Nadal thrown by ex-ball boy, Djokovic catches fire in Beijing

Even though the world number 1 is preoccupied with his wife and son, he opened up his schedule to double up with his brother Djordje for China Open.

Viktor Troicki – world ranked 24 – would face fifth seed Milos Raonic.

He will not have to look hard for footage of Djokovic, the 10-time Grand Slam-winner who is on a 24-match unbeaten streak in Beijing and should breeze past Simone Bolelli in round one on Monday. Although he would have liked to win against the former No. 1 Nadal, he can take solace in the fact that he was able to trouble an icon for whom he was a mere ball boy. “I think I played little bit too much far away from the baseline”.

Djokovic finished with 22 winners against 14 unforced errors, and broke Bolelli five times on ten opportunities in the 71-minute affair.

The top seed cruised into the second round in Beijing, losing just two games in the process as he dominated his Italian opponent 6-1 6-1.

Now he said the old confidence was coming back and he pledged to use his final tournaments of the year as preparation for next season. Istomin is not a stranger for me, we have played each other twice in Davis Cup. Top-ranked Djokovic has flourished since adding Boris Becker to his team, winning three Grand Slam titles this year, while Roger Federer, 34, is enjoying an Indian summer under Stefan Edberg.

With Nadal not having been past the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam since the 2014 French Open, speculation has been rife that the Spaniard could follow suit.

A defiant Rafael Nadal warned on Sunday that his career was not over yet as he pledged that “sooner or later” he will be back at the very top of men’s tennis, AFP reports. “I am working a lot to make that happen”.

“I know it is obvious that I need results to confirm that, but we are nearly at the end of this season and I have time to keep playing the last tournaments of the year with the chance to practise the things that I need to do for next year”.