Yesterday Djokovic won the first game of the 2022 season by beating Musetti 6-3 in two at the ATP500 Dubai. Musetti, who played with a wild card, won two consecutive 2-0 wins in the fourth round of last year's French Open, but was reversed by Djokovic in three consecutive sets.
In yesterday's game, Musetti did not make any waves, although he won 7 break points for Djokovic but did not cash in. Djokovic has always been able to deliver better serves at break points while taking advantage of three of his four break opportunities to achieve a complete victory.
Another aspect of the match for friends who like to play and tennis equipment is that it is a contest between two new rackets released by Hyde earlier this year, Djokovic uses a new SPEED that will be launched in March, and Musetti endorses the new series BOOM released in February. BOOM this racket has a beautiful and fresh tiffany color, once launched has been sought after, as for what level of this racket is suitable for, what style of play, my evaluation here, a little later to bring you the evaluation of the new Deryo style SPEED.
Although Djokovic was able to play in Dubai smoothly, it did not mean that the subsequent matches would pass all the way. Djokovic had earlier said in an interview that he was willing to bear the consequences of missing a series of tennis tournaments, including Grand Slams, because he was not vaccinated, so the future itinerary is unknown.
Djokovic is already automatically on the list for next month's two-race races in Indian Wells and Miami, but the current U.S. pandemic policy is that travelers to the U.S. must be fully vaccinated with "limited exceptions." These exemptions include legitimate medical grounds for not being vaccinated, as well as the need to travel for emergency or humanitarian reasons.
Although there are medical exemptions, based on the lessons learned from what happened in Australia, Djokovic and the approvers of the exemptions will be cautious about such unclear terms that may trigger a political game. If these two tournaments are missed, Djokovic is also likely to miss the US Open in the case of the same epidemic policy.
What about the legal net? It doesn't seem optimistic at the moment. Although at the beginning of the year, when the Australian Open was in turmoil, the French sports minister jumped out and said that we could participate in the French Open without vaccination. However, a few days later, as the French National Assembly passed the vaccine pass bill, the sports minister said that all athletes who come to France to compete, including professional athletes, must be vaccinated against the new crown and there is no exemption. All spectators, practitioners, French or foreign professionals entering public buildings, stadiums, theatres and are also required to be vaccinated.
Of course, as the epidemic continues to affect, the epidemic policies of various countries also have a tendency to relax restrictions, and the UK always seems to be ahead of the curve in this matter. Previously, the UK's entry regulations were in Djokovic's favor, and those who did not fully vaccinate only needed to undergo a nucleic acid test before departure and then another test in the UK before the next day.
Yesterday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that from February 24, all epidemic prevention and control measures in England will be lifted, officially starting the "coexistence with the new crown" plan. In this way, Djokovic should have no problem participating in Wimbledon, and previously all parties believed that in addition to the Australian Open, Wimbledon is djokovic's biggest hope of winning the title, after all, young people are not very good at playing grass.
The situation of the epidemic in the next few months is still unpredictable, but Djokovic is still happy to participate in a grand slam, after all, the fierce confrontation between young people and seniors in the final of major competitions is the handover and inheritance of the sport that the audience most wants to see.
This week's competition was very exciting, in addition to Djokovic, Rublev, Sina, Hulkach, Shapovalov, Karatsev, Murray and other famous players participated in the Dubai station.
At the same time, the ATP500 Acapulco station was even more star-studded, and the three young players Medvedev, Zverev and Tsitsipas will compete with Nadal for the final championship.
In the women's singles, the WTA1000 Doha station began and has been competing for the first round, with Kerber, Halep, Kenning, Bencic, Svitolina, Lebakina and other famous players out of the first round. Zhang Shuai, who broke through in the qualifiers, also lost 1-6 to Sasnovic, who was also a qualifier, 1-6.
More Chinese players chose Mexico's WTA250 Guadalajara, where Wang Qiang beat Davis 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, while No. 8 seed Zheng Qinwen lost 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to Karinskaya. Zhu Lin and Wang Xinyu will play later, and Han Xinyun will also play in the women's doubles with her new partner, Sizikova.