Opelka: How did Djokovic manage to win game against Brooksby in first set at US Open?

• Tennis News
• Novak Djokovic

Top-ranked American tennis player Reilly Opelka wondered how world No. 1 Novak Djokovic managed to win a set against Jenson Brooksby at the US Open. Brooksby came out firing against Djokovic but the Serb recovered from a set down to beat the American 1-6 6-3 6-2 6-2.

On Tuesday, Brooksby handed a 6-4 6-4 loss to Opelka in the Antwerp first round. "How (expletitive) did Novak Djokovic win a game against this guy in the first set (at the US Open)," the microphones caught Opelka wondering during the match against Brooksby.

Brooksby spoke highly of Opelka after the match

“He’s definitely got one of the best serves on Tour,” Brooksby said after the match. “I thought we had a good game plan. I’ve been hitting them well and executed pretty well here, so I’m happy with that”.

Brooksby has made four Challenger finals this year, he ended runner-up in Newport and also made the Washington semifinal. Former world No. 2 Tommy Haas says Brooksby is all about the hard work and he believes the American has a good chance of becoming a top player.

"Yeah, Brooksby in his on-court interview after this first round, he said ‘I’m so happy I won. I’m so happy I have the opportunity to be in the next round but I’m not really satisfied with the way I played today, so I’m actually going to go to the practice courts right after this and work on my game a little more.’ You see how focused he is out there," Haas told Boardroom.

"You see also that he’s not the most talented player in the world, but he does everything that he can to try to be the best player that he can be and constantly improve. You can kind of sense that. And the way he fights in the way he represents himself out there.

It’s something special and you don’t see that in all the players, all the time, no matter where you’re from."