Paris. For years, Novak Djokovic has made clear his long-term goal: to focus on accumulating Grand Slam titles and surpassing the combined greats Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Djokovic will finally get a chance to lead alone with a men’s 23 when the French Open kicks off Sunday without Nadal (due to injury) and Federer (retired) for the first time since 1998. If he ends up winning, he’ll do Nadal’s tiebreaker and have three more than Federer. .
“It’s no secret that one of the big reasons I play today is to break more records and keep making history,” Djokovic admitted on Saturday.
He currently has 22 major titles—two at Roland Garros, three at the US Open, seven at Wimbledon, and 10 at the Australian Open—making him 16 more than the rest of the 127-man starting draw. Stan Wawrinka has three players and each has Carlos Alcaraz, Daniel Medvedev and Dominic Thiem.
“The Grand Slam is a different tournament, you play the best tournaments in the world,” added the 36-year-old Djokovic. “And experience is on my side.”
For the same reason, when other players are asked who the favorite is in Nadal’s absence, they mention two names: Alcaraz, who is ranked No. 1 in the world and holds a 20-2 record and three clay-court titles in 2023, Djokovic.
Djokovic was reflecting on the eve of the tournament and made it clear that everything was now more difficult physically due to his age. But his most blunt comments were directed at Nadal, the 14-time Paris champion who has been sidelined since January with an injury.
After joking about Nadal’s 8-2 lead at Roland Garros against Knoll — “Honestly, I don’t miss him in key, you know” — he got serious.
He remembered how their paths united and admitted it affected him when Nadal announced that 2024 could be his final year.
“He is my biggest rival. When he announced it would be his last season, I felt like a part of me was leaving with him,” Djokovic admitted. “I think he was one of the people who influenced me the most in my career. He was a huge motivator to keep playing and to compete and keep pushing each other. Who is going to do more stuff? It made me question my career and how long I’m going to play.”
Then he paused and smiled before saying, “I won’t be announcing today.”
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