World number one Novak Djokovic is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated men at Roland Garros. The Serbian tennis player is going through a very difficult moment in 2024, even in Geneva he highlighted various difficulties and is struggling to express his best tennis.
Between Rome and Geneva he succumbed to lower-ranking athletes and gave less than satisfactory answers, now he is called to the litmus test in Roland Garros, a tournament he won last year and one of the most important in history.
Nole also wants to defend first place in the ranking but is aware that there are major difficulties on the horizon. In the press conference before playing the tournament (he will debut on Tuesday) Djokovic spoke like this: “How am I mentally? I have low expectations and high hopes.
Difficult months? I know what I’m capable of and usually in Slams I play my best tennis or at least that’s the goal. I want to give my best here in Paris, last year was incredible and I hope to have a great tournament.
These first five months of the season have certainly influenced me and I focus every day on being able to develop form and momentum to go as far as possible. How do I deal with dark times? They are obstacles, I wouldn’t call them dark dangers.
We must always look ahead, to the next challenge and to understand what it takes to be better than the previous week. This is the mentality I want to maintain, I know my qualities and I know that I can compete at the highest level.
I have won 24 Slams and I know what I have to do to move forward. It is a type of tournament different from the others and sensations that no other tournament gives you. Low expectations? It’s difficult to talk about it, I’m embarrassed to say what my expectations are but any result other than winning the title is not satisfactory.
It may sound arrogant but I think my career supports that. I play to stay at the highest levels and try to write new pages in the history of sport, winning Paris is always important.
Those are my goals, but I have to lower my expectations. In any case I have to look at it day after day and in this way I will be able to have the necessary strength to reach the final. Several things have happened in the last few months but I don’t want to talk about it, I don’t want to open Pandora’s Box. I’m just trying to focus on tennis and everything that happened is in the past.”
