Luis Miguel Pascual |
Paris (EFE).- With his victory at Roland Garros, the Serbian Novak Djokovic achieved a double bet: surpass Rafael Nadal with 23 Grand Slams and stop the new generation that has been asking for a step, embodied in the figure of Carlos Alcaraz.
Fifteen years after his first Grand Slam, Djokovic kept high the honor of the “big 3”, which he shares with Nadal and the Swiss Roger Federer, while persevering in the career with the only one of the two who is still active.
The Serbian, the only man who has won all the Grand Slams at least three times – Nadal is missing an Australian Open and a Wimbledon and Federer two Roland Garros – still has challenges ahead.
Djokovic still has pending challenges
One of them is to match the Australian Margaret Court, who won 24 Grand Slams in her career between 1960 and 1973 and thus enter a new dimension.
Another, to conquer Olympic gold, which Rafael Nadal does have and which appears on the horizon of the Paris Games next year, in which tennis will be played on the clay of Roland Garros.
In addition, with the first two majors of the year in his pocket, the Serbian has the option of winning all four in the same season, something that no one has achieved since Rod Laver in 1969.
The Serbian failed at the last moment in 2021, when he lost the US Open final against Russian Daniil Medvedev after winning in Australia, Paris and London.
The player assures that at 36 his preference will be the Grand Slam, tournaments where his tennis takes on a greater dimension and he is capable of imposing his winning mentality over others.
“The Grand Slams are a different sport,” repeats his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, who believes that the limits of the Serbian will only be set by himself.
Experience and mindset
In Paris he showed that he still has a reel despite the emergence of a new generation, but his duel in the semifinals against Alcaraz showed that the Serbian’s experience and mentality can be an advantage.
The Spaniard acknowledged that the tension caused by a clash that everyone was talking about even before the tournament began ended up “taking its toll” and resulted in a cramping crisis that prevented him from competing after winning the second set.
Alcaraz, who with a Grand Slam already in his showcases, achieved last year in the United States, and as the youngest number 1 in history, now knows that the old guard is not so easy to overcome.
And others of his generation, or of previous ones, such as the Norwegian Casper Ruud, who is 24 years old, or the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who is 26, finalists of the last three editions of Roland Garros, have crashed again and again against the “big 3”.
“I knew that everything was different here, that the rivals would have more pressure to play five sets against me. It is important to have that advantage”, assured the Serb, who said he still found the motivation to continue winning Grand Slams.
The bet is on the table, but if Nadal manages to restore his physique and returns to good health next season, as has been proposed, Djokovic will have the motivation to stay in the elite and continue fighting to set the bar of history even higher.
The Serbian lives on challenges and in the coming years they will not be lacking. “What people don’t know is that when they told him that against Alcaraz he had no option, everything in his head accelerated twice,” said Ivanisevic.
“I have faith in myself, I think I can still beat anyone. As long as I keep winning Grand Slam I don’t think about the end of my career. I am looking forward to playing at Wimbledon,” she assured.