ROLAND GARROS

May 27, 2025

Novak Djokovic

Press Conference

N. DJOKOVIC/M. McDonald

6-3, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Well done, Novak. How happy were you with your form today? What were the emotions stepping back on to Chatrier?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, the emotions were really nice. Last time I was there playing was finals of Olympics. Of course I did relive those memories that were wonderful.

But, you know, it was quite challenging conditions I think at the beginning of the match with the wind and rain and everything that was happening.

So, you know, it took me some time to really find the rhythm on the court with striking the ball and moving. These conditions were quite different from Geneva.

All in all, a solid match. Three times 6-3, so, you know, it's good. It can always be better, but I must be content and satisfied with the first round.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. How do you compare what you're trying to do now, keeping with up with these younger guys, with the challenge of originally breaking in and keeping up, getting to that top level? And then also coming back from, you know, your bad injury, I guess, about eight years ago now, just curious what the three different experiences are like.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Can you just... Which injury are you referring to?

Q. The elbow.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: The elbow, okay. And how were you making connection?

Q. Well, just sort of trying to work your way back from that, work your way back from a rough spot here, and then trying to break through originally. Three different experiences.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, yeah, I mean, that was probably the most major injury I have had in my career. I have had injuries, but that one, you know, I carried on for quite some time and played with medications, et cetera.

Then at one point it was just too much, so I had to take a break. But I didn't make a surgery and then decided to make a surgery. Then came back after that with a completely different serve. My biomechanics were very disrupted, were basically modified because of the injury.

So it was, yeah, obviously always the confidence level that you try to seek when you're away, when you're injured, when you haven't played, it comes with matches.

But for me it was even more challenging because I completely changed the motion for the serve. So I had to find that again or find a new one, which actually if you see the service motion I had prior to that injury, and post, my service motion is quite different.

I think that's always a big challenge for a professional tennis player or professional athlete, just in general. But when you're an individual athlete, if you're injured, you're injured. That's it. You can't do your job.

What was the connection? I'm trying to connect what you asked me. It was injury and then...

Q. Coming back, and sort of find your way now, trying to keep up.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Basically what you're referring to is trying to understand how I'm mentally kind of finding ways in different stages of my career of how to...

Q. Basically.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Basically (laughter.)

Well, thankfully I don't have any major injury now. There is always something happening, but on a kind of more a minor level, daily level, that it's manageable.

I mean, that's obviously as you grow older, get older, that's one of the things that you always have to pay extra attention to, I mean, in terms of, you know, prevention and keeping the body fit. Yeah, that's definitely more challenging nowadays than it was, you know, 15 years ago.

So when you're younger, your body recovers faster. Yeah, so that's just something biological that you have to accept as the clock ticks. You just have to make some adjustments with your team in terms of how you train, how you prepare.

I spent quite a bit of time in making sure that every step of the way in preparation and prevention is respected in order for me to still be able to play on this level. That's on a physical side.

A mental side, of course, there are always challenges. There are always, you know, doubts. But there is also motivations and goals, you know, what inspires you, what's the purpose of you still competing. Of course, I have those questions.

But thankfully I have several different motivations that keep me going. Of course history and making records and achieving great things in this sport is definitely one of them. So I don't hide that at all. You know, I don't mind vocalizing that.

Yeah, that's really what I feel and what I try to kind of carry into my weekly life on the court, which definitely doesn't become easier in terms of motivation. So you have to kind of dig deeper and be also surrounded with the right people.

I have a good environment, is also key, because you're very repetitive. I try to mix things up and do different sports that keep me going, do different things, just keep my mind fresh.

Q. You had a good experience in Geneva last week, winning the tournament. You have made a good start here. You have also had some great success in the Rome tournament in the past and had good experiences there. Wondered if you could clarify why you chose not to play Rome this time.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It was decision to play Madrid instead of Rome this year. 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.

Yeah, this year I wanted to play Madrid. I haven't played in a while. I felt like, yeah, I just didn't want to play both, as I played Monte-Carlo quite early after, shortly after Miami, which maybe wasn't the best decision.

Again, Monte-Carlo is a place where I feel like 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 have that, because I didn't have any practically, only two matches on clay. I'm the type of player that is required to play a bit more in order to find the right game for clay. It doesn't come very natural to me as maybe for some other guys.

I rarely started really well on clay, like, if you analyze all of my seasons in my career. So it takes a little bit of time for me to, yeah, 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 comparing 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.

Q. Your next opponent will be French, whoever you play. Curious how you might compare the way the crowds here support their players as compared to anywhere else. And have you seen that change over the years? There have been some complaints from non-French opponents who play French players here that it's gotten worse and that the crowds treat the opponents more poorly now. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, again, it's logical to expect that. Let's take all four slams. Anywhere you go, and you play the local player coming from that country where the slam is played, that they're going to have the crowd on their side. It's nothing strange about it. It's expected.

But it is true that here in France and in Paris, comparing to other slams, the people are louder and more passionate and just give more support, louder support, more energy to their player, which for some players can be annoying (smiling). It's not the kind of ideal environment you want to be playing in, but you have to be ready for it.

Look, I played in a lot of hostile environments in my career, and it's not something I haven't experienced before. I'm not saying that it's going to be hostile for me or not. I mean, I just expect if I play a French player in Roland Garros, I would expect that most of the people would cheer the French player. It's nothing personal to me at all.

But on the court when you're there, when certain things that happen that cross the line, I do understand the players who, you know, protect their space, their integrity, and if somebody disrespects you... You have hecklers. I don't think they are majority. In contrary, there is always a few people here and there sometimes that would cross the line.

It happened to me quite a few times actually in my career. And then sometimes I would just ignore, but you know, sometimes I would face them. That's it. Then we would be crossing each other back and forth.

Yeah, it's a battle out there, you know. Sometimes it's not just a battle with the player.

Q. In the first set, a lot of back and forth with you and the umpire and your opponent with the umpire about the roof.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah.

Q. The conditions and all that. Can you clarify what those conversations were, what was going on?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I was just asking, you know, if and when they are going to make a decision to close the roof, you know, and how long we will have to play. That was my first question, how long we are going to play under that rain, because it was quite pouring rain out there on the court. It was affecting the court, as well. The court became quite damp and a lot of bad bounces, et cetera.

The first information I got from chair umpire was that they decided to wait. And so I asked, who is "they" and where are "they"? He said that it's supervisors and others that are deciding to leave it open.

I said, Can I just speak to them, and can they come and see it? Because it's quite different from the office or stands and actually being on the court. That is basically all that was to it.

Then I just asked whether there is a difference, because anywhere, if they decide to close the roof, they're going to make us play, so we were playing while the roof was closing.

So I said, you know, What difference does it make to close it now comparing to, say, in 15 minutes or whatever it is?

So McDonald was also complaining about that. When I broke his serve at 3-2, then he asked the supervisor, Why aren't you closing it now? He said, Let's wait for another game.

So it was quite confusing, because on the radar apparently they were seeing that it was going to stop, but it didn't look like stopping.

Then at one point, supervisor told me, you know, But they're playing everywhere on the outside courts in the same conditions. I said, Yeah, but we are on the court with a roof. Why do you have the roof then? What's the point? You know what I mean?

In the end they closed the roof, which I think most of the stadium wanted. If I understood well in French, they were asking basically for the roof to be closed. I think it was better for everyone. For the players, for the stands, as well.