TORONTO – The world No. 1 could’ve just autographed the camera, like tennis players do these days.
Instead, after his first win at the 2016 Rogers Cup, Novak Djokovic took that sharpie, drew a heart and wrote “TORONTO” in it, then added a smiley face.
Well, Djokovic, Toronto loves you too. And probably even more than usual, since world No. 2 (Andy Murray), No. 3 (Roger Federer) and No. 4 (Rafa Nadal) are all absent.
After his 7-5, 7-6 win over Gilles Muller on Wednesday at the Aviva Centre, Djokovic, dressed in crisp white sweatpants, a blue zip-up and a bright blue hat, admitted he thought about taking a miss at the Rogers Cup, too.
But his early exit at Wimbledon a couple weeks ago—he was upset in the third round—meant he had a little extra time. Plus, he quite likes it here, as his heart signature on the camera suggests.
"I actually think that Toronto is a great way for me to prepare for [the] Olympic Games, and what’s coming up after that," Djokovic said. "But also to enjoy my time in this tournament that I always love playing.
"I enjoy Canada—both cities, Toronto and Montreal. And the past results and history shows that I have a good time on Canadian soil."
Indeed. The 29-year-old has won this tournament three times.
His first match here, though—a second-round matchup against Muller, who’s ranked No. 37 in the world—wasn’t the steamroll shellacking you might have expected.
The pair put on a show on a scorching day in front of a healthy-sized afternoon crowd, though many fans wisely opted to forgo their burning plastic seats and instead stand in a shaded area.
Djokovic believes the heat helped his opponent, as well.
"Muller is a difficult player to play against in the quick conditions," he said. "Takes away the time of the opponent. He serves and volleys the second serve a lot as well—he’s one of the rare guys that does that. He likes to play quick and I think the warm day like today played a lot in his favour."
A lefty with a wickedly accurate serve that regularly clocks north of 200 km/h, Muller opened one service game with three straight aces—that’s as many as Djokovic had all match (Muller finished with 11). It left Djokovic often stretching and reaching and missing.
That meant you didn’t have a lot of stellar rallies during Muller’s service games. But when he got the chance, Djokovic sent more than a few perfectly-placed winners up the line and cross-court on sharp angles.
Djokovic didn’t break Muller until the first set was knotted at 5-5, and after he did, he pumped his fist and gave the crowd a look conviction.
That got them singing ""Nole, Nole, Nole, Nole" to the tune of "ole, ole, ole, ole."
On that break point, Muller rushed the net and Djokovic sent a filthy backhand whistling down the line.
In the second set, Djokovic earned an early break to go up 2-1, but Muller broke him right back. It happened again later in the set, which got the crowd here chanting "Nole!" again.
Djokovic responded to the crowd with a little smile this time, sans teeth.
In the second-set tie-break, Muller got out to the early two-point lead, but Djokovic won six straight to close it out.
Muller is now 0-3 against Djokovic, and he’s yet to win a set against him. But he came awfully close on Wednesday.
Djokovic called getting broken in the second set "the only downside to the match today."
"Other than that, I’m quite pleased with the way I held my nerves and was focused. And overall, the performance was very pleasing considering it was the first hardcourt match for a long time."
The 12-time Grand Slam winner meets 37-year-old Radek Stepanek in the third round. Stepanek beat Canada’s Peter Polansky earlier Wednesday.
If all goes according to plan, Djokovic will meet the crowd favourite, fourth-seeded Milos Raonic, in the semifinal.