mtenis.com.pl

Novak Djokovic’s ground breaking success has put Serbian tennis on the map. The World No. 1 led his nation to a historic Davis Cup success in 2010 and his triumphs, not to mention those of Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic, have inspired the next wave of Serbian talent.

Step up Dusan Lajovic. The just-turned 24 year old achieved one of his early career goals on 10 February when he joined Djokovic in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. Today, he finds himself at a career-high No. 58, following back-to-back quarter-final showings in Bastad and Hamburg.

The right-hander’s major breakthrough came last month on the clay of Roland Garros, where he reached the fourth round without dropping a set. Despite sound advice from Djokovic going into a clash with Rafael Nadal, Lajovic claimed just four games in a straight-sets defeat to the eventual champion. The experience left him keen for more, though.

“It is something that you wish for and you're working towards,” Lajovic told ATPWorldTour.com. “Being in the second week of a Slam is one of the best things you can have in tennis. I think the more you get used to these conditions, the more you bring your game much higher and the quality of your game gets bigger.

“Being around the top guys all the time keeps you improving and then you just need to stay humble. At this point you just go up.”

Spending time with Serbia's finest is a privilege Lajovic has been afforded on Davis Cup duty and it is an experience that has served him well as he looks to establish himself on the ATP World Tour. Lajovic made his live rubber debut in the 2013 World Group final, ultimately losing his two matches to stalwarts Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek as the Czech Republic beat Serbia. He also contested the 2014 first round, stretching Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka to four sets.

Davis Cup"The most important thing for us younger players from Serbia is that we can be around all these great players,” said Lajovic. “Watch what they do, copy that and it will help us a lot in our own careers. Plus, on the other side, they always give us advice and they open the way for us because they've broken into the Top 100 and done all these incredible things in tennis.

“We see that they can do it, so why can't we?”

Lajovic has benefitted from countless pieces of advice from the 27-year-old Djokovic, who returned to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after winning his seventh Grand Slam championship at Wimbledon (d. Federer). The best advice he’s been given? “Stay humble and work as much as you can.” It’s a philosophy that has certainly served the likes of Djokovic and Tipsarevic well.

"When I first finished the [Davis Cup] match, I didn't realise how much the experience was going to help me,” explained Lajovic. “But now I realise that fighting for every point is the most important thing. It doesn't matter if you're winning or losing the match, you need to feel like it's the last point of the match and to play your best.

"This season I've had a few ups and downs in matches. This is normal, but to keep this high level of energy is what brought me the most improvement this year.”

Lajovic started playing tennis at the age of seven, for no reason other than it was the only sport available for his age group. It was “love at first sight,” he remembered. His idols growing up were Pete Sampras - “even though my game is not similar to his!” - and Gaston Gaudio, for “his one-handed backhand".

In 2009, Lajovic went to train for one month at the Catalan Tennis Federation in Barcelona and found it to be the perfect base from which to develop his professional game. Now, under the guidance of Dutch coach, Jan Velthuis, he trains mostly in Belgrade and has matured into what he describes as “an all-court player, mostly aggressive from the baseline and with a lot of spin in my shots".

LajovicWhen he isn’t playing tennis, you are most likely to find Lajovic with his head in a book. He has just finished up ‘The Hunger Games’ trilogy and, before that, had worked his way through five volumes of ‘The Game Of Thrones’ series – his favourite characters are Arya Stark, Tyrion Lannister and the Mother of Dragons (Daenerys Targaryen).

Now writing his own story on the tennis court, Lajovic isn’t setting himself any specific targets, rather let his improvements take him where they will. “My goal is just to become a better tennis player and improve. With this, the ranking will come,” said the right-hander.

“That's what I've done differently this year. Last year I had my goal to break into the Top 100. It put a bit of pressure on me and I didn't do it. So I said this year I'll just improve as a tennis player and hopefully the Top 100 will come. It came and now I have a different way of thinking.”

