A disappointed Novak Djokovic looks on
Novak Djokovic is preparing to return to action after a disastrous start to his clay court season and the latest footage of his practice session has set a few alarm bells ringing.
Djokovic’s defeat against Alejandro Tabilo in Monte Carlo and his loss against Matteo Arnaldi in his first match at the Madrid Open suggested the 24-time Grand Slam champion was a long way from the form he needs to be in to challenge for the title at the French Open.
The Serbian legend pulled out of this week’s Italian Open as he opted to take a break from tennis, but he has entered the lower ranking ATP 250 tournament in Geneva next week as he looks to fine tune his game ahead of the second Grand Slam of the season in Paris.
Now footage has emerged of Djokovic’s practice ahead of his next tournament, as he again appeared to be struggling to find his feet on clay courts.
Djokovic has looked off-balance in his defeats against Tabilo and Arnaldi and he also looked unsteady in his latest practice session.
Djokovic will be hoping to get some matches under his belt ahead of the French Open, as he didn’t try to hide his disdain for his level of performance after the defeat against Arnaldi in Madrid.
“Kind of new reality for me, I have to say,” said Djokovic after the defeat against Arnaldi.
“You know, trying to win a match or two, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament. It’s a completely different feeling from what I had in 20-plus years of professional tennis, so it’s kind of a challenge for me mentally to really face this kind of sensation on the court, going out early now regularly in the tournaments.
“I guess, the circle of life and the career, eventually it was going to happen. Now I’m trying to, you know, use this as a driving force for the future. Obviously, Grand Slams, I was saying many times, are the most important tournaments for me.
“Which doesn’t mean that I don’t want to win here, of course I wanted to, but Grand Slams are where I really want to play the best tennis. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do that in Roland Garros, but I’ll do my best.”
Former world No 1 Andy Roddick suggested critics of Djokovic should be wary of writing off the player who will toast his 38th birthday later this month.
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“His year is littered with first-round losses. It’s like I can’t just show up at tournaments and be in the semis. It’s not something that is the norm for me anymore, but he doesn’t have to,” said Roddick on his Served podcast.
“For me, it’s just a matter of can he get off the mark? What is his start? If it’s a 100m dash, I don’t know if he can kick and make up ground once he’s behind now.
“But if he gets a couple of matches in, he is in the semis of Australia and might have been considered co-favourite.
“We have very short memories. All we remember right now is [Matteo] Arnaldi. But he beat [Carlos] Alcaraz, and he was playing [Alexander] Zverev, and people are saying if he’s healthy, he is the favourite.
“He can reset that expectation so quickly. If he looks great in his first two rounds at Roland Garros, we are throwing him right back up to the top of the favourites list. He can reset quicker than anyone.”
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