Fernando Verdasco found himself on the losing end of a tough match against Novak Djokovic at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. After holding five match points in the second set tiebreak up 6-2, the Spaniard managed to blow the lead and then lost the third set.
Verdasco is very comfortable in conditions in Doha having made it a home there for a few years now. Despite that though, he was unable to overcome the tough conditions and then the squandered lead to try and somehow steal the match in three. Verdasco was playing some phenomenal tennis in the first set, serving 85 percent on first serves and then continued that hot play in the second. He could not keep it up in the third as Djokovic was able to find his groove plus the fact that the Spaniard was mentally torn, it became the ideal situation for Djokovic to take over the match, able to take it in three.
Frustrated Fernando
After holding match points, it’s easy for anyone to be upset, and Verdasco was definitely that when speaking in his press conference. He said, “It’s tough to lose against someone so important like Novak having the match so close. Honestly, thinking about how was the break points, how was the match points in the tiebreak, I don’t think that I really played that bad or I didn’t play bad at all. I think that it just didn’t come my way. The three I had with my serve, I served well. He just returned deep. I tried to change the direction … Then you lose that set and everything is very tough mentally. Also, he gets a lot of confidence, and at the end it’s not easy to be on top of the game again.”