Novak Djokovic couldn’t stop smiling as he made his long-awaited return to tennis after six moths away from the court due to injury.And, after the Serbian made his long-awaited return, what tennis fans are all talking about is his new modified serve.He appears to get greater height, but his elbow, which has caused him problems recently, is also moving differently.The change in technique has clearly shown good signs of improvement, however, as in his comeback game, he was successful against the world number five Dominic Thiem, where he defeated the Austrian 6-1, 6-4. Djokovic pulled out of a tournament in Abu Dhabi last week because of continuing problems with his right elbow and wore a sleeve over the joint during his round robin match against the Austrian.The exhibition match at Kooyong was his first match in more than six months, as Djokovic hadn’t played since Wimbledon in July, and he showed no signs of the elbow injury that also forced his withdrawal last week.Djokovic said after the game: “It was a fantastic test for me to see where I am, to see what we have done as a team and whether it works on the court and it works pretty well.“Especially the serve that was the biggest question mark because of the elbow, that shot in my game was compromised. “I don’t want to be over-confident, but I’m very, very happy with the way it went today.”

Djokovic is set to have another hit-out at Kooyong on Friday, as well as taking part in the Tie-break Tens in Melbourne, alongside world No.1 Rafael Nadal and top-ranked Australian Nick Kyrgios.

Now ranked 14th in the world after his long absence, the 12-time Grand Slam singles champion will be one to avoid in Thursday's draw for the Australian Open.

With the favourite going into the tournament being world No.1 Rafael Nadal, Djokovic will feel most confident beating the Spaniard in Australia, as he has a 18-7 record over the Spaniard on hard courts.

However, there's a certain Roger Federer who cannot be ignored either.