Novak Djokovic impresses on return to action in Melbourne

By Sky Sports Tennis

Thursday 11 January 2018 08:10, UK

Novak Djokovic romped to a 6-1 6-4 win over Dominic Thiem at the Kooyong Classic as he returned after six months out.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion said he is feeling good ahead of next week's Australian Open, after winning his first competitive match since a Wimbledon quarter-final loss last July.

Djokovic, a former world No 1, has been sidelined by an elbow injury and had to pull out of a planned warm-up outing in Abu Dhabi.

However, he is now on track to bid for a record seventh Australian Open after a resounding win over world No 5 Thiem, who is recovering from a virus, and was unable to stay with Djokovic.

The Serb, who wore a compression sleeve on his right arm to protect his elbow, said after the match: "I feel great, I was eager to get onto the court.

"I had a great opponent, it was a test for me to see where I am, how the work we did pays off on court. It worked pretty well. I personally didn't know what's going to happen. We did some treatment and obviously gave it a lot of thought.

"Luckily for me I'm here and so I'm hoping in the next four, five days everything will go well and I'll be ready for the Open. There was a doubt, especially after I pulled out of the first week of the year.

"I don't say I'm at 100 per cent, I can only say that when I get the feel of a tournament. Ideally, I would have had another tournament before the start of the Open, but it was not meant to be.

"I'll take whatever I can - one or two matches here will be good preparation. I don't want to be over-confident, but I'm very, very happy with how it went today."

Thiem only arrived in Melbourne on Monday night from Doha after four days in bed, but expects to be firing on all cylinders by next week.

"I'm free of fever and healthy again," said the Austrian.

"I'm still jet-lagged and was slow at the beginning of the match. I'll sleep, eat and train and not do too much. I'll be fine for the Open."