Winning the French Open has given Novak Djokovic extra motivation heading into Wimbledon, according to his coach Goran Ivanisevic.
The world No.1 clinched his 19th Grand Slam title at Roland Garros on Sunday where he came back from two sets down to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas. Moving Djokovic to a 11-match winning streak heading into the grass swing of the Tour. He has also become the first man in the Open Era to have won every major tournament at least twice.
However, there is little time for the Serbian to celebrate with Wimbledon swiftly approaching. Due to the French Open taking place seven days later than originally planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, just two weeks separate those tournaments. The task of winning both of those events within the same year is something that hasn’t been achieved since Rafael Nadal in 2010. In fact Nadal and Roger Federer are the only ATP players to have claimed the double within the past 40 years.
Proving some insight into Djokovic’s plans over the coming days during an interview with Tennis Majors, Ivanisevic believes he has what it takes to defend his title at the All England Club. Djokovic is also on course to achieve the Golden Slam which is where a player wins every major tournament and the Olympic in the same year. Should he succeed, he would become the second player to do so after Stefi Graf in 1988.
“Novak Djokovic knows his goals,” Ivanisevic stated. “On Wednesday, we are going to Mallorca, and after that to London. This title (French Open) is only going to make him more motivated. It was a long time ago when I said that Djokovic is the only player who can achieve a calendar year Grand Slam: will that happen or not, God knows, but if someone can do it, it is Novak.”
Next week Djokovic will return to competitive tennis by participating in the doubles tournament at the Mallorca Open. Prior to the announcement, his mentor had warned him against playing for one particular reason.
“In my opinion, we should not be playing the tournament (in Mallorca) because the grass at Wimbledon is very different as compared to the one in Mallorca,” said Ivanisevic. “We need to be in London at least three days beforehand, since Novak is playing on Monday as the defending champion. We will stay in Mallorca for seven or eight days.”
As to who are the biggest threats to Djokovic’s Wimbledon title bid, Ivanisevic is refusing to write off Roger Federer. The Swiss 39-year-old is on the comeback from a knee injury and is playing in Halle this week which is his fourth tournament of the season. Federer reached the fourth round in Roland Garros before deciding to withdraw.
“I think Roger made a smart move in Paris. He tested his body, whipped himself into shape a bit, and got exactly what he wanted; three matches under his belt and then he did not want to risk getting injured. Wimbledon is his number one goal. To be honest, I would not want to see him in our part of the draw there,” he said.
“As for the others, there are the usual suspects nowadays: Nadal, Tsitsipas, Zverev, Medvedev. There are a lot of dangerous floaters with big serves such as Raonic, Opelka, Isner. Cilic as well, who won’t be seeded, but who just won a title in Stuttgart.’
“Since we did not play on grass last year, I think we are all eager to get back on it. I expect a fun tournament. Novak is going to be the favorite, but it is not going to be easy.”
The Wimbledon Championships will start a week from Monday. Djokovic is aiming to win the tournament for the sixth time in his career.
