Defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia will take on World No. 49 Bernard Tomic of Australia in his opening encounter at the 2012 Rogers Cup. Djokovic could not win a medal for Serbia in Olympics tennis singles event and he must be burning from inside to produce some good results on the ATP World Tour – to make up for the recent disappointments.  Now, he is up against top Australian Tomic, who is also on a redemption mode and all these factors make this contest pretty interesting.

Novak Djokovic won the Rogers Cup title last season by beating Mardy Fish in the finals. Interestingly, things have changed a lot over a season, as Djokovic has not been able to replicate his last season’s performance in the ongoing season. In fact, the Serbian looked way ahead of his opponents in the last season, but he is struggling to find that form this year. Though, he is not in his typical devastating form this season, the Serbian still has a stellar 45-8 win-loss record with two titles in his kitty.

The Serbian is hoping to rekindle his magic on his favorite surface hard-court. The Serbian asserted during a press interview, “There are many more tournaments to come and they’re played on my favourite surface, so I will try to use that in my favor and perform my best.” When asked about this tournament, Djokovic added “It’s great to be back in Canada for the Rogers Cup. I had lots of success in Canada in previous years, and I love coming back here and playing here. Lots of support, lots of people from ex-Yugoslavian region that live here and come and support. People in Canada love tennis and appreciate the tennis players. For us it’s great to be a part of such a great event.”

Djokovic’s opponent Tomic has been struggling to find some decent form this season. The Australian has a poor 19-19 win-loss record for the season and he is gunning for his maiden title on tour. Tomic made a spirited start to this tournament, as he defied the strong challenge of German qualifier Michael Berrer on Monday in three testing sets with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 scoreline. He need to produce another scintillating performance to beat Djokovic in the second-round of this ATP World Tour 1000 Event.

In head-to-head, Djokovic apparently leads with 2-0 against the Australian. Last time they met in Rome Masters earlier this season, where the Serbian triumphed in straight sets.