Novak Djokovic has downplayed his chances of success at the French Open after admitting he continues to deal with physical issues heading into Grand Slams.<\/p>\n
The soon-to-be 39-year-old has acknowledged that this preparation for Roland Garros has been far from ideal, with the Serbian playing just three tournaments all season.<\/p>\n
Djokovic<\/a> made it to the final of the Australian Open<\/a>, beating Jannik Sinner in a thrilling five-setter in the semi-finals, before losing to eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n After winning two matches at Indian Wells in March, the 24-time major winner has played just once on the clay, losing to Dino Prizmic in his Rome opener.<\/p>\n Heading into the French Open<\/a>, Djokovic\u2019s chances of winning a fourth title in Paris have been given a boost following defending champion Alcaraz<\/a>\u2018s injury withdrawal. But he himself has highlighted a litany of personal problems ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n French Open: Novak Djokovic told he \u2018could lose to anyone\u2019 by former world No 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Wimbledon: Should Novak Djokovic skip French Open after latest Carlos Alcaraz news?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n Djokovic said that he is half a step slower these days, which is not surprising as he is knocking on the door of 40 in an ultra physical sport.<\/p>\n His lack of matches is a concern, as is the fact that his body appears to be failing him. But, this is the new normal for the veteran.<\/p>\n He told reporters, \u201cIt is frustrating. At the same time it\u2019s my decision to still perform in that kind of state and conditions. I see what I\u2019m missing. Late half a step. I\u2019m not definitely where I want to be for the highest level and to compete at the highest level, and to be able to get far.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not an ideal preparation, to be honest. I don\u2019t recall the last time I had in the last couple of years a preparation where I didn\u2019t have any kind of physical issues or health issues coming into the tournament. There\u2019s always something. Kind of a new reality that I have to deal with.<\/p>\n \u201cI train hard. I train as much as the body allows me to. Then how it turns out on the court, that\u2019s really unpredictable.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic will be seeded third in Paris, behind world No 1 Sinner<\/a> and second seed Alexander Zverev<\/a>. He may fancy his chances in a one-off match against the pair but the hardest part may reaching the semi-finals and final.<\/p>\n One thing is certain, though. Never count Djokovic \u2013 who made the semi-finals last year \u2013 out.<\/p>\n READ MORE: 2026 French Open: When will it take place, when is the draw, what is the daily schedule?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post \u2018It is frustrating\u2019 \u2013 Novak Djokovic pinpoints what he is missing ahead of French Open title bid<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Novak Djokovic has downplayed his chances of success at the French Open after admitting he continues to deal with physical issues heading into Grand Slams. The soon-to-be 39-year-old has acknowledged that this preparation for Roland Garros has been far from ideal, with the Serbian playing just three tournaments all season. Djokovic made it to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Novak Djokovic news<\/h2>\n