His Confidence Djokovic Competes At The French Open

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic left the field after being defeated by Luca Nardi from Italy at the BNP Paribas Open tournament at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California, Monday (11/3/2024). (ANTARA/Getty Images via AFP/Matthew Stockman/am.)

JAKARTA - World number one Novak Djokovic is in high confidence and believes he will be in his best form for the French Open, and hopes to prove it at the Italian Open which starts rolling Wednesday, May 8.

The Serbian said his focus was on Paris, Wimbledon and the Olympics and he had strategic reasons to miss the recent Madrid event.

"That's not part of the schedule. The plan is to come here. That's basically what Djokovic said at the Italian Open press conference in Rome, quoted from AFP, Thursday.

Launching ANTARA, Thursday, May 9, Djokovic, who will turn 37 on May 22, just before the French Open starts on May 26, said he hopes to perform better than his last tournament, Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost to Nepal Ruud in the semifinals.

"I am on a good path to reaching the top at Roland Garros in Paris," Djokovic said.

"Hopefully, here, in Rome, I can play better than in Monte-Carlo. The hope, of course, is to always go far, but let's see."

Djokovic's top seed, who has won the Italian Open six times, got a chance in the first half. He said the longer tournament duration for almost two weeks affected schedule choices.

"The concept is different now, the first time Roma and Madrid have been an event that lasts almost two weeks, like Indian Wells, Miami," Djokovic said.

"It gives you more time to recover between matches if you continue to appear in tournaments, which I think are useful to me."

Currently Djokovic is constantly reshuffling his team, he is re-employing former physiotherapist Miljan Amanovic for "certain weeks" this season.

Amanovic worked for Djokovic from 2007 to 2017, and then from 2018 to 2022.

Djokovic has laid off several staff in recent months, including Goran coach Ivanisevic and the publicity team.

"I support the existence of quality teams and groups around you, having people who are experts in their fields, who have experience, who have knowledge, who also understand psychology," said Djokovic.

"They know how to approach you emotionally when you need help or when you need space."

"You guys spend a lot of time on tours together."

"You meet them more often than your family, especially when you're young, when you travel every week in a year," he concluded.