Novak Djokovic didn’t have much to do on the court Thursday. The world n ° 1 indeed took advantage of the package of Gaël Monfils, injured groin, to jump the 8th box and go directly to the quarter-finals, where he will face the American Taylor Fritz (winner of the Briton Cameron Norrie) this Friday. Not necessarily a gift for the Serbian, who took a seven-week break before winning his first match at the Accor Arena against Hungarian Fucsovics.
“It was a very good back-to-school game, I’m very satisfied,” he explained Tuesday night. Now I have to spend time on the court to find the intensity, to play more points. The more points I play, the more games, the better I will play. I know myself well, I’ve been in this kind of situation before. I hope that experience will play an important role. “
The man with the 20 Grand Slams will therefore have to compensate. It is largely in its ropes. The five-time winner of Bercy did not come to Paris to make up the figures at the end of the season where he is keen to ensure for the seventh time a place on the throne in December that Daniil Medvedev can still challenge him.
History to add another record (better than Sampras) to an already well-stocked outfit, perhaps before a 6th Masters or a 2nd Davis Cup. Especially to get back in the saddle after his terrible disillusionment with the US Open, where the Russian Medvedev had deprived him of a 21st Major and a calendar Grand Slam just a few weeks after his failed quest for gold (and even an Olympic medal.
Djokovic took a break in Serbia, then in the south of France
We almost thought the Belgradois put away his rackets for 2021. “I would like to see him in Paris and at the Turin Masters but I would not be surprised if he gave up at the end of the season”, slipped Ivan Ljubicic, Roger’s coach. Federer. While the circuit was filming in Indian Wells, the boss took a break in Serbia, then in the south of France. Never far from the court.
He even shared a two-hour training session with… Medvedev at the Mouratoglou Academy in Sophia Antipolis. “It was really great,” smiles the n ° 2 at ATP. I didn’t know what to expect or what to do. I didn’t know if he had been training a lot lately. “
Marian Vajda’s protégé has long shown his ability to bounce back. In 2016, on his fourth attempt in the final, he finally won Roland-Garros, the only Grand Slam that still resists him. The blues in which he then plunges, mentally emptied, is inversely proportional to the height of the feat.
“I had exhausted all my emotions, he confided to us a few months later. And it took me a long time to rebalance myself mentally, emotionally and start to find that spark again. The main reason I play tennis is because I love it, because it gives me a lot of joy to kick the ball. »At 34 years old, with the competition from young people sharpening, Djoko knows he must crush history as much as he can …
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