Are we surprised anymore?  Djokovic seems like he’s taking the route of fellow Serbians, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic.  Both Ivanovic and Jankovic were number 1 briefly.  Djokovic has never reached number 1, but he recently became number 2 at the Australian Open.  Djokovic was close enough to Rafael Nadal in rankings that when Rafa lost to Murray in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open (having won it the year before) and Djokovic got back to the quarters again (as he did the previous year), Djokovic’s point total didn’t change, but Nadal lost more than 1000 points.

Since then, Djokovic has done OK.  He lost in the semifinals of Rotterdam and defended his title in Dubai.  He then won both singles matches in Serbia on clay in Davis Cup.

By the time he rolled to Indian Wells, the question was whether Davis Cup had exhausted him.  John Isner had surprisingly pushed Djokovic to five sets, ultimately losing.   Djokovic came close to losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber having to save match points before scrapping out a win.  At the end, he was too tired to make his customary primary scream and one wondered how fatigue would affect him the rest of the way.

Turns out, by the next round, he was out, losing to Ivan Ljubicic.  True, Ljubicic eventually won it all, so maybe he was on a streak that would not be denied.  Even so, it felt like Djokovic was just not on top of his game.

So, it seemed odd for Novak Djokovic to go down to Olivier Rochus of Belgium.  Did this spell an odd spiral down for Djokovic, or does Djokovic, oddly enough, have a blind side for Rochus.  Is Rochus one of those players that happen to bother Djokovic even though, by all rights, he shouldn’t.  It turns out Olivier Rochus has a 2-1 record over Djokovic.  However, those 2 victories came in 2005, two years before Djokovic broke though.

The last time the two met was on grass in 2009 in Halle where Djokovic won 7-6, 6-4.  This is a tight match, but Djokovic ended up losing Halle to Tommy Haas and lost to him at Wimbledon.  The truth is probably somewhere in between.  Djokovic not quite playing his best and Rochus knowing he gives Djokovic a tough time.

Rochus wins: 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-4.

Two matches ended in retirement.  Kohlschreiber’s opponent, Florian Mayer, retired after almost one set.  Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated Daniel Koellerer after leading 4-0 and Koellerer retired.  Karlovic needed three sets to defeat Gimeno-Traver.  Almagro defeated Schwank in two tight sets.  Jeremy Chardy exacted a little revenge over Sam Querrey, who beat him in Indian Wells, by taking him down in 3 sets, 6-2 in the third.

Temperatures are not too bad.  It is 80F (26 C) with 80% humidity in Miami.