A calculated gamble: Will Novak Djokovic’s remodeled serve see him dominate tennis again?

A new-look Novak Djokovic, with a new team and new shoe sponsor took the court after six months away. A right elbow injury, one that has been bothering him for years now, had forced him to end his season earl after retiring mid-match at Wimbledon.

While any injury layoff is bad enough for a top player, the former world No 1 had much more to deal with. An injury in his playing arm means he had to adjust his game, rework it in many ways, and make sure he didn’t make it any worse.

How to maintain his physically-intensive game without putting undue pressure on his elbow – which he didn’t want to operate – was one of the the biggest questions ahead of him and he answered it with a big decision – to remodel his service action. Not a “new serve”, he insists, but a “new service motion.”

Djokovic didn’t have the best of serves early in his career but the Serb has worked on it and made it into another weapon for him, especially in his breakthrough 2011 season. He altered the position of his elbow and made it more forceful with a bigger backswing. It became fast enough and powerful, setting him just right for his next shot.

To change such a basic and integral part of his game was not a choice as much as it was a necessity and Djokovic, along with his coach Andre Agassi, who is no stranger to tweaking his game, made sure it would have the same efficacy, even with reduced force on the elbow.

Although it’s too early to call with only one match in, it looks like the big change has been a calculated gamble.

Apart from an exhibition match win over Dominic Thiem, the six-time Australian Open champion hasn’t had much match practice ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year. He missed the warm-up tournaments on the advice of his medical team and the first-round match against Donald Young was the first test of his rejigged action.

But when he began his match at the Maraget Court Arena on Tuesday, it didn’t look like Djokovic had been away from tennis for six months. Albeit an early match against an opponent infamous for his own errors, the Serb showed no signs of rust or fatigue as he the notched a convincing 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win over the American in one hour and 51 minutes

With Agassi watching, he held his own serve all but once, broke Young’s serve six times, hitting 33 winners and conceding only 27 unforced errors. A strong, vital comeback, after which he dropped to his knees and touched the court in a gesture of great sentimentality.

But through the match, the different service action was very evident as he tried to protect the elbow In his own words, there are “some improvements to the technique, which I think are allowing me to be more efficient with the serve, but also allowing me to release the load from the elbow.”

Here’s a look at how the serve has changed.

He has almost cut the swing before he hits the ball by half, with his racquet at almost chest level, as compared to the low, knee-level position before. The resultant arc is much shorter and but when he hits the ball, the force, spin and angle of the back-swing haven’t changed so radically. He is keeping his elbow much straighter as well, like he is holding it back.

While his average serve speed was still 188kmph (196 on first serve) it’s too early to say whether it will affect the impact of his serve. Young, although a top 75 player, and a ill Thiem are not the best opponents to judge the difference in Djokovic’s serve as yet. The first big test of just where his new action stands will be when the 14th seed play Gael Monfils in the second round. And later, when he will have to mix it up a lot more against swifter opponents.

For all his jokes about unlocking Nick Kyrgios’s secret after wearing the elbow sleeve, he admits that the new action is not 100%, just like his elbow. At the same time, the tweaks have enabled him to come out and play the game as best he can with a rehabilitated elbow.

‘’It’s not entirely different, but at the beginning even those small tweaks and changes have made a lot of difference mentally. I needed time to kind of get used to that change, understand whether that’s good or not good for me,” he said before the tournament began.

Now, one match down, Djokovic says he need more time to get used to the change.

“Well, second serve was very, very good. I’m very happy with the second serve. First serve was kind of up and down,” the 30-year-old said at the post-match conference. His first serve percent, though, was a steady 79%.

“All in all, I’m quite pleased. I know that it’s going to take a little bit of time for me to kind of work my way in and get used to the specific changes that I’ve made in my service motion. It wasn’t ideal, but it was still good. I’m looking forward to work on it more. I hope to improve in this aspect,” he added.