Novak Djokovic singles out French Open rival and gets brutally honest on injury woes | Tennis | Sport

Novak Djokovic revealed that he was unable to play more tournaments ahead of the French Open because his body didn’t allow him. The three-time former champion at Roland Garros has arrived with zero match wins on clay under his belt this season after a shoulder injury sidelined him for almost two months. And Djokovic has opened up on his recent injury struggles, admitting he also wasn’t ready to compete at the recent Italian Open, where he lost his opening match to Dino Prizmic.

The world No. 4 also went out of his way to pay tribute to Gael Monfils, his friend and rival, who is playing his final French Open before retiring later this year. Djokovic took part in Gael and Friends on Thursday night – a ‘show’ on Court Philippe-Chatrier, with Jannik Sinner, Naomi Osaka, and Elina Svitolina among those who also got involved.

It was Djokovic’s opportunity to get some time on the courts after a less-than-ideal clay season, which saw him play just one tournament in Rome, losing in three sets. He decided not to defend his title at this week’s ATP 500 in Geneva, heading straight to Paris.

“I wanted to play more, but my body was not allowing me. I was going through rehabilitation process for my injury,” Djokovic said on Friday. “So after Indian Wells, it was, yeah, just not possible for me to compete for several months. That’s the reason why.

“Really wanted to go to Rome to give it a shot and try and, you know, see how I feel. I was far from being ready to compete, but still, I needed at least that one match just to have the score called by chair umpire and have experience of the nerves before I eventually come to Roland Garros, which at that point I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play or not. Thankfully, the response of the body and the preparation has been positive in the last 10 days, so here I am, and we’ll see what happens.”

Djokovic is well aware that he will likely have to go through Jannik Sinner if he wants to win a historic 25th Grand Slam title here. The Italian has not lost a match since February, and recently joined Djokovic as the only men to win all nine Masters 1000 titles. But Djokovic knows the world No. 1 has already suffered a defeat on Court Philippe-Chatrier this year – albeit during the Gael and Friends exhibition.

“He’s maybe in the form of his life, and without Carlos [Alcaraz] being here also increases his chances even more of claiming more Grand Slam titles. So we are all here to try to win against him and prevent him from taking more titles. We have witnessed yesterday night on the court that he has lost only for the third time this year against Monfils and Svitolina in exhibition! I told him that on the court that if he doesn’t step up, that he’s going to lose against Gael,” Djokovic joked.

The Serbian superstar also wanted to take a moment to speak about Monfils, the French former world No. 6, who will retire this season. He added: “But jokes aside, I also want to mention a few words about Gael, as well, that has been a friend and rival and someone I have really admired and grew up with since the age of 13, 14.

“It was a wonderful evening, incredible atmosphere, and he deserved every bit of that celebration of his career that we experienced last night. He was insisting on us playing that game, that was first time I ever played that game, and it was fun. It was really fun for all of us to be there for him. He deserved it.

“Just a little message for Gael, because he truly deserves that, not only as a tennis player but as a human being, somebody that has touched so many people’s hearts, has respect from, I think, everyone in men’s and women’s locker room of, you know, across all the generations he has competed with. I mean, I don’t know anyone that really doesn’t like Gael. One of my favourite players to watch. Incredible athleticism. I’m looking forward seeing him perform his last Roland Garros here.”

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