Novak Djokovic meets Juan Monaco on Wednesday in Round 2 of the 2013 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The match is slated for 3 p.m. ET. Watch the live stream HERE.
World No. 1 Djokovic can make history if he wins the Cincinnati tournament. If the Serb does win the Western & Southern Open, he'd become the first player to ever achieve the Career Golden Masters, ATPWorldTour.com reports. The Western & Southern Open is the last title Djokovic needs to have all nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles.
"The fact that I have an opportunity to make history in the sport that I'm playing that I love is incredible," Djokovic told ATPWorldTour.com. "This is just another extra motivation for me to try to do the best that I can and reach the, hopefully, final stages of this event. Again, it's a long week and it's different conditions from what we played last week. Working hard on the practice courts to get ready. Hopefully, I can get the best out of this tournament."
Djokovic will need to bounce back from last week's defeat at the Rogers Cup, where he lost in the semifinals to rival Rafael Nadal.
"Looking at the match that we had a few days ago, I think it was decided by just a few points," Djokovic said. "There was no difference in the previous matches we had - most of them - in the last few years. 2011 I was winning most of them; now he's winning. It's a course of life."
Despite coming close but failing in the Rogers Cup, Wimbledon and French Open, the Serb has played well this season: he's 42-7 with three titles.
Across from Djokovic on Wednesday will be Monaco. The Argentinean is 23-18 with one title under his belt this year, and he's presently ranked No. 32 in the World. He made it to the third round of Wimbledon, tying his career best, before falling to Kenny de Schepper.
Wednesday is Djokovic and Monaco's eighth head-to-head meeting. Djokovic is 7-0 against the Argentinean - they last met this year at Monte-Carlo, where Djokovic won in three sets.
*Stats via ATPWorldTour.com and MatchStat.com.
