Peaking for Paris
Djokovic says he is ready to launch assault at French Open
World number one Novak Djokovic said he believes he will be in top form for the French Open and hopes to prove that at the Italian Open which started on Wednesday.
The Serbian told a press conference in Rome on Wednesday that his focus is on Paris, Wimbledon and the Olympic Games and he had strategic reasons for skipping the recent Madrid event.
“It was not part of the schedule. The plan was to come here. That’s basically it,” said Djokovic at a press conference at the Italian Open.
Djokovic, who turns 37 on May 22, just before the French Open gets underway on May 26, said he hoped to perform better than he did in his last tournament, the Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost to Casper Ruud in the semi-finals.
“I’m on a good route to peak at Roland Garros in Paris,” he said.
“Hopefully, here in Rome I can play better than I did in Monte Carlo. The wish, obviously, is always to go far, but let’s see.”
As top seed Djokovic, who has won the Italian Open six times, has a bye in the first round. He said the expansion of the event to nearly two weeks influenced scheduling choices.
“It’s a different concept now, the first time that Rome and Madrid are almost two-week events, like Indian Wells, Miami.
“It gives you more time to recover between matches if you keep going in the tournament, which I think is useful for me.”
As Djokovic continues to overhaul his team, he has rehired former physio Miljan Amanovic for “certain weeks” this season.
Amanovic worked for Djokovic from 2007 to 2017 and again from 2018 to 2022.
Djokovic has sacked several staff in recent months, including coach Goran Ivanisevic and the publicity team.
“I’m a proponent of having a quality team and entourage around you, having people who are experts in their field, who have experience, who have knowledge, who also understand psychology as well,” he said.
“They know how to emotionally approach you when you need
nd help or when you need space.
“You spend a lot of time on the tour together. You see them much more than you see your family, especially when you’re younger, when you’re travelling literally every single week of the year.”
Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka marked her return to the Rome Open for the first time since 2021 with a straight sets victory over Clara Burel in the first round on Wednesday.
Former world No. 1 Osaka came through against her 45th-ranked French opponent 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.
It was the 26-year-old’s first win against a top-50 opponent on clay since beating Victoria Azarenka at the French Open in 2019.
Osaka, now ranked at 173 in the world after taking a break from the tour to have her first child, will face 19th seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine for a place in the third round.
Kostyuk, the runner-up on clay in Stuttgart last month, lost to Osaka in their only other previous meeting, in three sets at the 2020 US Open.
On Wednesday, the Japanese star sealed victory in 84 minutes, finishing with 27 winners, including eight aces, and broke serve four times.
“I thought the first set was really tough. I’m really glad I was able to close it in two,” said Osaka after just her second win on European clay this spring.
“Overall I think mentally I tried to stay as strong as I can, so I’m really happy about that.”
She added: “I was up 5-3, serving for the set and I lost (the game). But just being able to hang in there and eventually close it on my terms is something that I’m very proud of myself for.
“I obviously played a lot better in the second set. I want to learn from the mistakes I did today.”