Santoro takes advantage of Djokovic
Santoro takes advantage of Djokovic 
Former Australian Captain November 01, 2007
NOVAK Djokovic blamed a painful recovery from recent oral surgery for his 6-3, 6-2 crash-landing against Fabrice Santoro in the second round at the Paris Indoor Masters.
The Serb, who had surgery to remove two wisdom teeth little more than a week ago in Madrid, is pointing his season on performing well at the season-wrapup Masters Cup starting November 11 in Shanghai.
“This
was my last tournament before Shanghai, but I couldn’t give my 100 percent, not even 30 percent of my possibilities,” said Djokobvic.
“He deserved to win. I’m still on medications.”
Djokovic will begin the trip to his first career post-season playoff as he leaves for China on Sunday.
He has qualified into an eight-man field already containing Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick and David Ferrer with the last two spots to be decided this week.
“I didn’t practise for a whole week, I only started practising like two days ago, physically I’m not feeling at all good.”
Djokovic paid homage to the veteran Santoro, whose devilish two-fisted attack has confounded players for more than a decade.
“He’s one of the most respectful players because he’s 34, 35 years old,” said the 20-year-old Djokovic. “He’s played against three, four generations already.
“It’s amazing the way he moves still on the court in such age. He’s changing the rhythm, the pace all the time. He’s not easy to play against.”
Djokovic said he will try to gain back a few kilos that he lost during his recovery from surgery.
He gave the crowd a minor chuckle as he entered the court wearing an eye mask in honour of Halloween, an American holiday with a big cult following in France.
“It’s a a little tradition I have with the mask on Halloween,” he said.
Agence France-Presse