PARIS (AP) – For fairly a while, Novak Djokovic has made his long-term purpose clear: He needed to deal with accumulating Grand Slam titles in an effort to surpass the totals of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
With the French Open set to begin Sunday with out both Nadal (who’s injured) or Federer (who’s retired) for the primary time since 1998, Djokovic lastly will get the possibility to steer the profession standings alone with a males’s-record 23. If he winds up with the championship two weeks from now, Djokovic would break a tie with Nadal and have three extra trophies than Federer completed with.
“It’s no secret that one of the main reasons I play today and compete in professional tennis is to try to break more records and make more history in tennis,” Djokovic stated Saturday. “That’s extremely motivating and inspiring for me.”
His present assortment of twenty-two majors – two at Roland Garros, in 2016 and 2021; three on the U.S. Open; seven at Wimbledon and 10 on the Australian Open, together with this January – means he owns 16 greater than the opposite 127 males within the bracket in Paris mixed. Stan Wawrinka gained three, whereas Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem have one apiece.
“Grand Slams are a different tournament, a different sport, in a way, because you’re playing best-of-five (sets), you are playing in the most important tournaments in the world,” stated Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, “and the experience is on my side.”
It’s why when different gamers are requested who enters as the favourite in Nadal’s absence, they usually point out two names: Alcaraz, who’s ranked No. 1 and is 20-2 with a tour-high three titles on crimson clay in 2023, and Djokovic, who’s simply 5-3 this season on the floor used on the French Open.
Why level to Djokovic?
“Because Novak has won so many times,” stated Casper Ruud, the runner-up to Nadal at Roland Garros and to Alcaraz on the U.S. Open final yr. “This year’s clay season has been maybe not what he expected, but I’m sure he has good confidence in myself.”
Djokovic, for his half, pronounced the 20-year-old Alcaraz as “the biggest favorite,” citing “the last few months, and the kind of shape and the form that he’s having – and that I’m having.”
Djokovic is ranked No. 3 and will meet Alcaraz solely within the semifinals.
The participant with an opportunity to change into the one man in tennis historical past with at the least three titles from every main additionally talked about a number of different contenders, together with Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner.
Djokovic was in one thing of a contemplative temper on the eve of the occasion, explaining how a lot tougher issues are on his physique at this age and that he views every Slam event he competes in these days “like a present” (leaving apart any dialogue of majors he missed as a result of he didn’t get vaccinated towards COVID-19).
His most heartfelt feedback got here when he was requested about Nadal, the 14-time champion in Paris who has been sidelined since January with a hip damage.
After starting with a joke that made reference to Nadal’s 8-2 edge head-to-head at Roland Garros – “Honestly, I don’t miss him being in the draw, you know” – Djokovic turned extra critical.
He mirrored on their intertwined paths and stated he received emotional when listening to Nadal say 2024 in all probability will probably be his closing yr on tour.
“He’s my biggest rival. When he announced that he’s going to have his last season of his career, I felt part of me is leaving with him, too, if you know what I mean,” Djokovic stated.
“I feel that he was one of the most, I would say, impactful people that I have ever had in my career, the growth of my career, and me as a player. Definitely a great motivational factor for me to keep playing and keep competing and keep pushing each other,” Djokovic continued. “Who’s going to achieve more? Who’s going to do better? It made me wonder. It made me think about my career and how long I’m going to play.”
And then he paused and smiled earlier than delivering this line, maybe for readability’s sake, maybe for the laughs he knew it will carry: “I’m not going to make any announcement today.”
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