Serbian earns first Top 10 victory of his career

It was not completely shocking that Serbian Dusan Lajovic, who had never beaten a Top 10 opponent (0-10), was nervous as he served on his second match point against one of the hottest players on the ATP World Tour.

But Lajovic played a patient baseline rally at 7/6 in the third set tie-break to outlast Juan Martin del Potro, the recent BNP Paribas Open champion, to send shockwaves through the Caja Mágica and clinch the biggest win of his career, a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) victory. Lajovic will look for his second Top 10 win in the quarter-finals against South African Kevin Anderson.

"It's for sure my best win, and definitely one of the best matches I've played. I really felt good on the court today," Lajovic said. "I felt I had my chances throughout the whole match. I was fighting from the first point till the last. It paid off.

The Serbian is into the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final of his career after previously holding just eight victories at this level in 15 prior main draw appearances. Before this tournament, the 27-year-old had just a 5-10 tour-level record this season. On the other hand, Del Potro, who was competing in his first clay-court event of the season, held a 15-match winning streak from Acapulco through the Miami semi-finals (l. to Isner). He was also the first player to hand Roger Federer — who had been 17-0 — a loss this season in an epic final at Indian Wells.

But that did not keep Lajovic from holding his nerve. Del Potro earned two immediate mini-breaks in the deciding tie-break, surging to a 3/0 lead, which appeared insurmountable. But the Argentine made uncharacteristic forehand errors in the most crucial moments, allowing the Serbian to cling to hope. And despite failing to put a backhand return into play on his first match point, Lajovic stayed calm on his second, biding his time until Del Potro launched a crosscourt backhand long.

Watch Live

"I still am not believing it 100 per cent, but I know that I deserved to win today," Lajovic said. "I'm just feeling the whole week very good on the court, and everything is working so far. I just keep going with it."

Del Potro did not shy away from crediting Lajovic for his efforts.

"He's a very difficult opponent," Del Potro said. "Here on clay he plays really well. His game forced me to commit some easy errors, some important errors, especially in the tie-break."

The Serbian's next opponent, the World No. 8 Anderson, had never made a deep run at the Mutua Madrid Open, losing his past three matches at the event before this week.But the 31-year-old is playing some of the best tennis of his career. And Anderson showed it to earn his first quarter-final showing in Madrid with a 6-3, 7-6(7) triumph against German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Anderson has now reached the quarter-finals of all three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events he has played this year (also Indian Wells and Miami). He has also advanced to at least the quarter-finals in six of his eight tournaments overall, including a triumph at the inaugural New York Open and runner-up showings in Pune (l. to Simon) and Acapulco (l. to Del Potro).

The four-time ATP World Tour titlist had less difficulty against the experienced Kohlschreiber than he did in the second round, in which he faced break point at 4-4 in the second set, which if converted, would have allowed Mikhail Kukushkin to serve for the match.

Tennis Radio

But Anderson did not advance without a strong challenge from the Munich runner-up. The South African gained control of the baseline at the beginning of the match with aggressive returning, breaking the World No. 28 at his first attempt and consolidating for an early 3-0 lead, which he maintained to close out the opener.

But when Anderson appeared in cruise control in the second set, serving for the match while leading 6-3, 5-4, the battle took a turn. The No. 6 seed was unable to find his first serve on break point, allowing Kohlschreiber to pounce on a deep return that Anderson couldn’t handle. The German then earned two set points at 6/4 in the ensuing tie-break. But a strong serve out wide in the deuce court by Anderson and a shanked forehand by Kohlschreiber kept his hopes of a straight-sets win intact. A netted inside-out forehand by the 34-year-old clinched the victory for Anderson, and with it a 3-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead for the 6’8” right-hander.

Did You Know?
If Anderson outperforms John Isner and Dominic Thiem in Madrid, he will earn a new career-best in the ATP Rankings of at least World No. 7, depending on his own performance in the tournament.