Former World No. 7 Fernando Verdasco thinks he has a good chance of beating 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in their fourth round clash at the French Open on Sunday.
Verdasco, who dismantled fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets on Friday is of the opinion that Djokovic is not at the same level, when he was dominating the sport in 2016. Djokovic had a string of poor results after coming back from a right elbow injury, going out in the first round in Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid.
The Serbian didn’t fare well in Monte Carlo and at the Australian Open as well, falling to Dominic Thiem and Hyeon Chung respectively in the round of 16. But, the former World No. 1 found some form at the Rome Masters, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in the semis.
However, according to Verdasco, Djokovic still has chinks in his armor and he will look to exploit those weaknesses when the two meet for a place in the quarters.
“Djokovic is not exactly at the level he was a couple of years ago, because already in Rome and in other matches he started playing a bit better,” Verdasco said.
“I think he will be a tough opponent.
“I will try and be focused and do what I have to do as well as possible and hopefully I will be able to play a match such as today or yesterday, and I will stand a few chances.”
At 34 Verdasco is in the twilight of his career and he is planning to set up his own academy just like his compatriots Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer.
“I think a good idea for them to bring out new players to achieve things that we were able to achieve throughout our career,” he added.
“It’s not easy, because winning a Davis Cup in the years we played in the past 10 years or past 12 years wasn’t an easy feat.
“And Rafael Nadal, somebody like Rafael Nadal is even harder to produce.
“But the fact that these players are trying to train young players as good as Rafa or Feliciano [Lopez] or Ferrer is an excellent idea, and one of my ideas in the future when I retire would be to set up a team maybe alone, maybe with Feliciano, but tennis is our life.
“And although we won’t be playing in the future, we would like young kids to realise their dreams.”
