“I was struggling a little bit”: Djokovic reveals reason for bizarre clay schedule
The Serbian explained his reasons for withdrawing from Rome and playing in Geneva ahead of Roland-Garros this year
© Julien Nouet / Tennis Majors
When Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Rome Masters earlier this month, tennis fans struggled to make sense of the former world No 1’s decision. Rome has typically been one of Djokovic’s best tournaments, with the conditions providing a perfect run-in to Roland-Garros the week after.
Yet with two losses from two matches on the European clay, the Serbian opted to pull out of Rome. He then split with coach Andy Murray, before accepting a wildcard into the Geneva Open, where he subsequently won his 100th career title.
Speaking to the media after his straight-sets victory over Mackenzie McDonald on Tuesday in Paris, Djokovic explained the reasoning behind his bizarre clay schedule in 2025.
“[I made a] decision to play Madrid instead of Rome this year,” he said.
“That was not normally the case. If I had to choose between the two, I would normally be choosing Rome, as schedule-wise it was just better.
“This year I wanted to play Madrid. I haven’t played in a while.
“I felt like I just didn’t want to play both, as I played Monte-Carlo quite shortly after Miami, which maybe wasn’t the best decision. Again, Monte-Carlo is a place where I feel at home and I always have temptation to play. It was hard to skip that one.
“Anyway, Geneva was not in the plans, it was not in the schedule. But I was talking with my team and decided to [take the wildcard], because I didn’t have any, practically, only two matches on clay.”
Clay momentum beginning to build
For a player that will go down in history as the best-ever to swing a tennis racquet, one of Djokovic’s quirks is that he routinely requires time to find his best clay-court tennis.
Off the back of his surprise participation in the Geneva Open, Djokovic explained that he is beginning to find his feet on the surface in 2025.
“I rarely started really well on clay, if you analyse all of my seasons in my career,” he continued.
“It takes a little bit of time for me to get accustomed with the surface and movement and striking the ball.
“So I think it was good move to go to Geneva, to be honest, because I was also struggling a little bit with confidence level, you know, doubting my game a bit. So it was good that I got four matches under my belt, won a title.
“Coming into Roland-Garros, it feels different than I had compared to the feeling I had three weeks ago. Let’s see how far I can go here, but I have a good feeling for now.”
