Novak Djokovic starts the Masters tournament in Monte Carlo with the long-term goal of Paris. Before his start, he surprised everyone with an honest assessment of his performance.
The big goal is Paris. The Olympic tennis tournament takes place in the French capital this summer – in Roland Garros. For Novak Djokovic, success at the Olympics is a top priority.
So far he only has one bronze medal at the Summer Games on his CV.
The Serb therefore wants to use the ATP tournament in Monte Carlo to work his way back into shape. For the first time in six years he arrives without having won at least one title this season.
In his last match he lost to lucky loser Luca Nardi in the third round in Indian Wells. He then canceled the start in Miami.
The goals for the tournament in Monaco were therefore not too high.
Djokovic: “Not particularly good”
“My expectations are not very high, the way I’ve played in the tournaments this year, and the results I’ve had in Monaco in previous years haven’t been great either, so I’m keeping my expectations low,” said he in an interview with “Eurosport”.
Above all, Djokovic wants to improve his game on clay. “For me it’s about building my game on clay courts and trying to get back to the top,” he continued.
“For some players like me it takes a little more time to reach the top level of tennis. Earlier in my career I was better in Monte Carlo. I won titles in 2013 and 2015, that’s quite a long time ago. The last five or Six editions here haven’t been that successful, and I always hope that that could change.”
The Serb is going into the tournament with enthusiasm. “Not playing in Miami gave me more time to train on clay and adapt my body and game to this surface.”
Djokovic starts the tournament on Tuesday afternoon against the Russian Roman Safiullin.
Since last Sunday, Djokovic has been the oldest number 1 in the world since the ATP rankings began (since 1973, editor’s note). At 36 years and 321 days, the Serb surpassed his old rival Roger Federer, who set the record in 2018 had set up.
2024-04-09 07:59:00
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