Just two weeks before the start of Roland Garros, starting on the 26th, the men’s scenario is absolutely uncertain. Not so the feminine one, where Iga Swiatek always appears as a guarantee; The Pole has won three of the last four editions of the French great (2020, 2022 and 2023). A deep admirer of Rafael Nadal, she now watches with resignation the outcome of the Spaniard’s career, who on Saturday fell in Rome – against, precisely, the also Polish Hubert Hurkacz, in two sets – and in the coming days she will burn the last cartridges to arrive in the best conditions to the Bois de Boulogne. Despite the immense Parisian aura that surrounds her, her performance in five sets of hers is today a mystery, because after all she has not faced this format for almost a year and a half.
Meanwhile, the Murcian Carlos Alcaraz has been dealing with an injury to his right forearm since the beginning of April, and the Italian Jannik Sinner, two in the world, with a hip ailment that he has been carrying since Monte Carlo; Neither one nor the other have been able to parade through Rome these days and they fought as best they could in Madrid. The second battalion of candidates does not seem to emit the best signals either. The Norwegian Casper Ruud triumphed in Barcelona and then lost steam – the round of 16 in Madrid and the first round at the Foro Italico – and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas capsized in his premiere at the Caja Mágica and later suffered an attack of anger at the Roman premiere, when After just one game, he had already smashed a racket against one of the advertising stands on the court. Apparently, the fury freed him, and he is still in the fray.
Everything is mixed up, then. Or at least strange. No one, in any case, symbolizes the enigmatic current state better than Novak Djokovic. The Serbian, unrecognizable, was defeated on Sunday by the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, once again offering a poor image. He lost in two sets (6-2 and 6-3), in just over an hour (67 minutes). No trace of rebellion, non-conformity or (perhaps most disturbing) the fire that usually accompanies him in the face of every adverse circumstance. “To be honest, I haven’t been able to find any kind of good feeling on the track. I was completely off”, he explained to journalists, surprised by the lifeless version of the champion. Or maybe not so much. In recent times, Nole has been offering some indications that he is not going through a good time.
Accustomed to speaking at length, to elaborating on each answer, he resolved the press conference quickly and reluctantly. He could have influenced, he said, the incident he suffered two days earlier, when he received the accidental impact of a metal canteen on the head while signing autographs before leaving the track. “Yesterday [por el sábado] I did a light workout and didn’t feel anything, but I didn’t feel completely normal either. And the stress of today [por este domingo] It was pretty bad, but not in terms of pain, but rather coordination. I have to do some medical tests to see what happens,” she reasoned; “I received a strong blow and then I felt some nausea, dizziness, blood and various things. I had a headache, but I managed to sleep well. So maybe it’s okay, or maybe it’s not. I felt like I was another player: no rhythm, no tempowithout balance… And all that worries me a little.”
Soulless guerrilla
The day before the defeat, Djokovic burst into the fans showing off his good humor, wearing a cycling helmet to avoid another possible setback. However, the joke stopped there. Later, on the court, the left-handed Tabilo (32nd in the world) finished him off in record time on clay. Excluding the occasional withdrawal, until now it had been the Swiss Roger Federer – Monte Carlo semi-finals, 2014, in 1h 15m – who had dispatched him before anyone else in a match on sand. In this way, the setback increases doubts about what his performance will be at Roland Garros, where he will land with some extra wrinkles – on the 22nd of this month he will turn 37 – and having played only six matches on clay this season . Without any trophy.
It won’t be the first time I arrive in Paris empty. In 2018, when she was escaping the darkness, she also failed to get any awards from January to May. He then tried it in seven tournaments, this time in five. The one from Belgrade has played the United Cup (three games), the Australian Open (six), Indian Wells (two), Monte Carlo (four) and Rome (two). By his own will, Djokovic has reduced his calendar more than ever, slipping on more than one occasion that his objective is fundamentally to add to his list of greats and, this year also, the summer Olympic event in Paris. The rest? Mere dressing. With the Masters 1000 records – 40, four ahead of Nadal – and weeks as number one – 428, clearly ahead of Federer, 310 – well established, he selects to the maximum.

In any case, its results and, above all, the discreet benefits offered so far are striking. Not even in Melbourne or Monte Carlo, where he reached the semi-finals, did he leave an excessively positive mark. In California he crashed against the 123rd in the world, Luca Nardi, in an unparalleled setback in a relevant tournament, and the rest of the performances hint at a weakness reaffirmed in Rome, where the best returner in the world was unable to scratch him. only option to break Tabilo, who had just played (and won, it must be said) a challenger in Aix-En-Provence, France’s Côte d’Azur. In the resigned line of this course, Djokovic bowed without exhibiting the guerrilla soul that characterizes him.
“I’m trying to get the most out of myself, but so far I haven’t succeeded,” he admits. And what mentality do you have facing Roland Garros? “The same as ever”. What should you review to have options both there and at the Games? “All. I need to improve in everything,” he says, while the messages reveal drastic changes in his team—agents, coach, physical trainer—and who knows if a decompression. A professional since 2003, the Balkan anticipated that he wants to invest more time with his family — “I’m away from them every time I travel, is it worth it?”, he reflected in Australia — and that the progressive departure of Federer and Nadal will has saddened “It’s the end of an era, and I remember McEnroe saying in a documentary that when Borg retired, part of him did too; It is similar to what I feel,” he commented in March.
Tennis, then, wonders if it is a question of motivation, of simple natural inertia, or whether the giant of the 24 majors has completed the dormant process and reserves some cards for the sweetest stretch of the year. It would not be the first time.
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