Djokovic before the French Open: a favourite only on paper?

He’s never seen a situation like this before. Novak Djokovic starts Roland Garros as the world number one and defending champion, but he is far from being the favourite. What are his chances? Will he lose his number one position in Paris?

Djokovic on unfamiliar ground

The year 2024 is a completely different story from years past. Only last year Novak Djokovic was attacking one record after another, now everything is different.

It’s hard to name a tournament from which the Serbian tennis player left this year satisfied. Basically, we see two recurring scenarios.

Either Djokovic goes further in the tournament and gets knocked out by a top ten competitor. Or after Djokovic’s match, the public space will be filled with breaking news of the sensational elimination of the world number one.

The build-up to Roland Garros was the latter case. The fresh-faced thirty-seven-year-old finished off Tomas Machac’s racket in Geneva yesterday .

We can argue how much of his performance was taken away by health issues. This story has been repeated over and over this year.

The paper favourite

Thanks to last year’s results, Djokovic is still the world number one. But he will lose the points injection from last year’s French Open triumph after this year’s.

A changing of the guard is in the air for the number one player in the ATP rankings. Djokovic must make it through to at least the semi-finals at Roland Garros to fend off an attack from Italian Sinner. And that’s regardless of the outcome of his competitor.

Even if Djokovic avoids a loss in his opening matches, there are potentially some very good players standing in his way of reaching the semifinals. Name Italian Musetti, American Paul or Nora Ruud, with whom he played the final here last year.

Djokovic is aware of the unconvincing results. He’ll go match by match and see where he goes. And that’s what almost everybody is curious about.

Finally..

Djokovic’s fight to defend his position will be one of the most interesting at this year’s French Open. But he’s certainly not the only one.

Rafael Nadal has a huge desire to say goodbye in Paris. The story of the Spanish legend is further spiced up by the tournament’s draw. He has already created a wonderful plot for the first round of Roland Garros.

There will certainly be plenty to watch in the French capital. The second Grand Slam of the season starts on Sunday 26 May.

Source: ATP, X