Djokovic overcomes early stumble in London

World number two Novak Djokovic came back from a set down to beat Dominic Thiem in his ATP World Tour Finals opener.

Thiem lost concentration, dropped his opening service game of the second set and, after only 23 minutes, it was one-set all. Novak Djokovic in joined in Group Ivan Lendl by No 4 Milos Raonic and first-timers No 6 Gael Monfils and No 8 Dominic Thiem. “I didn’t get to recover I guess as fast after the French open, to be ready to compete on the highest level after that”.

“I had, I think, only one set point”, Djokovic said of the tie-breaker.

Even after sealing victory though, Djokovic’s mood was soured by a reporter asking him about an angry reaction to losing the opening set when the Serb slammed a ball into the ground and it bounced into the stands, prompting a warning from the umpire. He won just 44 percent of points on his first serve compared to 76 in the first set.

Four-time defending ATP World Tour Finals Champion Novak Djokovic begins his quest to regain his world number one status.

Murray, who ended Djokovic’s 122-week spell at the top of the rankings last week in Paris, faces Croatia’s Marin Cilic in Monday’s second John McEnroe group match after Japan’s Kei Nishikori takes on U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka.

“Whether he can sustain that is not a question for me but looking at his qualities and commitment, there is a good chance he can play at this level for a long time”. A forehand error by the No. 2 seed put him in another hole at 10-11 and this time Thiem capitalized on his set-point opportunity it with a big forehand victor.

Eventually the set resulted in a tiebreak with no one inside the Arena quite sure who would take it. Thiem enjoyed an early lead when he ripped this forehand pass to give himself the mini-break.

Indeed, Djokovic also flirted with more serious punishment when he vented his frustrations in the Roland Garros quarterfinals earlier this year.

But, brilliant as he can be, the Swiss is also erratic and there were far too many errors in the opening set in particular.

“Yeah, a thrilling tiebreaker”, Djokovic said.

His outburst fired Djokovic up as he broke Thiem in the first game and continued to blank the Austrian in 22 minutes.

“It took a bit of time to get back on track but all in all it was a very good year”.

“After that I felt more comfortable and made him play the extra shot”.

“That’s how the second set went”.

Murray cruised to his second Wimbledon title, conceding just two sets throughout the tournament – both of those coming in a hard-fought quarter-final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But first of all, it’s a very good experience for me to play three matches against top-10 players.

Twelve months ago the genial Swede was in Murray’s camp for the ATP World Tour Finals at London’s O2 Arena.