After beating Croatia’s Borna Coric 7-6(2), 7-5 at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Wednesday, Novak Djokovic revealed he made adjustments to his racquet earlier this year.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion recently made the change under former coaches Andre Agassi and Radek Stepanek as he began his return to the Tour, with his mind set on recapturing the form that saw him finish as year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings on four occasions (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015).

“[I] changed the racquet earlier this year,” said Djokovic. “I made some small minor changes that actually in our world are quite significant.

“(Andre) Agassi and Radek (Stepanek) who worked with me at the time felt it was a good call for the big picture and for the long run. I feel more comfortable with the racquet as I go along.”

The Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters ninth seed, who said the recent tweaks have given him more power and angle on his serve, emphasised the need for patience as he continues to develop his game with the changes. Djokovic compared his current situation to Roger Federer’s experiences more than four years ago, when the Swiss star changed his racquet model in a bid to improve performance.

“Obviously it takes a little bit of time,” said Djokovic. “I think Roger (Federer) some years ago also had that racquet change, and it took him a little bit [of time], some months, to get comfortable with it.”

Djokovic, two-time Monte-Carlo champion, was keen to look long-term when making the change. “If you think about certain parts of your game you maybe want to improve, maybe the technology, the racquet can help you with that. Why not? It was a big call,” expressed Djokovic.

The 30-year-old showed clear belief in his abilities when asked about his chances of returning to the pinnacle of the game, emphasising the importance of health in realising his ambitions.

“I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of [the press] and competing in this tournament if I didn’t believe that I can [win Grand Slam events and return to World No. 1],” said Djokovic. “Being in that position already and having achieved so much just gives me enough reason to believe I can make it again.

“I just hope that I’ll be healthy. That’s the most important thing. I know when I’m healthy, when I’m not dealing with any significant injury that can disturb me on the way to compete and train, then I can really reach that desired level.”

Marin Cilic denied Fernando Verdasco the 500th match win of his career on Wednesday as he booked his spot in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters third round.

The second-seeded Croatian worked hard for a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over 2010 runner-up Verdasco in the final match of the day on Court Rainier III, the main show court. He will now compete against No. 14 Milos Raonic of Canada on Thursday. Cilic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1.

Cilic broke Verdasco’s serve for a 3-1 lead, then recovered from 0/40 in the seventh game of the 35-minute first set. Verdasco, who saved three match points against Pablo Cuevas on Tuesday, gained a 2-0 lead in the second set, but Cilic quickly restored parity.

It wasn’t until Cilic served at 3-4, that Verdasco was rewarded for his hard yards when a mis-timed drop shot landed in the net at 30/40 and handed the Spaniard an opportunity to serve for the set. However, Cilic regrouped and played aggressively to break to 30 for 5-5. He served out the tie-break to move within a match of returning to the quarter-finals (2015, 2017).

The World No. 3 is now 8-5 lifetime against Verdasco in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series (1-1 on clay, also 2015 Mutua Madrid Open).

Earlier on day four, Raonic struck 16 aces past Marco Cecchinato in his third successive victory over the Italian on clay courts (also 2016 Monte-Carlo and Internazionali BNL d’Italia).

Raonic, who has 298 career victories and is now one win away from reaching the quarter-finals for the fourth successive year, won 7-6(5), 6-2 in 86 minutes.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal received a thunderous welcome to Court Rainier III on Wednesday and he didn’t disappoint the capacity crowd on his return to the ATP World Tour at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The Spanish superstar, a record 10-time champion, was fluent and impressive in his 6-1, 6-3 second-round victory over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in 68 minutes.

Nadal improved to a 64-4 record at the historic ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event to set up a meeting against Russian Karen Khachanov, who was rock solid from the baseline in his 6-2, 6-2 win over French wild card Gilles Simon.

Nadal must retain the Monte-Carlo title, which would represent his 31st Masters 1000 crown, to remain at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. Otherwise his Swiss rival, Roger Federer, will return to the top spot on 23 April. The 31-year-old Nadal is in his 170th week at No. 1, tying John McEnroe for the sixth-most weeks in rankings history (since August 1973).

