Djokovic leg ‘not ideal’ but ‘getting there’

Serb Novak Djokovic, the No 4 seed, won against Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 to move into the second round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

He began his quest for a tenth Australian Open title in practical fashion, and admitted afterwards that his left leg was “not ideal” – having been spotted training with it taped up on Monday.

“The leg is good,” he said. “It’s not ideal, but it’s getting there. Today was a really good test. Haven’t had too much training in the last few days, to be honest with you, tennis-wise.”

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But he also said he was motivated to lift yet another crown in Melbourne.

“They’re just numbers in the end of the day,” he said in his press conference. “I think it’s important to I feel like try to get as close as possible to the balance between using the possibilities and achievements that are out there as a motivational factor, as a goal-setting type of motivation, that will drive you as a guiding star in a way, but at the same time balance it with an everyday task so that you have to accomplish in a proper way in order to stay in the present moment, which is when you are able to perform your best – at least in my case.

“So, yeah, I mean, I’ve been in the situations before where I’ve played for some really big historic things, and I’ve been blessed to have I would say more success than failures in those particular situations.

“I know how to behave, I know how to handle it. Let’s see how far I can go.”

Djokovic, ranked No 5, will face the winner of the match between French qualifier Enzo Couacaud and Hugo Dellien next.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):

• João Sousa vs. Roberto Bautista Agut
• Maxime Cressy vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
• Michael Mmoh vs. Laurent Lokoli
• Max Purcell vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
• Aleksandar Vukic vs. Brandon Holt
• Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Fabio Fognini
• John Isner vs. Adrian Mannarino
• Enzo Couacaud vs. Hugo Dellien
• Richard Gasquet vs. Ugo Humbert
• Denis Kudla vs. Roman Safiullin
• Tomas Machac vs. Casper Ruud: tuesday
• Chun-Hsin Tseng vs. Alexei Popyrin: tuesday
• Alex De Minaur (22) beat Yu Hsiou Hsu (Q): 6-2, 6-2, 6-3
• Jenson Brooksby beat Christopher O’Connell: 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2
• Tommy Paul beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-1, 7-6 (6), 6-2
• Ben Shelton beat Zhizhen Zhang: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4)
• Holger Rune (9) beat Filip Krajinovic: 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (12) beat Juan Pablo Varillas (LL): 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Andy Murray beat Matteo Berrettini (13): 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (6)
• Taylor Fritz (8) beat Nikoloz Basilashvili: 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
• J.J. Wolf beat Jordan Thompson: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
• Pablo Carreno Busta (14) beat Pedro Cachin: 7-6 (4), 6-1, 7-6 (3)
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (30) beat Alexander Bublik: 6-0, 6-7 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Nicolas Jarry (Q) beat Miomir Kecmanovic (26): 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Diego Schwartzman (23) beat Oleksii Krutykh (Q): 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Laslo Djere beat Zizou Bergs (Q): 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1
• Grigor Dimitrov (27) beat Aslan Karatsev: 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-2
• Benjamin Bonzi beat Mattia Bellucci (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Daniel Evans (25) beat Facundo Bagnis: 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
• Jeremy Chardy beat Daniel Elahi Galan: 1-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Dominic Thiem (WC): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Daniil Medvedev (7) beat Marcos Giron: 6-0, 6-1, 6-2
• Constant Lestienne beat Thiago Monteiro: 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Lloyd Harris beat Lorenzo Musetti (17): 6-4, 6-1, 6-7, 2-6, 7-6 (4)
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) beat Quentin Halys: 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (6) beat Vasek Pospisil: 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Cameron Norrie (11) beat Luca Van Assche (WC): 7-6 (3), 6-0, 6-3
• Rinky Hijikata (WC) beat Yannick Hanfmann (Q): 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Alex Molcan beat Stan Wawrinka: 6-7 (3), 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4
• Marton Fucsovics beat Federico Coria: 4-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2
• Christopher Eubanks (WC) beat SoonWoo Kwon: 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
• John Millman (WC) beat Marc-Andrea Huesler: 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-3
• Dalibor Svrcina (Q) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
• Jiri Lehecka beat Borna Coric (21): 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
• Lorenzo Sonego beat Nuno Borges: 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-1
• Jason Kubler (WC) beat Sebastian Baez: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Taro Daniel beat Ernesto Escobedo (Q): 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
• Rafael Nadal (1) beat Jack Draper: 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
• Frances Tiafoe (16) beat Daniel Altmaier: 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6)
• Karen Khachanov (18) beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-0
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Brandon Nakashima: 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1), 1-6, 6-7 (10), 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Pavel Kotov (LL): 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Denis Shapovalov (20) beat Dusan Lajovic: 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
• Yoshihito Nishioka (31) beat Mikael Ymer: 6-4, 6-2, 7-5
• Sebastian Korda (29) beat Cristian Garin: 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Hubert Hurkacz (10) beat Pedro Martinez: 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-2
• Corentin Moutet beat Yibing Wu (WC): 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
• Francisco Cerundolo (28) beat Guido Pella: 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (15) beat Kyle Edmund: 6-4, 6-0, 6-2
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Gregoire Barrere: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Botic van de Zandschulp (32) beat Ilya Ivashka: 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Yosuke Watanuki (Q) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
• Juncheng Shang (Q) beat Oscar Otte: 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5

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