World No.1 Novak Djokovic has proclaimed he is ‘ready to go deep’ at the French Open after cruising through his second round match on Thursday.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion required just over two hours to defeat Pablo Cuevas in what was his 350th Grand Slam match. Djokovic is currently on a six-match winning streak after clinching the Belgrade Open title last week. His first ATP trophy won since Rome last year.
Reflecting on his progress so far in Paris, Djokovic says he is contempt with his performances. Prior to Cuevas, he dismissed Tennys Sandgren in straight sets in the first round.
“I’m playing well, feeling great. I’m ready to go deep in this tournament,” Djokovic said during his press conference.
“Hopefully that’s gonna be the case, but I’ll take it match by match, and so far the two matches that I have played have been of a high quality.’
“I’m pleased with the performance today, particularly against I think a very good player, specialist on clay, someone I have never faced before, has got a lot of spin.”
The 34-year-old says that his recent time in Belgrade has helped get him ‘pumped’ for Roland Garros. Not only in terms of match wins but also the social aspect as well. Unlike Paris, Serbia didn’t have in force a player bubble and restrictions were relaxed compared to other tournaments enabling them to have more freedom.
“I knew months ago that there is gonna be another kind of bubble here in Paris with that hour of exercise a day that you get to go out. But other than that, it’s courts, hotel room,” he said.
“So when I found out that in Belgrade we are going to most likely have a crowd, it was an easy decision for me because I wanted to spend more time with my family, my kids, my wife, my parents, brothers, and just feed off that great energy and support that I had in the last couple of matches, particularly in the finals.’
“I wanted to use it and really get myself pumped for Roland Garros. So far it’s been working well.”
The French Open is the only Grand Slam where Djokovic is yet to win multiple titles. His sole success occurred back in 2016 when he defeated Andy Murray in the final. Should he win again this year he would become the first man in the Open Era to have won every major title at least two times.
Awaiting Djokovic in the third round will be former junior world No.1 Ričardas Berankis who beat James Duckworth in his second round match. He leads the Lithuanian 3-0 in their head-to-head and is yet to lose a set against him.
