The Djoker Mentality is Lost

I'm sure many of you saw Djokovic's five-setter today against countryman Viktor Troicki, or at least heard of it. In short, Djokovic was faulty, literally.  Double faulty, mentally faulty, unforced error faulty. To add to his struggle, Viktor was playing some unbelievable tennis.  He has a beast of a serve and it was dropping in with rhythmic consistency.

One thing in particular stood out to me about Novak Djokovic, and it was his mental game.  We all know Novak. He's goofy, fun, and has an undeniable charm about him. We have, after all, come to call him "The Djoker".

In today's match, and in his recent matches, Novak's mental game has let him down. For one, he's being unusually conservative, not going for his shots when he can.  Most importantly though, it doesn't seem like he's enjoying himself out there. He often looks so engrossed in his own negative on-court thoughts I wonder how he manages to pull through matches.

In the fifth and final set, Novak started looking better.  Some of the tension he continually portrayed on critical points early in the match disappeared and he looked comfortable playing his style of game, something that's been missing recently.

Novak's easy-going personality has allowed him to do well in the past and if he wants to become the dominant force he once was, he'll have to regain that mental strength and fortitude. He is a fighter, despite not playing his best tennis, as he moved to 6-0 all time when down two sets to one.

The Djoker mentality needs to become more apparent Novak. Start relaxing and enjoying the game again. You could learn a thing or two from fellow Serbian and friend, Ana Ivanovic. We saw a glimpse of it in Novak's post match interview when he described the shade moving over the court: "It was like a, sleeping with my girlfriend sort of feeling."