Serbian tennis star says tunes up bid for 23rd Grand Slam bid at French Open
\n MONTE CARLO
\nNovak Djokovic says he is \u201cmotivated\u201d to make a better than usual start to the clay-court season in Monte Carlo as he tunes up for a 23rd Grand Slam bid at the French Open.
\nThe Serb is back on court after failing to get a waiver to enter the United States for last month\u2019s Indian Wells tournament and Miami Open due to his anti-Covid vaccination stance.
\n\u201cI hope I will start well, because the last three tournaments in Monte Carlo I have not been very successful,\u201d the world number one said on Sunday.
\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m also motivated because I didn\u2019t play for the past month,\u201d added Djokovic, who is due to enter the Monte Carlo Masters fray in the second round against qualifiers American Mackenzie McDonald or Russian Ivan Gakhov.
\nA winner in 2013 and 2015, Djokovic will fancy his chances of going far in a tournament robbed of 11-time champion Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz due to injury.
\nDjokovic, who won this year\u2019s Australian Open, is on nodding terms with every inch of clay in Monte Carlo, his local club.
\n\u201cI know the club very well. I\u2019m one of the players that lives in Monaco and use this club as a training base.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling sleeping in your own bed on your own pillow and being able to have kind of a home feeling of playing in the tournament.\u201d
\nAt 35 years of age Djokovic says he is more selective about his playing commitments these days.
\n\u201cThings are not the same like they were 10 years ago in terms of the amount of vital energy that I have to play as many tournaments as the other younger guys.
\n\u201cSo of course I do pick and choose where I want to peak and how I want to build my form and how I want to work around my schedule.
\n\u201cThere are certain events, in this case, of course, Grand Slams are the tournaments where I peak.
\n\u201cSo for the clay season it\u2019s no secret where I want to be able to play my best tennis – it\u2019s Roland Garros.\u201d
\nHe suggested his enforced absence since losing to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals in Dubai at the start of March could stand him in good stead.
\n\u201cIt is what it is.
\n\u201cI did more training on clay, which is of course positive if you think about the clay season. \u201cI haven\u2019t played really good tennis here. So I\u2019m hoping that this year I can start the clay season better than I did in previous years, hopefully build my form as I\u2019m coming closer to Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cComparing to last year, it\u2019s a whole different situation. I feel I have match play in my legs more than enough to be happy about the clay season.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the missing Nadal, Djokovic conceded it was \u201ca loss\u201d for the tournament before quickly adding: \u201cOn the other hand it\u2019s an opportunity I think for all of us others when he\u2019s not there to try to go far and grab a title.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic was beaten in his opening match in Monte Carlo last year by Spain\u2019s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who went on to reach the final before losing to defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Serbian tennis star says tunes up bid for 23rd Grand Slam bid at French Open MONTE CARLO Novak Djokovic says he is \u201cmotivated\u201d to make a better than usual start to the clay-court season in Monte Carlo as he tunes up for a 23rd Grand Slam bid at the French Open. The Serb is back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10951],"class_list":{"0":"post-325116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-djokovic"},"yoast_head":"\n