Novak Djokovic revealed he was feeling frustrated after losing three French Open finals in four years. The Serb eventually broke the curse in 2016, beating Andy Murray 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in his fourth Roland Garros final.
Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title in 2008 and before reaching his first French Open final, he had won all of the other three major championships. He lost his first two finals to Rafael Nadal in 2012 and 2014 before Stan Wawrinka denied him in 2015.
Speaking during an interview with the HEAD Tennis, the former World No.1 recalled feeling frustrated after losing the final for the third time as he looked to achieve his ‘next’ goal of completing the Career Grand Slam.
“I always dreamed of winning Wimbledon and being number one in the world. When I achieved that, then it was what’s next? What’s the next big dream? The next big dream is let’s win as many Slams as possible. Then I wanted to complete all of the Slams, and Roland Garros was the one that I never won.”
“To that point (2016), I lost several finals and I was feeling very frustrated not to grab the French Open title. But each year, I felt I was stepping closer and closer to it,” Novak Djokovic said [1:40 0nwards]
The 24-time Grand Slam champion broke the curse at the 2016 French Open, beating Andy Murray in the finals in front of his childhood hero Gustavo Kuerten, a Brazilian tennis player who won the Roland Garros three times.
“So it happened in 2016 in front of one my childhood idols, Gustavo Guga Kuerten, who won the Roland Garros three times. Then I asked him, would I be able to kind of draw the hearts on the clay and kind of copy him and he gave me his blessing. So I did that and at that point, I held all the four slams in a row. It was a very unique moment,” he added.
Djokovic held all four slams at once following his 2016 French Open win to achieve the Career Grand Slam. He had won the Australian Open earlier that year alongside the 2015 Wimbledon and US Open titles.
The 37-year-old won two more French Open titles in 2021 and 2023 and will hope to add a fourth in 2025.
Novak Djokovic reminisces about ‘playing for half a year without losing a tennis match’ in 2011
Novak Djokovic arguably had the best season of his career in 2011 when he only lost six matches in the whole calendar year. He was on a 43-match winning streak at one point and reflecting on the moment over a decade later, the 24-time Grand Slam champion believes it was once in a lifetime feeling.
“I just kept winning and winning and the more I was winning, the more confident I was feeling on the court. I really didn’t mind who I was playing against or whatever the surface. So that was quite a wonderful feeling that you probably go through once in your career to win basically half a year without losing a tennis match,” Novak Djokovic said during the aforementioned interview.
The 37-year-old won his second Australian Open title earlier that year before securing his maiden US Open and Wimbledon Championships. He also achieved the World No.1 ranking for the first time in 2011.
