Frenchman Nicolas Mahut turned 30 today and most of his tennis playing colleagues presented him with good wishes and some gifts. World number one and top seed Novak Djokovic, Mahut's third round rival, went a step further. He generously offered to give Nicolas a tennis lesson, free of charge. Mahut naturally could not have been more delighted and accepted gladly.
Part one of the lesson was a practical demonstration of some of the best shots played in the modern game; coincidentally, all of these were examples from Novak himself and he used the first set for currency. Djokovic decided to play the best shots he could in order to give Mahut the idea of what steps he needed to take to advance his game.
Speed serves, kick serves, conventional forehands, off forehands, all sorts of backhands, drop shots and attacking and defensive lobs - these were amongst the strokes thrown at Mahut and the only request from Novak was for Nicolas to attempt to hit as many back as he could. Nicolas obliged and the number he successfully hit back to win points translated into a total of zero games on the scoreboard. Djokovic was at his clinical best. Every centimetre of the court moved to his beat, and one could hear the championship trophy engraver already beginning his work fashioning the capital letter N on the way to having Djokovic's name ready for the presentation in 8 days time.
Mahut kept pace with Djokovic in the second set for a stretch, but after those two games, the reality reasserted itself - five straight games and winners strewn all over the court from Djokovic matched by the mistakes from the other side of the net. 6-0 6-1 and the day session would be finished very early save for a miracle.
No miracle - only more of the same sublime skill from Djokovic and sad surrender from Mahut. The truth today was that Mahut had restricted movement because of injury but made certain to play out the match in deference to his opponent - a sporting gesture indeed. The birthday celebration now a tennis conversation free zone. Novak the winner 6-0 6-1 6-1
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