The word Novak Djokovic used to describe the opening set of his victory against Rinky Hijikata at the Miami Open suggests he feels his best tennis is within touching distance.<\/p>\n
Djokovic<\/a> ended his three-match losing streak with a 6-0, 7-6[1] victory against an opponent who showed impressive resolve after he was blown away by a masterclass from the Serbian in his first appearance at the Miami Open since 2019.<\/p>\n After an indifferent start to 2025, this was an important win for Djokovic and when asked by the Tennis Channel<\/a> to describe his performance, he was clearly happy with his levels.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was flawless for a set and a half, to be honest,\u201d declared Djokovic. \u201cWhen we changed the ball after seven games, it was a strange feeling because there was quite a big difference in the way the ball bounced.<\/p>\n \u201cHe started making more first serves, he was mixing it up, serving and volleying, being aggressive on the backhand side.<\/p>\n \u201cI struggled to break his serve, but I had a great serving performance overall and managed to find a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n Novak Djokovic reveals \u2018two most important things\u2019 for him and how long he will \u2018keep going\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Novak Djokovic has lost his aura for now \u2013 can he get it back to revive his last tennis dream?<\/a><\/p>\n Djokovic also reflected on his defeats against Matteo Berrettini in Doha and his shock loss against Botic van de Zandschulp in Indian Wells, as he offered up a much more upbeat account of his form as he aims to win a sixth title in Miami.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a mini-crisis of not playing my best in Doha and Indian Wells, I really wanted to start off well at the Miami Open,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had two weeks since that defeat against van de Zandschulp and I really worked hard. Put in a lot of hours on the coach with Andy [coach Murray] and I felt really good out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic openly admits he has been struggling for motivation in tournaments outside of the four Grand Slams, with finding the levels of performance he believes he can still produce a few weeks before his 38th birthday driving him on.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we are going to boil it down to two things that I need to do now, staying healthy is important and the body is not the same as it once was. So I have to put in more time to take care of it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cThen also taking care of my psychological state and really trying to get up in the morning and feel motivated to keep going.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I play like I did [against Hijikata], then I feel joy on the court, regardless of where I am. I want to keep going for as long as I have that feeling.<\/p>\n \u201cSo long as I have the feeling that I can compete with the guys at the highest level, I\u2019ll keep going. That feeling is not going to be there every time, but as long as I feel it, I have the support of the people closest to me to carry on playing.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic\u2019s upbeat tone confirms he is relishing his time in Miami and so long as this great champion has a smile on his face, he will be a threat to anyone he faces on court.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: \u2018It\u2019s great\u2019 \u2013 Novak Djokovic gives his verdict on pickleball and padel, says he is eyeing 100th title in Miami<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Novak Djokovic reveals how he still gets joy from tennis in compelling interview<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The word Novak Djokovic used to describe the opening set of his victory against Rinky Hijikata at the Miami Open suggests he feels his best tennis is within touching distance. Djokovic ended his three-match losing streak with a 6-0, 7-6[1] victory against an opponent who showed impressive resolve after he was blown away by a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Tennis News<\/h3>\n