Novak Djokovic believes he is heading in the right direction going into the French Open as he bids to win the Grand Slam for a second time.

The 18-time major champion says he has gained confidence from his run at the Italian Masters where he was denied the title by Rafael Nadal who prevailed in three sets at the Foro Italico. Prior to the final, the Serbian scored wins over world No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, as well as Lorenzo Sonego in the semi-finals. The run is his best result so far on the clay this season after losing in the third round in Monte Carlo and semi-finals in his native Belgrade.

“I’m disappointed not to win it, but at the same time I’m very pleased with the level of tennis that I managed to find in the later stages of this tournament,” Djokovic said following his loss to Nadal.

Despite being the top ranked player on the ATP Tour, Djokovic faces a stern challenge in Roland Garros where he will be bidding to end Nadal’s dominance. The Spaniard has already won the tournament a record 13 times and has only ever been beaten twice. Although Djokovic is one of the players who have beaten him and won the title himself back in 2016.

“Going into Paris brings me a good sensation,” he said. “I actually now started to feel like I actually want to feel on clay. I think if I manage to play the way I played last night and today, I think I have a good chance to go all the way in Paris.”

Unlike previous years, the 34-year-old has taken the unusual step of deciding to play a tournament the week before a Grand Slam. He will headline the second Belgrade Open which is an ATP 250 event. Djokovic’s hope is that the match play will help him reach his peak in time for Paris.

Faced with the prospect of potentially playing three weeks in a row on the clay, he will take some time off before returning to training in a couple days. There will also be little time to rest after the French Open with Wimbledon taking place two weeks later.

“This coming week I’m going to rest as much as I can because I had enough time with the racquet on the court,” Djokovic outlined.
“I’m just going to rejuvenate, regroup, and then start training again some days before the start of the Belgrade Open.’
“I have to obviously keep the momentum going I feel with the quality of tennis. Do more training and a few more matches. I think I’m on the right way.’
“The last couple days really gave me a confidence boost for the clay. I found the game. So now I just have to maintain that level and peak in Paris.”

Djokovic’s win-loss record for the season currently stands at 17-3.

Rafael Nadal has ended his 21-month Masters title drought after outlasting Novak Djokovic in a three-set marathon at the Italian Open on Sunday.

The world No.2 overcame some stiff resistance from his Serbian nemesis to prevail 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, in Rome. Becoming the first player in history – male or female- to have won the title for a 10th time. In his latest encounter, Nadal fired five aces, 37 winners and broke Djokovic three times en route to the title.

“It’s amazing. To have this trophy for a tenth time is something impossible to imagine but it has happened,” said Nadal.
“I was lucky in some moments (this week), especially against Shapo (Denis Shapovalov).’
“I think I played a good tournament. I have played better and better, finding my rhythm on clay and I have had a very positive week. I am very happy.”

The Foro Italico is a unique tournament in the historic rivalry between Nadal and Djokovic. Their latest clash was the ninth time they have faced each other at the Italian Open which is more than any other tournament. Between them they have won 14 out of the last 16 titles in Rome and the last time neither of them featured in a final was back in 2004.

Continuing their rivalry once again, there was little to distinguish between the two tennis titans during what was a roller-coaster 74-minute opening set. Two games into the clash, Nadal found himself trailing after losing a 8-minute opening service game to go behind 0-2. However, the Spaniard responded instantly by breaking back in the next game. Then to add to the drama at 3-3 Nadal avoided a potentially nasty accident on court after getting his foot caught on the line which prompted him to fall over.

“It‘s incredible, the lines… they’re going to kill us in the end,” he said in frustration to umpire Carlos Bernardes.

Contending with some sublime defensive play from Djokovic, the slightest of blips could prove costly and so it did. Tied at 5-5, a lacklustre service game from the world No.1 enabled Nadal to seize the moment as he broke with the help of one of his signature forehand winners. Resulting in an animated Djokovic venting his anger towards his camp in the crowd. Tasked with serving the set out, Nadal continued to experience resistance from across the court. His first set point was cancelled out by a masterful Djokovic dropshot but he triumphed on his second chance with yet another forehand winner.

Prior to Rome this year, Nadal boasted an emphatic 16-1 positive record against Djokovic when winning the opening frame of their matches. Furthermore, he was the fresher of the two considering he spent over three hours less on the court than his rival on the previous day.

Nevertheless, the top seed refused to stand down. During the early stages of the second set, alarm bells started to ring for Djokovic as he was seen having some discomfort in his right shoulder. Despite this, he still managed to race through the second set with the help of a five-game streak after taking advantage of an unexpected sudden decline in Nadal’s form.

The mid-match blip served as a wake up-call for Nadal who once again elevated his level during the decider as he fended off a series of threats coming from across the court. His decisive move took place during the sixth game where he broke to love and moved ahead to a 4-2 lead. Surging towards the finish line, Nadal sealed the victory on his second championship point after a Djokovic backhand went wide.

Nadal now ties Djokovic for most Masters 1000 titles won at 36. He has won at least one of those titles in 15 out of the past 17 years.

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer says it will be a combination of things which will aid his decision to retire from professional tennis but he currently has no plans to do so.

The 39-year-old missed most of the Tour last season due to a right knee injury which required two surgical procedures. The second was done after the first failed to produce the desired results. Since then, Federer has only played in one tournament which was at the Qatar Open in Doha where he reached the semi-finals. More recently he has decided to skip a series of tournaments in order to focus on training.

Describing the sport as his ‘second family,’ 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer says he wants to give life on the Tour another try following his injury setback. He will return to action at the upcoming Geneva Open in what will be his first clay court event in almost two years.

“I am passionate about this life, which is a bit like my second family, and tennis always amuses me as much,” he said during an interview with Léman Bleu.
“It would be hard to give up without trying one more time to see what level I can reach. But it’s my knee, the stress, the demands and the family that will decide.”

Federer has won 103 ATP titles so far in his career which is the second-highest in history after Jimmy Connors. He has achieved numerous accolades but there is one that is missing – the Olympic singles title. The nearest the Swiss has come to the gold medal was in 2012 when he finished runner-up to Andy Murray. Although he did win gold in the men’s doubles back in 2008 alongside Stan Wawrinka.

There are still concerns over the status of this year’s Tokyo Games amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a surge of cases in Japan. Tokyo is among nine prefectures of the country which have been placed under a state of emergency until at least May 31st. On top of that, an online petition calling for the event to be scrapped have been signed by more than 350,000 people.

“If you feel that there is a lot of resistance, it might be better not to go ,” Federer commented on the petition. “There is a lot of people there who are not vaccinated and who are against holding these Games and I am not sure what to think. If that (the Games) doesn’t happen because of the situation, I would be the first to understand.”

Federer has called for clarification from organisers over the future of the Games and if they will for certain go ahead. Other players such as Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori have also expressed their concerns. Meanwhile, Serena Williams is undecided if she will go due to rules prohibiting international athletes from beginning family members.

Prior to the Olympics, Federer’s focus is on the clay. As the top seed in Geneva he has a bye in the first round. His first match is set to be against either Pablo Andujar or Jordan Thompson.