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Djokovic beats Thiem in strong comeback after 6-month absence (Lead)
Melbourne, Jan 10 (IANS) In his first appearance in six months, Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic on Wednesday defeated Austria’s Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-4 at the Kooyong Classic exhibition here.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion seemed to have overcome the elbow injury that ended his 2017 season in July after losing in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. He also had to withdraw from the ATP Qatar Open and an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, reports Efe.
“It feels great, obviously I was waiting for this moment for six months to play a match,” the former World No.1 said after the win.
Although Djokovic said he was delighted with his performance, especially his serve, he acknowledged that he was still not in perfect shape.
Later in the day, Djokovic is scheduled to play a match at the Tie Break Tens, then another match on Thursday at the Kooyong Classic, according to the organisers.
After spending almost seven months sidelined, Djokovic looks to be tuning up his game as much as possible ahead of the Australian Open next week (January 15-28), the first Grand Slam event of the year, which he has won six times.
In the 2017 Australian Open, Djokovic lost in the second round to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.