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ROME – For four or five days after being kicked out of the US Open, Novak Djokovic made a serious soul-searching.
Then he went back to the tennis court, and since then it has been pretty smooth, at least in terms of results.
Losing just one set all week, Djokovic won his fifth Italian Open title on Monday after beating Diego Schwartzman 7-5, 6-3 in the final, and restored his confidence heading into Roland Garros, which starts in six days.
“I mentally experienced some kind of ups and downs in the first four or five days after it happened. I was in shock,” Djokovic said of the breach 15 days ago for inadvertently hitting a linesman in the throat with a ball on a fit of rage.
“But I kept going and, really, I never had a problem in my life to get past something. Regardless of how difficult it is, I try to take the next day and hope for the best and move on. It helped a lot … just because I really wanted to get on the court and get any trace of it, if there is any, and I think I had a really good week. “
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The only real problem for Djokovic last week was his demeanor again.
He received warnings from the chair umpire for breaking a racket in the quarterfinals and for foul language in the semifinals.
Still, Djokovic improved to 31-1 this year, with his only loss to Pablo Carreño Busta in the game in which he was suspended. He also surpassed childhood idol Pete Sampras for the second-most weeks at No. 1 with 287, and he is only behind Roger Federer’s 310 weeks in first place.
In the women’s final, first seed Simona Halep won her first title in Rome when 2019 champion Karolína Plíšková retired midway through her match with a left thigh injury.
Halep led 6-0, 2-1 when Plíšková stopped playing after just 31 minutes.
The only player to make a set for Djokovic this week was German qualifier Dominik Koepfer in the quarterfinals.
“I don’t think I have played my best tennis, to be honest. I don’t want to be arrogant here, of course I’m very, very satisfied and happy to win a title, but I know I still have a couple of gears,” said Djokovic. “Hopefully I will be able to raise that level for the French, because that will be necessary if I want to deepen the tournament.
“This gives me even more confidence that is absolutely necessary for a grand slam.”
Against Schwartzman, who was playing his first Masters 1000 final, Djokovic rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the first set and eventually wore down the stable Argentine to finish the match in just under two hours, and just before he returned to to rain.
With his 36th Masters 1000 title, Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to the top of the all-time list.
Schwartzman had beaten nine-time Rome champion Nadal in the quarterfinals and then outplayed Denis Shapovalov in a lengthy series of three sets in the semifinals. But no player has beaten Nadal and Djokovic in the same tournament since 2016 when Juan Martín del Potro achieved the feat at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Capable of running over just about anything, the 5-foot-7 (170-centimeter) Schwartzman gave Djokovic attacks early on when there was a brief rain.
With Schwartzman standing far behind the court, Djokovic began to rely heavily on his backhand shot, although it took him three attempts at the net before he finally found his range.
However, the drop shots began to pay off, as evidenced when Djokovic won a 19-shot rally to save a break point at 4-4 in the first set with a short ball that set up an easy winning volley.
Previously, Plíšková had her lower back treated by a coach after Halep won the first set. Plíšková also had tape attached to his left thigh during the match.
Halep, who lost the 2017 and 2018 Rome finals to Elina Svitolina, extended her perfect record on the tennis restart to 10-0.
“In 2013 here I began to (reach) the top of world tennis,” said Halep, now a two-time Grand Slam champion, recalling her surprise run to the semifinals that year. “Since then I started to play very well and finally, after two finals, I was able to win this title.”
Second-ranked Halep improved to 14-0 overall since February, when she won in Dubai. After a five-month break from touring due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Romanian came back winning another trophy in Prague last month. She skipped the US Open due to travel and health concerns.
The players in both finals wore face masks while collecting their trophies.
Due to the pandemic, a crowd of just 1,000 fans was able to enter the 10,500-seat Campo Centrale stadium.
The tournament, which was rescheduled from its regular May schedule due to the pandemic, also had reduced prize money.
Halep cashed a winner’s check for 205,190 euros ($ 242,000), down from the 523,858 euros ($ 616,000) awarded to Plíšková last year. The male award was reduced even more drastically. Djokovic received 205,200 euros ($ 242,000) compared to the 958,055 euros ($ 1.1 million) that Nadal took home last year.
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