Picture Credit: Twitter
Novak Djokovic has been one of the finest Tennis players in the history of the game with 86 career singles titles, including 20 Grand Slams. He has completed a total of 370 weeks at the number one position in the ATP rankings.
On 15 May (Sunday), Djokovic secured a 6-0, 7-5 victory over the 4th ranked player Stefanos Tsitsipas and secured his sixth Italian Open title. After the match, Djokovic interacted with the media and reckoned that he rates himself as one of the favourites for the French Open 2022.
"Well, I mean, I think with rankings and the way I've been playing in the last few weeks, I would rate myself as one of the favorites," Djokovic said. "I don't obviously spend too much time thinking who's going to win it or who might have the best chance. I always think about myself."
The main draw of the French Open in 2022 will get underway on 22 May and will be played until 5 June. In the last edition, Djokovic had won the French Open by beating Tsitsipas in the finals and had gotten better of Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals. With the qualifiers being played at the moment, the Serbian thinks the draw will certainly have an impact on his chances in the tournament.
"I go there with the highest ambitions, particularly of the way I played here. I really like my chances. Obviously the draw and everything, it's not something that you can affect, but it's going to also determine a little bit of my trajectory to the later stages of the event," Djokovic added.
Djokovic reckoned that the grand slams are played in a different manner, and there is a different approach to the apex tournaments. He further added that his performances in the last few weeks on the court have kept him positive to do well in the French Open.
"Really, the Grand Slams are played different. You have to approach it differently. But the way I've been feeling on the court and off the court in the last few weeks, I really think I can go far." Djokovic added.
Prior to being crowned the champion of the Italian Open, Djokovic was the semi-finalist in the Madrid Open and was the runner-up in the Serbia Open this year. However, he was eliminated from Round 32 of Monte Carlo Masters.