Novak Djokovic is expected to suit up for this week’s Monte-Carlo Masters following a recent injury scare. He will go up against Mikhail Youzhny in his opener on Wednesday.
Ten days after sustaining an ankle injury during Davis Cup action, Novak Djokovic will be back on the court for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. After several days of practice in the principality, Djokovic has deemed himself fit to face Mikhail Youzhny during second-round action on Wednesday.
The head-to-head series between Djokovic and Youzhny stands at a competitive 4-3 in the world No. 1’s favor. They have never squared off on clay and they have not battled each other since February of 2010 at the Dubai event. Djokovic has won three of their last four meetings after losing two of their first three.
“The condition of the ankle is getting better,” assured Djokovic, who is 21-2 this season with titles at the Australian Open and in Dubai. “It is more positive than negative and better than I actually expected it to be at the beginning of the week when I had a first MRI scan. There hasn’t been any big damage which is encouraging for this week and hopefully I can be part of the tournament because it’s one of my favorites.”
This week’s top seed will be a part of the tournament, and that is obviously bad news for Youzhny. The 27th-ranked Russian has not been outstanding in 2013 (he has an even 7-7 record), but he scored an impressive 6-4, 6-0 blowout of Daniel Gimeno-Traver in his opener on Monday.
Wednesday’s clash, of course, all boils down to Djokovic’s health. The two-time runner-up is playing too well right now and is too good on this surface for Youzhny to have any chance under normal circumstances. Djokovic, who would not risk further injury at this time of year if he was not close to 100 percent, should be able to take care of business.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
[polldaddy poll=7040766]
Leave a Reply