Novak Djokovic Happy as He ‘Breaks the Ice’ in Geneva After Consecutive Defeats on Clay
Novak Djokovic is bidding to win his 100th ATP title in the ATP 250 Geneva Open where he has now reached the quarterfinals.
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Novak Djokovic (Image via X/We Are Tennis)
Novak Djokovic finally secured a win on clay since the 2024 Paris Olympics. On Wednesday (May 21), he went past Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-2, 6-3 in the Geneva Open.
The World No.6 is chasing his first title of the season as well as his first since the Paris Olympics where he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the final to win the gold medal for the first time in his career. Since that victory, Djokovic has reached two finals: in Shanghai and Miami, losing both to World No.1 Jannik Sinner and Jakub Mensik, respectively.
After Miami, Djokovic lost two back-to-back first-round matches on clay– in Monte Carlo and Madrid (he failed to win even a set). He next skipped the Italian Open for the first time since 2007 and signed up for the ATP 250 tournament in the Swiss city.
After registering his first victory on clay, Djokovic, who is chasing his 100th tour-level title in Geneva, admitted that he finds it tough to play on the surface as compared to hard and grass courts. He said during the post-match interview:
This is my first win of the clay season. It’s great to break the ice in a way. It’s a very demanding surface. We all know how difficult it is to play on clay, compared to other surfaces, you always have to expect an extra ball, an extra shot. Here, the altitude is a little higher, so it helps to have a good serve. Today, I think that was my strong point.
With this win, Djokovic improved his head-to-head record over Fucsovics to 6-0. Djokovic turns 38 on Thursday (May 22), and on the same day, he will be playing the quarterfinal match against Matteo Arnaldi, the Italian ace, who was the reason behind the Serbian great’s exit in Madrid. The 24-year-old holds a 1-0 record against Djokovic in the head-to-head matchups.
This is Nole’s second appearance in Geneva following the last year. He had reached the semifinals but lost to Tomas Machac. Next week, he will be in Paris for the clay-court Major, the French Open, where last year he set up a quarterfinal match against three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud but an injury forced him to withdraw from the match.
Steve Johnson explains why Novak Djokovic has signed up for the Geneva Open
There is no denying that Novak Djokovic is struggling to win matches. Age is catching up with him and he is failing to perform consistently.
Progressing to the finals has become rare and before this tournament, he lost four of his opening-round matches (two on hard courts and two on clay). According to former player Steve Johnson, Djokovic is participating in the Geneva Open to get some match practice and find his rhythm before the French Open. He said on the Nothing Major podcast:
He’s just trying to find some, it’s crazy to say, but trying to find some confidence, trying to find some rhythm, trying to find some match toughness, which is absolutely insane when I say that out loud, but Geneva is a great place to do that.
If no top players withdraw from the French Open, then Djokovic will enter the tournament as the sixth seed. Even if he ends up winning the Geneva Open, the points he will claim will not be enough for him to remove Britain’s Jack Draper from the fifth position.
Djokovic dropped out of the top 5 after Draper advanced to the final of the Madrid Open. The former World No.1 currently has 4,030 points in the live rankings, while Draper has 4,610 points.
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