American Legend Points out A “Problem” Novak Djokovic Must Deal with at the Geneva Open
Novak Djokovic accepted a wildcard into the Geneva Open following his withdrawal from the just-concluded Italian Open.
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Novak Djokovic (via Instagram/Rolex Monte Carlo Masters)
Novak Djokovic has yet to win a match on clay in 2025, as he continues to struggle on the red dirt. The former World No.1 accepted a wildcard to compete at the Geneva Open as preparation for the French Open. American legend Andy Roddick reveals that Djokovic’s movement at the ATP 250 tournament will determine his fitness for the clay-court Grand Slam.
Djokovic has not been in good form by his standards. The 37-year-old has won just 12 matches out of 19 this season. Most of them came at the Australian Open and Miami, where he reached the semi-finals of the former and the final of the latter. He has struggled to transition from hard court to clay.
He opened his clay-court account at the Monte Carlo Masters and suffered a shocking straight-set defeat against Alejandro Tabilo. The Chilean extended his head-to-head advantage to 2-0. He then went on to feature at the Madrid Open and was hoping to bounce back, but that failed to materialize as he was beaten by Matteo Arnaldi in the second round.
The World No.6 recently parted ways with his coach, Andy Murray, after just six months of their partnership. Their collaboration had been highly celebrated at first, but it failed to produce the needed results. Although it was expected that their partnership would last until Wimbledon, but they decided to split.
Heading into the Geneva Open, Djokovic is seeking to get back to winning ways ahead of the French Open, which begins on May 26. Ahead of his opening match, Andy Roddick revealed that he’s interested in the 24-time Grand Slam winner’s movement at the tournament. Roddick said via Served with Andy Roddick podcast:
It’s going to be interesting to see if Novak [Djokovic] can find something. To see if he’s got his legs underneath him in Geneva, if he’s been doing three weeks of two on ones, where that movement is a little sharper, which I think was the problem in Monte-Carlo and Madrid. It just looked like he wasn’t strong out of the corners; he was having to force it early. We’ll see what happens, it’s going to be super exciting.
Despite Djokovic’s struggle on clay, it is important to point out that this isn’t the first time he has played poorly ahead of the French Open and did well at the clay-court Grand Slam event. In 2023, he didn’t win any clay title before the Roland Garros and had won just five of his eight matches on the red dirt, but eventually stunned the tennis world by winning the title.
Novak Djokovic announced a temporary replacement for Andy Murray ahead of the Geneva Open
Novak Djokovic’s split with Andy Murray has created a vacancy in his team. He announced at the Geneva Open that the role will be filled by two familiar faces: Dusan Vemic and Boris Bosnjakovic. The Serbian will be hoping to get back to his best in Geneva, but has revealed that the aforementioned coaches are just temporary and he’s not in a rush to hire a permanent one. He said:
I don't have any rush to choose whether I'm going to have someone or not, I don't know. I don't know at this moment. I'm fine with these guys and I'm happy the way it is and then we'll see after Paris.
Djokovic will open his account at the Geneva Open against Marton Fucsovics in the second round. He has met the Hungarian five times on tour and has won all their meetings. He will hope to make it 6-0 when they face each other on Wednesday (May 21), while also aiming to clinch his 100th career title at the tournament.
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