Nadal raced out to a 3-0 lead against Bedene in their first match since the 2016 second round and broke a second time in the sixth game with great variety of spin and power. When Bedene saved a break point in the first game of the second set, Nadal had to bide his time and later broke serve twice more — for a 4-3 advantage and then in the final game.

Bedene drops to a 9-3 mark on red dirt this season, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires (l. to Thiem) in February. He is now 0-17 lifetime against Top 10 stars.

Already with two clay-court match wins this year in a Davis Cup tie for Spain, today marked Nadal’s first completed match at an ATP World Tour tournament since November 2017. In January, he sustained a hip injury during his Australian Open quarter-final against Marin Cilic.

Did You Know?
Rafael Nadal’s only previous meeting against Aljaz Bedene was also in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters second round. In 2016, Nadal won 6-3, 6-3.

Novak Djokovic won a match of small margins on Wednesday in a wonderful clash that was full of clean hitting at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The two-time former champion, a resident in the Principality of Monaco, needed 10 match point opportunities to put away Croatia’s Borna Coric, who, this year, has showcased his huge potential.

Ninth seed Djokovic beat Coric 7-6(2), 7-5 in two hours and 16 minutes to reach the third round, where he will face fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem, one of the ATP World Tour’s strongest performers on clay courts over the past two years.

Watch Hot Shot: Djokovic Unleashes

Coric first saved two match points at 3-5, 15/40 in the second set, then recovered from 0/40 on Djokovic’s serve, before saving a further four match points in a 12-minute and 46-second 10th game. Djokovic immediately tightened up his game to break to 15, courtesy of a backhand error from Coric, which was the same shot that the Croatian hit long minutes later to end the encounter.

Djokovic, who is now 32-9 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament – where he lifted the 2013 (d. Nadal) and 2015 (d. Berdych) trophies, will next prepare to meet Thiem on Thursday. The Serbian leads 5-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head, but Thiem did beat Djokovic in straight sets in their last match – the 2017 Roland Garros quarter-finals.

In the first set, Djokovic broke to 30 for a 3-1 lead, striking cleanly on a backhand, but it was the very shot that let him down three games later when Coric broke back. The set turned at 5-5, 15/40, with Djokovic in trouble out wide, but Coric snatched at a forehand down the line and hit the ball into the net. It was the first of four successive groundstroke errors for the 21-year-old Croatian. Djokovic took control of the tie-break, moving inside the baseline to expose the angles of the court and Coric’s movement.

The go-for broke, clean-ball striking — particularly backhand to backhand — continued in the second set, resulting in three straight service breaks, before former World No. 1 Djokovic regained the momentum prior to a tense finale.

Last month, Coric, who is No. 39 in the ATP Rankings, advanced to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (l. to Federer).

Elsewhere, No. 11 seed Roberto Bautista proved to be too strong for his Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-6(5) in one hour and 38 minutes. He will next meet sixth-seeded Belgian David Goffin in the third round.

Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber lost just six of his first-service points in an impressive 6-4, 6-2 win over last year’s finalist, No. 15 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, in 84 minutes. Kohlschreiber now plays fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori recovered from a slow start — as he did in his first-round win over Czech 2015 finalist Tomas Berdych — to get the better of Russian Daniil Medvedev at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Tuesday.

Nishikori, who is this week competing at the Monte-Carlo Country Club for the first time since 2012, bounced back from 1-3 in the opener to win 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 41 minutes. He will now play Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi or lucky loser Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the third round.

“He was better than me initially, but I tried to stay calm and began to dominate from the baseline,” said Nishikori. “I played better in the second set. I will now rest and prepare for tomorrow, when I hope to play well.”

Medvedev gained the early advantage when Nishikori hit a backhand wide in the fourth game, but the former World No. 4 broke back immediately. From 4-5 in the first set, Nishikori won five straight games and thereafter continued to threaten Medvedev’s serve, causing the 22-year-old Sydney International titlist to rush.

In winning 14 of the last 19 points, including a third break of serve for 5-2, Nishikori recorded his sixth match win of the year.

Did You Know?
Kei Nishikori has a 0.716 FedEx ATP Win/Loss Record on clay, with 73 wins and just 29 losses on the surface in his career.