PARIS – It is nearly a thousand days without lifting a Grand Slam trophy. It is a single match played—and lost—on the clay-court swing leading up to Roland Garros. It is a shoulder injury that has dragged on for months. It is turning 39 years old last Friday. It is facing rivals nearly 20 years his junior.
Novak Djokovic’s new reality is that of a tennis player walking a tightrope. Nobody doubts his desire and his hunger—he is set to compete in his 22nd consecutive Roland Garros, a tournament he has never missed—but the present seems determined to turn its back on the greatest tennis player of all time. His staying power is what is being questioned. And Roland Garros looms as a tremendously difficult test for the Serb.
The most physically demanding tournament on the calendar—on clay and best-of-five sets—comes at an incredibly complicated moment for the Belgrade native. After defying the odds to reach the Australian Open final, where he fell to Carlos Alcaraz, Djokovic has played just two tournaments: Indian Wells, where he fell in the round of 16, and Rome, where he bowed out in his opening match. In between, a shoulder injury has made life miserable for the current world No. 4.
“I wanted to play more, but my body was not allowing me. I was going through rehabilitation process for my injury. So after Indian Wells, it was just not possible for me to compete for several months. I really wanted to go to Rome to give it a shot and try and 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,” Djokovic told reporters in Paris, where he has reigned three times (2016, 2021, and 2023).
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After losing in Rome, Djokovic flew to Athens, his new place of residence, and ultimately decided he would compete in Paris. “The body’s response has been good over these last ten days, so let’s see what happens now. I’ve spent lots of hours spent on the court and trying to perfect the game and the body and enable myself physically and game-wise to be ready for best-of-five. Let’s see. I don’t know whether that’s going to be the case for the entire tournament, however long that tournament will be for me”.
That last phrase is a prime example of the reality Djokovic now faces. That “however long it will for me” is uncharacteristic of the Serb. Furthermore, when asked later if Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawal brought him some sense of relief, he responded in a similar vein.
“He’s a two-time defending champion of Roland-Garros. Of course it’s a big blow for the tournament not to have him. Whether that changes my approach to this tournament, I don’t think it does significantly change, to be honest, because I have been through challenging times with my body in the last six to eight months. So that was my primary focus or concern, if I may say, not much really thinking about would I have better chances or not with Carlos being here or not being here,” the 24-time Grand Slam champion commented.
“I just want to stay healthy and fresh the whole tournament. If I’m healthy and I’m able to maintain that level of freshness throughout the tournament – that obviously will not be the same at the beginning like it is towards the end of the tournament, but if I’m able to somehow maintain that level of freshness and progress, then I feel like I have always a very good chance. I have proven that in Australia this year where I was close to win another slam.”
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The Serb faces a highly tricky debut this Sunday, when he will inaugurate the night session against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard—the French bomber, a player who gives his opponents zero rhythm and will have the vast majority of the crowd on his side. Down the road, his path is heavily minned: Joao Fonseca in the third round or Casper Ruud in the round of 16, all the way to a hypothetical final where Jannik Sinner would await him—the player who is the measure of everything today, the most dominant force on tour, and the one who most closely resembles what Djokovic himself once was.
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