MADRID: Despite being the highest ranked player in the world, Novak Djokovic will be the first to admit that he is far from perfect.
This year have already seen the Serbian basked in glory at the Australian Open, as well as reach peak frustration during the sunshine double that followed. Overall, he is 15-4 prior to this week after playing in five tournaments. Out of those five, Indian Wells was the only place where he failed to achieve back-to-back wins.
“Most of the events I played I reached I think finals at least and after Australian Open I had a long break,” Djokovic said during his press conference. “Monte-Carlo was definitely better than Indian Wells and Miami. In Indian Wells and Miami, I didn’t feel my best, I didn’t play my best.”
Early losses are not usually associated with somebody of Djokovic’s caliber in general. A player who currently has 73 ATP titles to his name and has finished the year as world No.1 on five different occasions. Nevertheless, he sees the positives to those losses.
“It’s all a learning curve especially when you are losing in early rounds and matches that you are supposed to win against players you are supposed to win,” Djokovic explained.
“Of course, it does feel disappointing especially because I was on such a roll for so long. But I have to move on.”
Those defeats seem minor when you look at the larger picture. Djokovic was once sidelined from the tour for six months with an elbow injury. Shortly after his return, he underwent another medical procedure before staging a triumphant comeback. Reclaiming his No.1 spot last November and winning the past three grand slam tournaments. Should he prevail again in Roland Garros, he would hold all the grand slam titles at once. Something he has already achieved before.
“It’s not the first time in my career that I’m kind of experiencing those ups and downs. I tried to keep it as stable as possible not to have too big of an extreme kind of swings. But everyone plays their best when they are playing against the top players.”
It has been so far, so good for Djokovic this week at the Madrid Open. On Thursday he progressed to the quarter-finals after dismissing Jeremy Chardy in straight sets. Reaching the last-eight of a Masters event for the 79th time in his career.
Like for every other player, Madrid is preparation for the ultimate challenge on the clay – the French Open. A tournament where he has an 83% success rate with 63 wins to 13 loses. His first and so far only title won in Paris was back in 2016
“I know what to do and the good thing about tennis is you always have an opportunity within a week or two weeks, to rectify certain things that you felt like were not working and then, obviously, I’m building slowly,” Djokovic said about his preparation for the upcoming major.
“Roland Garros, on clay is where I want to peak. But of course, I would love to try to get as far as in this tournament and also in Rome next week as possible.“
Djokovic’s next challenge in Madrid comes in the form of Marin Cilic. He currently leads their head-to-head 17-2.
