‘Playing Rafael Nadal at the French Open may be the biggest challenge in Tennis’: Novak Djokovic

‘Playing Rafael Nadal at the French Open may be the biggest challenge in Tennis’: Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic is the number one tennis player in the world, not only in terms of ranking but also in terms of sheer dominance. There are few records that he will leave unconquered by the time he bids adieu to the sport, but one record that will remain is Rafael Nadal’s at the French Open.

Djokovic: “I am trying to organize my schedule in order to perform well in the Majors, especially at the French Open, but here we have a big problem, called Rafael Nadal. If you have some tips (to beat him) please tell me (laughs)! It may be the biggest challenge in tennis.”

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Djokovic had talked about prioritizing Grand Slams over other tournaments once he broke the record for most weeks as World no.1. Now that he has broken that record, he wants to prepare well for the next Grand Slam, the French Open. But the French Open belongs to one man and one man alone, Rafael Nadal.

Nadal has won the French Open an unprecedented 13 times between 2005 to 2020. How to solve the Rafael Nadal and French Open puzzle is one thing that Djokovic and his team have not been able to solve till now. 

Djokovic on the tour post lockdown

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic

The First tournament Djokovic played in after lockdown was the Cincinnati Open, where he won the title beating Milos Raonic in the Finals, 1-6 6-3 6-4. In the tournament that followed, the US Open, Djokovic was disqualified in the fourth round for hitting a lines woman. Of course he didn’t do it on purpose, but rules had to be followed and he was chucked out. 

Next up was the Italian Open, which Djokovic won beating Diego Schwartzman, 7-5 6-3. Djokovic went up against Rafael Nadal at the French Open next, but couldn’t do better than finish runners up at this event. In the next few tournaments he couldn’t reach the Finals. But he broke that trend and won the Australian Open in 2021, which was the last tournament he participated in. 

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