the treatment given to his Davis teammate. Curiously, they had been paired in the first round, a Grand Slam match postponed for half a year. We don’t know what that debut at Melbourne Park would have been like, but what we can attest to is that the third-round match at the All England Club was nothing like the one on April 21 in Belgrade.
In his first time in the third round of Wimbledon, Kecmanovic was no match for an inspired Djokovic, each day with better feelings in the British capital (6-0, 6-3 and 6-4 in 1h52m). Without matches in previous tournaments, he seems to be more adapted to the grass, a surface on which he slides like a dancer, with a very consistent tennis and without conceding opportunities to the rival, as he already saw himself against Kokkinakis.
Djokovic has decided to save his efforts to accumulate quality minutes without wear and tear on the demanding London surface. It is obvious that he has the class and the talent to do it. And if on the other side of the net there is an opponent who is too erratic to start with, the red carpet dyed green is not even necessary to put it on. The bagel of the first set speaks for itself: too many second serves and uncontrolled forehands by Kecmanovic against one of the best returners ever. If you are reliable and avoid distractions, the script is written. The mirage in the third game, when Kecmanovic let a 0-40 slip away, remained an anecdote.
The truth is that Kecmanovic had a hard time keeping serve throughout the match. Even in the second set, when he withstood Djokovic’s attacks as best he could, the three games awarded were a gift, bailing water on each break point. He hung on until the eighth game, when he hit a long ball with Djokovic sold on the ground. He would not spare the 20-time Grand Slam winner, who is seeking his fourth Wimbledon in a row and the seventh of his career.
Nothing changed in the third set. An understated Kecmanovic was still sweating it out in every game with his serve to stay alive until the errors returned. There Djokovic appeared again to make his disciple dizzy, moving him up and down the court, going from the defense to the drop, until he got the break with a lob. He would add suspense with a break conceded when he served to close out the match, but not on his next serve.
In the round of 16, one of those rivals awaits him who are blessed glory for tennis and sport in general. The Dutchman Tim Van Rijthoven arrived with a wild card under his arm after being able to crown himself in ‘s-Hertogenbosch when he had never before won an ATP match, leaving important rivals such as Felix-Auger Aliassime (semi-finals) on the way. or Daniil Medvedev (final). He has now advanced three rounds and his balance is 8 consecutive wins and 0 losses in the elite. Grass is that magical.
