Tennis: Djokovic, the perfect preparation for the title at Roland-Garros?
Published on April 15, 2024 at 8:50 p.m.
Holder of a Master’s degree in sports journalism, I fell in love with tennis since childhood and have always loved reading the great stories of this sport. Today, I want to tell them about them, take full advantage of my passion and be as close as possible to the aces of the circuit.
Not titled in the first quarter of 2024, Novak Djokovic started the season on clay in Monte-Carlo, spending a lot of time in training. The Serbian took the opportunity to reach the semi-finals of the Masters 1000, which was his least successful without really displaying an exceptional level of play. But in his perspective of winning major titles, he placed himself perfectly in the title race at Roland-Garros. Titled in 2023, the world number 1 will obviously have great ambitions.
Not very confident in his results before competing in the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo last week, Novak Djokovic still had a great week on the Rock and it was perhaps a way of removing some pressure. The Serb had an almost unprecedented start to his career since he still had not won a single trophy as of mid-April. But his real objectives for the season will really begin on the occasion of Roland-Garros…
A shy start
In his career, Novak Djokovic has always managed to leave its mark on the start of the season, notably thanks to the presence of theAustralian Open in January. At this stage of the year, the Serbian had already won at least one title apart from in 2022 when he could not play in Australia or the United States or in 2018 when he was a little injured. “I’m used to very high standards in terms of results expectations, so not having a title since the start of the year is not a sign of a great season, if we compare with the last 15 years . But I reached the semi‐finals in Australia and here. I only played three tournaments this year,” he explained after his defeat in the semi-finals at Montecarlo in front of Casper Ruud.
A worrying physical condition
Despite his victories at Montecarlo, Novak Djokovic did not display an incredible level of play and often appeared a little feverish on the court physically speaking. This was still the case during his defeat against Casper Ruud and it seems to have had difficulty supporting the climatic conditions which, however, very slightly exceeded 20°. However, he was still able to benefit from good benchmarks for the rest of the clay court season.
Big preparation ahead?
Eliminated very early Indian Wells, Novak Djokovic did not participate in Miami while he was in the middle of a change of coach. The Serb may have taken a break and as he got back into the competition very hard, he had a little trouble. At almost 37 years old, he needs more time to reign supreme but he could do very badly. “Maybe he’s burnt out, he’s been through monstrous physical sessions. Djokovic is perhaps playing with the fatigue of preparation on earth. It could happen and if it finds Roland it’s going to be a fighter plane and it’s going to crush everyone! It’s almost unusual that he’s burnt out because he hasn’t played before. So if he’s burnt out, for me, it’s because he did a lot of preparation” says Julien Varlet in the show Sans Filet.
2024-04-15 18:50:00
#Tennis #Djokovic #perfect #preparation #title #RolandGarros
