By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday April 10, 2022
As Novak Djokovic – finally – ramps up his 2022 season at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Serb told reporters how much he missed the competition on Sunday.
“Obviously I miss competition,” he said in his pre-tournament press conference. “I still feel motivation to be on the tour and compete with young guys and try to challenge the best players in the world for the biggest titles. Obviously last four, five months have been really challenging for me mentally and emotionally, but, you know, here I am and I try to leave all of that behind and move on.”
Djokovic will open his clay season against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain on Tuesday at Monte-Carlo, and while the World No.1 isn’t making any promises about his current form, he does say that starting the meat of his season on clay (rather than hard) makes sense for him in many ways.
“Clay court is the surface in which I grew up in Serbia and played many years only on that surface actually, and historically hasn't been my most successful surface, but I have had some big success on clay,” he said. “Of course Roland-Garros win last year is still fresh in my memory, so I try to use that as an inspiration to kick-start the clay-court season in the best possible way.”
Planning to Play a Full Clay Swing
Djokovic says he probably won’t be hitting top level this week in Monte-Carlo, but he believes he will be on firm footing when Roland-Garros rolls around in May.
“I intend to play full clay court season according to my schedule of the previous years,” he said. “I understand that I probably won't be at my best particularly at the beginning of this week, so, you know, am still testing my engine, so to say, and building my game, so it will take obviously some time, some matches to really get in the groove and find the competitive play that I really need.” “So Roland Garros is the ultimate goal in clay court season, but of course I want to do my best in every tournament.”
Lucky to Be No.1 - 365 weeks and counting...
The Serb says he didn’t expect to be beginning his 365th week at the top of the ATP rankings, but he’s pleased that it is the case.
“I'm very pleased and very happy with that milestone, although I didn't expect myself to be No. 1 without playing really tournaments this year, but I guess I was lucky,” he said. “I'll take it. You know, being the No. 1 in the world is the highest achievement that you can have in our sport, so obviously, you know, I'll try to maintain that position as much as possible.”