Kevin Anderson says he is looking forward to the challenge of playing Novak Djokovic in his first match in six months. Anderson ended his 2019 season in September after struggling throughout the year with a knee problem.
And the South African’s last match was in July when he exited Wimbledon in the third round.
But the two-time Grand Slam finalist is back fit, healthy and ready to lead his country into the knockout stages of the ATP Cup.
Djokovic holds an 8-2 winning record over Anderson but their last match came in November 2018 at the ATP Finals.
And Anderson feels he is playing good enough tennis to potentially cause a shock in Brisbane on Saturday.
“It will be, obviously, an interesting matchup,” he said.
“First match in six months against somebody like that is, obviously, challenging, but, one, I’m really looking forward to the challenge.
“I’ve known about it, obviously, for a few weeks now. My body is feeling really good.
“I feel like I’m playing good tennis and this is a great way to get right back into the swing of things.
He said: “Yeah, on the tennis court it was very frustrating.
“Six months with the elbow, and then the two weeks after that felt good. The knee went out and as hard as I tried I couldn’t get it right for the whole summer.
“So even though I only played five tournaments, it felt like I spent a lot of time competing and — not necessarily competing, just training, trying to get ready for competition.
“So that part was tough but obviously on the off-side it was, a big positive was welcoming our daughter to the world. So I spent a lot of time at home with my wife with her.
“So it was sort of tough on the one side but very, very rewarding on the other side.”