Novak Djokovic has battled against his heartache and wayward concentration to beat Tomas Berdych 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Monte Carlo to secure his place in yet another final.
Berdych came into the match playing some solid and powerful tennis while Djokovic came in struggling with his concentration after the death of his grandfather on Thursday.
Novak struggled to keep his emotions in check, being easily irritated by movement within the crowd and many other things he’s learnt to tune out over the last 18 months.
While Tomas played well in the first set he failed to take control of the opportunity of a sub-par Djokovic and quickly fell behind 0-3 in the second set. He failed to pick up his intensity and energy and soon found himself in a third set instead of in the locker room.
The the noticeable difference in the distracted Djokovic is that his shots didn’t have the lethal penetrating depth, particularly on return, anywhere near as consistently as he has since the beginning of 2011.
As top soil blew wildly around the court Djokovic served for the second set against a lackluster Berdych, taking it 6-3.
Seemingly inspired by taking the second set and by watching Berdych fall away, Novak started grunting and forcing his way through the wind to break in the opening game. Novak went about his business finding some depth on his shots while Tomas complained about the extremely windy conditions.
Djokovic dug in, showing why he’s a champion, while Berdych showed why he is yet to fulfill his potential. Tomas has so much power and ball striking ability and yet, once again, he let the conditions and the moment get the better of him.
The last set was particularly disappointing from Tomas as he quickly found himself down 0-4. He failed to find a way to engage himself in the match and instead it quickly came to look like another wasted opportunity on the his resume.
It is likely that Novak will again face Rafa Nadal in what would be their eighth final against each other in little over a year – all won by Novak.
