Novak Djokovic Refuses to Give Up Despite Disappointing Results As He Is Still Eyeing Grand Slam Titles
Novak Djokovic will lock horns with Marton Fucsovics in the second round of the Geneva Open where he last year lost in the semifinals.
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Novak Djokovic (Image via X/Wolfy)
Novak Djokovic will turn 38 on May 22. At this age, his former rival Rafael Nadal had hung up his racket as his body was no longer aiding him to keep grinding on the tennis courts. Djokovic’s situation is similar to that of Nadal’s. He is failing to win titles and rarely has been progressing to the final. This season, twice he has lost three matches in a row.
Along with poor form, injuries have been hampering his progress as a muscle tear during this Australian Open forced him to withdraw after he lost the first set against World No.3 Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.
He is in Geneva, the ATP 250 tournament he is playing after the Madrid Open. Nole had skipped the recently concluded Italian Open for the first time since 2007 and during the tournament, Djokovic ended his coaching partnership with Andy Murray.
In his first two clay-court tournaments, the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo and Madrid, Djokovic was successful in clinching a set. He will now be hoping to reach the 100-title mark in Geneva, where last year, he lost to Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac. Despite the poor results this season, Djokovic is just not ready to give up. In the pre-tournament press conference in Geneva, he said:
It’s hard for me to sit down and think about everything I’ve accomplished in my career. Of course, I’m proud of it. But I still have the desire to win the biggest titles, to win the Grand Slams, to be one of the best players in the world. That’s why I’m here to play the Geneva tournament, because I’m trying to do things right, to win more trophies.
The tennis world is debating about his retirement, most of who agree that it’s hard to write off Djokovic, given that he has always shown that he has the ability to rise from the ashes. After a string of poor results when many thought he was done, he upset World No.2 Carlos Alcaraz in the Paris Olympics final to become a gold medalist for the first time in his career.
Since that victory, Djokovic reached only two finals, both Masters 1000s: the 2024 Shanghai Masters and this year’s Miami Open, losing both, to World No.1 Jannik Sinner and Jakub Mensik, respectively. In Geneva, he will be hoping to register his first clay-court win by beating Marton Fucsovics in the second round.
Andy Roddick thinks Novak Djokovic was struggling to move in Monte Carlo and Madrid
Novak Djokovic is the winner of 99 tour-level singles titles, 71 of which he lifted on hard courts, eight on grass, and 20 on clay. Thrice he became a French Open champion (his last victory in the clay-court Major came in 2023). Last year, he produced decent tennis on the red dirt, making deep runs in almost every tournament he played, and ended it by winning the Paris Olympics.
Former ATP pro Andy Roddick, on his Served with Andy Roddick Podcast, said that the World No.6 was struggling to move on the courts of Monte Carlo and Madrid this year. He wants to see if Djokovic’s movement will be sharper in the Swiss city. He said:
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.
The three-time French Open champion has defeated his opening-round opponent Marton Fucsovics five times in their five meetings. Their last clash was in the 2023 French Open second round. Before setting up the match against the 24-time Grand Slam champion, the Hungarian ace knocked out Germany’s Zizou Bergs.
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