Novak Djokovic says he was hitting with friend and former player Bojan Bozovic over the last couple of days in Paris, where the Serbian won the Masters title over the big-serving Milos Raonic.
Djokovic was also with two of his coaches, Boris Becker and Marian Vajda. But he wanted to hit returns against Bozovic, who is tall and once played on tour before injuries led him to retire.
“[Bojan] lives in Switzerland, so he came to see me for the last two matches,” Djokovic said. “I used his height to practice my returns a little bit. He was serving well in the warm-up. He is a long time friend of mine. When he was 14 he was already two meters tall. I remember we won the under-14 European Championships together, doubles and team, as well.”
Djokovic was quite pleased that he was able to get back so many returns against Raonic, who usually holds serve easily. The world No. 1 also won 12 of 19 returns against Raonic’s second serves.
“The key point of the match today was to get as many returns back in play,” Djokovic said after the win. "Throughout the week that was his best shot. He relies on the serve very much in his game. I knew if I can make him play an extra shot, maybe he's going to drop the percentage of first serves and I can step in and maybe take initiative on the second.”