US Open: Dennis Novak – “I can’t explain that either”

Dennis Novak left the US Open with a strong performance. Against Benoit Paire, progress was still within reach.

By Jens Huiber from New York City

No sign of fatigue. This is what Dennis Novak reported after his 3:05 hour match against Benoit Paire in a press conference. He would probably feel it tomorrow, which is bearable because Novak planned to go to Vienna on Wednesday. To celebrate his birthday with his family and girlfriend.

However, the 25-year-old had no objection to extending his stay in New York, and Paire also made several friendly offers. Novak didn’t really know if he would be allowed to access it, after all, the Frenchman has already achieved a certain status on the tour.

But: the service. No: The serve!! “Six break for six, six times I get the re-break right away, which is simply a catastrophic service,” says Novak. “Far too many double faults. I can’t explain that either.” On the other hand, not everything had been bad, as a return player the Austrian from Lower Austria knew how to convince as in the qualification.

“There were also a few little things that tipped the scales,” Novak continued. Above all, the Frenchman had a razor-sharp eye, was mostly right with your challenges. “The two balls Paire played high into my backhand were, in my opinion, at least one centimetre out. And the Hawkeye shows that they were still one millimeter inside.”

The next task could be the Davis Cup in Graz. After the brilliant Davis Cup appearance in Moscow, it would make sense for Dennis Novak to represent the Austrian colours in Graz against Australia. But: “I have not yet received any news from Stefan Koubek”.

Novak would be ready, of course. With great pleasure.

But the next few days are all about regeneration. And the overall balance of the trip to New York is positive for Dennis Novak. After all, it was not clear before departure whether he would be able to compete at all for health reasons.