Novak Djokovic fights to build fitness at Serbia Open - but can he peak for French Open again?

If spending time on court was Novak Djokovic’s primary aim at the Serbia Open then the tournament could not have gone much better. Djokovic was pushed to three sets in all four of his matches in Belgrade and had over 10 hours of competitive action to hone his game and improve his fitness. He didn’t finish up with silverware after losing to second seed Andrey Rublev in the final, but spoke afterwards about “looking at the positives”.

Ad/> The overriding positive is that he played as many matches in a week as he had done in the previous four months of the season due to restrictions over where he could travel while unvaccinated. When he returned to action in Monte Carlo earlier this month after seven weeks away he looked rusty and severely undercooked as he was beaten in his opening match by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. It was plain to see as the match slipped away in a one-sided third set that this clay season is going to be about progression for Djokovic.

ATP BelgradeDjokovic blames ‘illness’ and apologises to home crowd for bagel in Rublev defeatYESTERDAY AT 08:06 The rust was still there in Serbia, but there was progress. For starters, Djokovic won a match, surviving a very tricky opener against Laslo Djere that he probably should have lost. Djere, who reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca earlier this month and made the last 16 in Monte Carlo, looked far sharper in the first set and seemed to be heading for victory after breaking to lead 4-3 in the second set.