Big-serving young Portuguese Jaime Faria made Novak Djokovic sweat for his second-round win.
You’re a 21-year-old Portuguese tennis player who, until two days ago, had never won a tour-level match, nor even played in a major. You’re a qualifier.
You begin brightly enough. One 185km/h second serve surprises Djokovic, another at 215km/h aces him. You even get a break point. You’re hitting the ball hard and well, making him grunt and do that thing where he mutters to his box, but really at himself. But you’re two breaks down. How did that happen?
Then a remarkable thing happens. You nail a couple of big ground shots, land a backhand pass, outlast him in a rally, and break him. You hold serve with an exquisite drop shot and he applauds, and means it.You break him again when he nets a simple put-away, and consolidate with a series of 200km/h-plus serves. You’re bossing the match now, working him around the court like he does, and he’s roaring at himself, and the crowd is with you, and you know Djokovic has never quite understood this.
A ball clips the net and falls your way at the start of the tie-break. He levels with a rasping backhand return and you clap, like you’re the approving legend. You clinch the set with an exquisite drop shot and the crowd stand – to you. You’ve taken a set off Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is still grumpy. He’s warned for slow play and launches into another soliloquy. But across those 430 matches, he’s been in much worse corners than this. He’s a bit creaky, but he’s still Novak Djokovic, with all that muscle memory and the deed to this court in his back pocket.And you’re still Jaime Faria – major newbie, five-set novice. His consistency on ground strokes wears down your serve and breaks it.
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