In a recent interview given by Novak Djokovic, he highlighted how extensively and carefully he needs to be training and prepared at this particular moment since owing to the lack of matches this year due to the COVID vaccine controversy has led him to miss out on some serious game time.
The former world number 1 has been led into a bad run of form since he crashed out of the 2022 Monte Carlo Masters in the opening match against the unseeded Spaniard Davidovich Fokina.
The shock exit from the Monte Carlo Masters put a major crack into the plans of Novak Djokovic. All of these issues accompanied by the unwillingness of Djokovic to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus have caused a lot of plans to go fraught and his 2022 season has been filled with uncertainty.
#Djokovic was asked what was he thinking about before sleep last night: How not to hurt our dog who was sleeping between us ???? Then I did some breathing exercises and fell asleep. pic.twitter.com/eoagUvqTID
— Saša Ozmo (@ozmo_sasa) April 18, 2022
Novak was unable to compete in competitions such as the Australian Open and also in the United States. In 2022, Djokovic could only participate in two major tournaments. In the Dubai Open, he lost to Jiri Vesely in the Quarter Finals and in the Monte Carlo Masters, he lost out to Fokina in the opening round.
“I’m excited” – Novak Djokovic remains motivated heading into Rolland Garros
The Serb tennis sensation remains level headed and focused while moving towards the French Open. He is looking for more game time in order to get a proper level of practice. He said,
“I’m excited. I need more matches to get to the desired level of tennis. I had four workouts yesterday – two fitness and two tennis – I was a little tired. I use every free moment to prepare myself as physically as possible. This is especially important for clay,”
“I wasn’t ready in Monte-Carlo, I was aware of that, but I still miss matches the most. I hope to have more matches than in Monte-Carlo. Roland Garros is the biggest goal on this surface, I want to be the most ready there. That does not change my approach to this tournament, I want to go as far as possible, and the title is always an ambition,” Djokovic said.
He also is looking forward to the upcoming Serbian Open since that would be his home tournament. On this he said,
“We learn from previous experience, we know what everyone needs to make the experience as good as possible. We try to ensure that players have all the conditions – gyms, courts, accommodation, food… We want to buy a tournament permit first, at the moment we are just renting it. When that happens, we can think about becoming a stronger tournament, from the 500 series,” he added.
Novak Djokovic was evidently disappointed with the results he got in his previous two tournaments. We can only expect that the former world number 1 would be fired up and looking forward to leaving his mark in the upcoming Rolland Garros. It is worth noting the fact that Rafael Nadal remains the king of clay and in order for Novak Djokovic to equal the record of the highest grand slam titles which is currently held by the Spaniard Rafael Nadal he will have to win the upcoming French Open title. Novak would surely hold this record as a motivation in his preparation for the tournament.
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