Djokovic realistic on his minimal RG chances

Novak Djokovic turned 39 on Friday and celebrated by putting a lid on his chances of lifting a record 25th Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros.

The fourth-ranked icon arrives in Paris after losing his pre-Paris only match in Rome after suffering with injuries throughout a dismal spring and missing around two months of play.

“It’s been a lot of hours on the court trying to perfect the game and the body

and enable myself physically and game-wise to be ready for best-of-five (sets),” he said.

“I don’t know whether that’s going to be the case for the entire
tournament, however long that tournament will be for me.

“Grand Slams have always (headed) the priority list, particularly in the last couple of years. 

“So I always try to aim to be at the peak of my own abilities to perform well in Grand Slams.I can’t wait to get on a court and start competing.”

Djokovic said that a “higher force” kept him from playing over the majority of the spring clay season, and admitted to doubts that he would even be ready to compete in Paris.

“I wanted to play more, but my body was not allowing me. I was going through rehabilitation process for my injury (reportedly a shoulder, though he has never said…)

“After Indian Wells (early March) , it was, yeah, just not possible for

me to compete for several months.’

He added: “I really wanted to go to Rome to give it a shot and try and see how I feel. I was far from being ready to compete, but still, I needed at least that one match just to have the score called by the chair umpire and have
experience of the nerves.

“Thankfully, the response of the body and the preparation has been positive in the last 10 days, so here I am, and we’ll see what happens.”